Single Player Disappointment

[Stargeezer]

I was wary of the game by reviews and comments from several different forums, but bought the game anyway. I had some problems right away with training - either things didn't work like the ladder climb, or it would hang up in mid-training and no controls would work. I replayed the training cycle maybe 6 times before I could get to the campaigns. I play a lot of FPS, and after all that training I was dumping all targets on one shot - even the farthest which look like maybe 100 yds. I played at the regular game level to start.

On entering the campaign, I died 8 times before I even saw an enemy. I got frustrated and just hid behind a barrier to try and spot any shooter. You could see where the rounds came from, but even with a scope you can't spot the enemy easily. I finally found one who was firing from behind a fence, and all you could see was a pinpoint of muzzle flash. I found if you laid back a ways, the enemy would evenuatlly come out and attack. Even then, with the weapons provided, your one-shot BB gun won't put down many of them. When I was lucky enough to have a sniper rifle, I'd have to shoot a dude 5-6 times, even if they were stationary, and while using a scope. On the other hand you get hit once or maybe twice and you're dead.

I ground through the Nazi campaign, and can't even progress on the Soviet campaign. There's a machine gun which shows up on 4 out of 10 starts, and if you get there fast and equip, you get shot from behind even though the enemy is just beginning their charge from the house area. I had my squad stationed at multiple points, and even had a roomfull of squad and the set would end saying we were defeated. ?? If I'm still alive and shooting, that's hard to accept.

I spent maybe an hour on this campaign toying with my squad, grouping or working from heavy cover, attack charges, etc., and can't get passed the second set. Numerous times in either campaign I was killed as soon as I rezzed without being able to take a shot.

I might try playing the bottom stupid level to see if that helps, but all I can do is say Kudos to those playing upper levels, and I'm beginning to think my money wasn't well spent. Great graphics, but even a normal enemy has a one or two shot death wish like the biggest bosses in a dungeon on other games. Any yes, even with a tank round it takes several direct hits to drop an uncovered enemy grunt. I like a challenge but am having a problem with playability on this bad boy. It sounds like group play goes smoother, but I'm partial to single player. If you're a "recreational" shooter as opposed to a hard-core grizzled FPS vet, you probably should not consider this game.

[Lott. Z]

Yeah, everything you say is pretty spot on with my expierence. Lots of bugs...umm..you'll watch enemys shooting at different soldiers on your team in distinctly different directions. All of a sudden their arms turn to you in a way only auto aim can, and BOOM you're a gonner.

Meanwhile you've put like 2 rounds into them already, not to mention you've shot more than that at them.

Its really only the awesome atomosphere that kept me wanting to go back to this buggy, half a game mess... I couldn't quite make it past the German part before i quit out of sheer frustration.

[Stargeezer]

Ya, I uninstalled after a few hours stuck in the start of the Russian campaign. I tried all kinds of squad action, artillery, etc. and no matter what, my squad "died" even with 5-6 standing next to me. You don't even have an option for a new game start on the menu. A colonoscopy would be more fun than this bugged up mess :) I could have had eight beers at happy hour for the price, and way more fun!

[Private 1st Class Jeffrey Bison]

It's a multiplayer only game tbh.

[=Snappy=]

there's lots of L2P issues going on here. i will try to help distinguish reality from your impressions.

first of all, the "realism" and brutality has always been the hallmark of the RO series, if you were not aware. so, as much as I hate the cliche: "this is not COD".

i'm pretty new at the game myself (but not new at shooters by a long shot. no pun.) but i've been into RO2 MP for a few months and just started playing the SP, and, difficulty-wise, I am pretty much tearing it up on the hardest skill. not trying to brag, plz believe me, but just pointing out some perspective. I'm a "one-man army", cuz, you have to be. cuz the AI sucks so bad.

your gun is not a "BB gun". every gun in this game is powerful, and if you are not killing people, it's because you're not hitting them in the right spot, or possibly not hitting them at all. (are you using the "focus"/breathing control ability? at the very least you have to iron-sight, most of the time. if you don't aim the gun, you will usually miss!) one headshot, usually one center-of-mass body shot, will kill. possibly you are hitting some obstruction. also regarding your comment about the tank shot, possibly you are using AP round which is anti-tank, instead of HE round which is anti-personnel. still, i would think one direct hit with AP would kill infantry. also, maybe you were under suppression effect? when someone is shooting at you (or, in the SP, even when your allies are shooting near you), the screen grays out somewhat, and your aim kicks around, etc. this is supposed to simulate, for better or worse, that when someone is shooting back at you -- when you are in a real-deal WAR -- that firing a gun accurately is not as simple as the pinpoint precision of aiming a mouse on your desk.

you lose the round because there are certain strategically important locations that you must capture or defend, sometimes with a time limit of sorts involved. also, you lose if you are the last man alive and you die. you must wait for further reinforcements before risking yourself. use the "tactical view" to see the reinforcement timer.

"On entering the campaign, I died 8 times before I even saw an enemy. I got frustrated and just hid behind a barrier to try and spot any shooter."

guess what? it's war! that's how you fight in a war. that's what I did for like the first month of playing multiplayer! stayed prone and spent most of my time watching and listening, and not a lot of killing. cuz you die. quickly and easily and having no clue who or what killed you. it's war. keep your head down and advance from cover to cover. don't expect the enemy to not shoot you if you are right out in the open. why wouldn't they?! (in MP your squad leaders, if they know what they are doing, will throw smoke grenades -- this is the main way ppl can even move around without being killed immediately -- because they are under cover of smoke.) overall, MP is much more brutal than SP. humans are good at hiding, and shooting. comparatively speaking, the AI is not.

