New ‘Operation Flashpoint: Red River’ Details

Operation Flashpoint: Red River turned in to a bit of a hot topic towards the end of 2010. We had a lot of new screenshots and trailers to look at, and it even cracked our top 100 of 2011 list at #74.  The developers of this war simulation have stepped forward and shared some new details during an interview with IGN, and we’ve got the info.

The last Operation Flashpoint game was given some decent reviews, but for every gamer that enjoyed it, there was at least one more saying that it wasn’t a lot of fun, despite being what most would consider ‘realistic.’  It seems like Codemasters heard the outcries and have worked on it for Red River.  Creative Director, Sion Lenton, had this to say on the matter.

“With Dragon Rising what we learnt is that you can’t appeal to all people, you have to choose what you want to be and to me it’s flagrantly obvious that we didn’t have the time, the tech or the inclination to go down the military simulation route. That’s firmly my opinion too; they’re engaging, they’re appealing but they’re not fun. We’ve got scores in Flashpoint, we’ve got XP, we’ve got you working as a team and we’ve tried to make the controls more accessible too.”

The XP he’s referring to is actually built around a class-based system that looks very similar to that of Battlefield: Bad Company 2.  You can choose between several classes on the fly, all the while unlocking new weapons and equipment, as well as ranking up your player as you play through the game.

What’s strange is that the XP and class system all comes without a traditional competitive multiplayer component.  It seems Codemasters decided to forgo that route in favor of co-op.  While some might see that as a questionable move since competitive multiplayer is so popular right now, Sion doesn’t seem to be worried.

“I think Flashpoint’s going to be an 18 game, it’s a game that’s aimed at the adult market and I know that that’s not what happens but for me these gamers as an age group like playing with friends as opposed to playing with a group of strangers. That’s certainly my experience. I’ve got a feeling that this teamwork and this co-op is going to start to take off and it’ll be as big as competitive multiplayer.”

Admittedly, I never played the previous Flashpoint game, Dragon Rising, but from what I’ve heard via those that did play it, fun factor was one trait that it was sorely missing at certain points.  Luckily, Codemasters have fielded that complaint and made it a top priority.

“Fun’s what people are about at the end of the day, and that’s what we’ve spent an awful lot of effort trying to get into Flashpoint.”

If you want to see even more information about Red River and the new direction it’s taking, check out the developer diary below.  There has been no official word about an exact release date but it is still slated to launch later this year on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC.

Source: IGNYouTube

7 Comments

  1. I`m looking forward to this, i love Dragon Rising, i played through the campaign with a friend through online co-op and we had great fun, but on your own it can be abit boring i guess, but with a friend, its just as good as anything else

  2. Ive enjoyed most of what I played of DR, some mission breaking bugs annoyed me though! I will be buying this game, just wont be getting it day 1. Too many games, so little time

    • yep – same problem. I have around 30 games for my PS3 and I think theres around 30 I want not including the 3/4 I am getting this weekend.

      Dead Space 2
      Mass Effect 2
      LBP 2
      Dead Nation

  3. I thought Dragon Rising was pretty good despite a lot of silly unnecesary bugs, probably because it was different to most FPS’ on the PS3 with that extra realism but it sounds like they’ve hit a happy medium with Red River.
    I’ll keep an eye on this but with the way DR tumbled in price, there’s no way it’ll be a day one purchase (not to mention all the other games I want!).

  4. So instead of being different, its going to do the same as other shooters minus the multiplayer? ummm….that might work, NOT

    I liked that dragon rising was a little more strategic than your usual shooter so if it changes i dont think it will be for me.

  5. I liked the last game. Just thought it could do with a bit more polish. Making it more ‘fun’ sorta puts me off; war isn’t fun. If they want it to be like all the other shooters, so be it.

    It’s gone down to rent status for me.

  6. I got relatively far in DR, before the bugs became to annoying. It’s also a game which really needs to be played co-op-ly, as the AI were shocking.

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