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Most shooter games are to history what Daffy Duck is to aquatic birds. They are not parodies of realism, but tragedies, because the average teenage gamer believes they bear more than a passing resemblance to real life. Perhaps this is the shape of the future: a world run by a generation that believes war is nothing more than running around like a demented rifle-armed chicken shooting everything in sight.
"Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad" from Tripwire Interactive won't change that mindset. But at least it proves that while a shooter game and a historical game may not be friends, at least they can be on speaking terms. As the name suggests, the game is set in the urban slaughterhouse of Stalingrad in 1942. The player can assume the role of a German or Russian soldier.
Graphically, "Red Orchestra 2," which uses Unreal Engine 3, is strong, though perhaps not quite as impressive as the new Battlefield 3. But this isn't so important. By now, all shooter games look quite similar, with the usual background of debris, wrecked buildings and abandoned vehicles. There are the usual keyboard controls using the letters W, A, S and D; the usual choice of weapons, such as a rifle, submachine gun and grenade; and the usual choice of going multiplayer or playing solo. Play one shooter game, you've played them all.
But what's different about "Red Orchestra 2" is the immersiveness, a vague but vogue term used to convey a combination of story and multimedia effects that suspend a player's disbelief and focus his attention on the game.
"Red Orchestra 2's" devotion to history is evident from the opening cinematic. Against the background of a black-and-white German newsreel, an announcer with a German accent speaks of fighting Bolsheviks and Ivans (though it doesn't go so far as to make direct references to Jews or Hitler). Amid the grim grayness of a destroyed urbanscape, artillery shells burst every minute or two. Voices scream, "Incoming! Take cover! You're not going anywhere, Bolshevik! Are you wounded?"
The original "Red Orchestra" was notorious for its brutal combat. "Red Orchestra 2" is no different. Just staying alive on the battlefield is an achievement. Artillery bursts near you, and there is nothing you can do about it. Machine guns open up at you from a second-story window, and if you're lucky, you can spot them in time. There are no helpful icons to tell you there is an enemy on the other side of the wall — most of the time, you don't even see the enemy until you're right on top of each other. And unlike shooter games with magic gun sights, there are no special targeting reticules. You are shooting a bolt-action rifle through an iron sight at a target you can barely see. All is chaos, confusion and uncertainty.
Lest "Red Orchestra 2" be taken as a simulation, it is not. Die and you return, which certainly makes tactical experimentation a bit less stressful. Your fellow soldiers, whether human or artificially intelligent, have the tactical sense of a rock, and often seem about as useful. Playing a battle in "Red Orchestra 2" is as if someone translated "Apocalypse Now" into a video game. But to read the works on Stalingrad, there was a great deal of confusion as two giant armies grappled amid the ruins.
I am not a big fan of shooter games, which I consider to be more an exercise in mouse-clicking than brainpower. However, I like "Red Orchestra 2." While it doesn't break the mold, it does show that the mold is big enough to include ultraviolence and historical fidelity. It's not deep history. A video game will never replace a book for genuine understanding. But there are too many games out there that graze over history, perhaps because the designers themselves only have a superficial knowledge. And if the designers don't take history seriously, why should the players?