(in MP especially, ) occupying a machinegun emplacement, or a "prime" sniper spot, is like having a big "kill me" flag over your head. you have to choose your cover creatively, and definitely hang back until you are sure you or your forces have the advantage.

you will not be able to do this in the campaign, tho, because the AI is so terrible that at times i'm actually embarassed for tripwire while playing this game. and believe me i have run into my share of RIDICULOUS and frustrating glitches -- mission scripting issues, such that i am not able to progress or complete the mission (mostly during training missions); respawning as tank commander without a tank (and without any guns etc either); respawning to one of the AI soldiers who is stuck in a glitched spot and having to suicide because i can't get unstuck; glitching and falling thru the map on Commisar's House map; checkpoint being saved right at the moment everyone died, so i have to restart the whole mission; etc.

note also that in the campaign when it comes to capturing an objective it seems that you, personally, must be in the objective location for the capture to proceed. even if your whole squad is there, they cannot capture it.

don't depend on your squad, tbh. all that stuff they teach you about where to emplace them, etc., is just useless. i occasionally tell them to follow me, or just the general "attack/defend the objective" commands, but it seems like they just do whatever they want anyway. (run around in circles and get killed, usually.) the missions where you have to depend on them to do stuff are painful and frustrating, but they are doable.

one more comment on the enemy bots: they will definitely do some stuff that is suspect. shoot you with their back turned, basically, or pop out from behind a corner and kill you with what seems to be an amazingly fast and lucky shot, but I am tolerant of this for two reasons: #1, a lot of games have these situations with their AI bots. it's nothing new. and it's mainly a case where the animation/graphics don't match the intent, not so much that the intent is to cheat. don't take it the wrong way, but you seem like you are kinda new and/or casual at games, so I can see why you would be indignant that the animation/graphics don't 100% exactly depict what the bots are intending to do, but speaking as A Player Of Many Games ;) -- trust me, it's apparently easier said than done to get the graphics/anims 100% perfect, so this is normal and forgivable. and as far as their "magical" kill-shot ability, i found this also to be quite forgivable because from playing MP i have been conditioned to be killed in far more ruthless, unexpected, and inexplicable ways. ppl "sniping" you from almost 200m with a normal, non-scoped rifle, a distance at which I basically can't even see them. etc. so, to the extent that the SP is supposed to be a simulation of the MP, getting killed quickly when you are advancing too fast or not keeping adequate cover/situational awareness is something to be expected and is well within expected parameters.

finally, I just want to say, I bring up the MP a lot because it gives you a perspective on how to judge the product as a whole. i know i make it sound scary, and it is ;) but i'm also trying to illustrate that the game itself is a relatively realistic depiction of war, as far as games go, and it's not really limitations of the game "engine", or the design -- weapons, wounding mechanics, cover mechanics, etc. -- that are casuing you issues. they present a well-functioning, and engaging game, when you are able to fully exercise them. but because of the bots, both friendly and enemy, you can only do this to a limited extent in the SP campaign.

[Thotimus Prime]

The same story was with battlefield.

[Hart]

Yea I really thought this would be a cool first start for Red Orchestra since the titles were mainly multiplayer games. To my suprise I saw this RO2 and it had a single player campaign, so yea kinda disappointed Tripwire interactive didn't put more effort into it.

All well I got Killing floor in the process so no harm no foul, I guess multiplayer games should rather stay multiplayer after all.

[Stargeezer]

Snappy - gratz for your heroic time-consuming epic effort to make this bugged up mess playable. Moving on was much easier for this cowboy. BTW, laying prone or hiding as a strategy does NOT work since your squad will be wiped out. I dare you to lay prone and finish the game. For folks considering buying this game and reading this post, your explanation will drive most of them off, and good luck to any who try - you've been warned :)

[Bacon]

I see your point, it is pretty hard I remember when I first played it and suffered the same fate and I would rage everytime.

But then I showed a mate showing just how "♥♥♥♥♥♥" this game was (at the time I was thinking) but then sort of saw a funny side to it when I sent guys in and a guy would scream "I DONT WANT TO DIIIIIIIEEEE" and then got shot and I seemed to enjoy it a little bit more.

Then I got to the russian campain and the achievements were bugged so at the time I was like screw this I'd do all this for nothing (would take ages to beat a level in my case).

That was back in 2012 or so, now I've just recently installed it (yesterday) and I'm not as horrible as I use to be so maybe they have made some improvements, I dunno but yeah its very very unforgiving for sure.

[Ven]

I'm probably beating a dead horse here, but why play Singleplayer RO2, (unless you don't understand how to play the game) when you can play Multiplayer, and ask questions people are likely to answer.

With respect to everything said before, the Singleplayer wasn't the point of the game, if at all the first thing to cross Tripwire's mind. I played it to learn how to drive a tank, but that takes time to get to the point, upon which it was a pain in the ass get there.

If you are tired of them constantly killing you, then lower the difficulty, that's there for a reason.

Again, probably beat a dead horse, but i thought my two cent's were needed a little.

[CloneTrooper(NL)]

I was playing the campaign today i finished 3 chapters of germany on HERO difficulty. I died also a lot. But i took enough cover and lean to the R/L. This is the best way to survive.

Also grab some other weapons, if you start with a rifle, grab from the ground also a smg for battles in house.

And best thing is use your time and dont RnG like in cod MP.

So i hope i can finish the hole campaign on hero.