4 years ago I met the wonderful game “Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad” (in racial English “Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad”). The game literally got me excited. Realism, voice acting, people and most importantly – the atmosphere. Of course, before that there was OFP, but there was only harsh realism and nothing more. For me, RO2:HoS is still the standard for such “realistic” shooters of “platoon to platoon” sizes (30×30+-5). Since then I became interested in similar projects.
Time has passed. ArmA 3 was released, ArmA 2 OA was added. Indie did not lag behind and delighted Insurgency and Squad (which is noteworthy, both games were originally mods. Like Red Orchestra, but we’ll come back to that later). There were other, less popular projects. And I began to ask myself: why are people trying to simulate war as it is, or at least attach reality corrections to shooters?? Rhetorical question.
War is the engine of progress. Few people think about it, but previously the most advanced technologies directly or indirectly related to military affairs. If a “scientific project” or invention could benefit the military, then funding for this area increased. In the end, even the atom was first taught not to produce energy for people, but to destroy entire cities.
Well, in general, people tend to fight for ideas, ideals and religion. After all, even now there are enough wars going on around the world and shots are fired. Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Arab-Israeli “turks”, Africa, Indian-Pakistani disputes, border skirmishes between Vietnam and China, conflict in south-eastern Ukraine. All countries have an army and their own military history. And despite the horrors of war, it is still… attractive or something. Yes, lately pacifism has become more and more widespread, but damn it, many are attracted to weapons, uniforms and iron boxes, which for some reason the military call tanks and combat vehicles. And the strangest thing is that many are fascinated by this strange action – war.
My father, a corporal in the reserve border troops of the KGB of the Republic of Belarus, always said that he liked war. But not the current one, but the past, medieval. When you go out for a fair fight and you and your opponent fight on equal terms. Back then, war was an everyday occurrence and few people died in it. Not like now – one wrong move and either the sniper will pierce the skull, or the machine gunner will kill him with a burst of fire. Or even a shell will land on your head. Agree, there is something romantic in medieval battles. That is, a man will always have a love for a fair fight. This simply cannot be deduced.
Yes and no need to withdraw. Not all people want to sacrifice everything, including.h. and life, for the sake of some ideas. For as one man said: “War is not about ‘killing’. War is about ‘dying’. More and more new means of exterminating people simply force the instinct of self-preservation to trumpet humanity that there is no need to get excited and try to solve problems with weapons.
But, damn it, people still want war. Deep down. They are wondering what is “there” on the battlefield. And this is where games come to the rescue.
At first there were t.n. spinal shooters (SMS), which were characterized by the phrase: “turn off the brain, turn on reactions and timings”. Modern examples of these can be considered DOOM, Wolfenstein: The New Order and Call of Duty and in general, THOUSANDS OF THEM!
But they don’t give that same feeling of war. This is how OFP was born. Yes, it was far from a real simulator of a real war, but fans began to correct this with files. Soon, the most savvy realized that the same thing could be done with those same SMS. From here came the modification to Unreal Tournament (suddenly, yes) Red Orchestra: Combined Arms, which later grew into an independent game and a sequel to it (now the developers have gone crazy and are making a sequel to the sequel’s addition, and it will be about Vietnam).
They also made a no less suitable mod for the winrar shooter Battlefield 2, Project Reality, which relatively recently grew into a full-fledged Squad. Based on Source, they made a mod called Insurgency: Modern Infantry Combat, which soon grew into an independent game, dropping 3 words in the title.
The Russian community OFP https://9fbetbrcasino.co.uk/ and ArmA came up with their own “pack” from various modifications to ArmA 2, founding the “Serious Games on Tushino” project, where realism and the atmosphere of a real war are raised to the highest possible absolute with the same role-playing system, where everyone does their own thing: the squad leader commands the entrusted 10 dEbils, tankers control large and useless pieces of iron, grenade launchers – they are hunting for the same pieces of hardware, doctors are pulling out and restoring cripples, the commander of the side is trying to control everyone, and so on. In short, you get it. At the same time, everything is in accordance with the real organization of units of the simulated armies. And before the “battle” itself, the side commander gathers squad commanders and tank crews and, armed with a map, conducts a briefing – who, where and what to do. All this happens in teamspeak with the help of special plugins, which in the game simulate a walkie-talkie and “voice” negotiations without it (however, after the platform switched to ArmA 3, problems with the notorious seriousness have already appeared).
In such games there are no fools. The morale of the soldier, moderately realistic ballistics, communication either by walkie-talkie or by shouting to the entire area. And what is most characteristic is that the community of players in precisely such projects is the most united. They are responsive, ready to help newbies, tell the developers how to do it, and if something happens, they will do it themselves and offer it to them.
In general, what was I leading to all this meaningless chatter?. Moreover, despite the general mood towards progressive pacifism, war will still attract people. And there will still be a demand for games that to some extent replace us with a real, brutal war. Just to remain human. It’s not for nothing that the mod competition for ArmA 3 has a characteristic name, heh.
P.S. Thank you for reading 🙂
Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad
ArmA II: Operation Arrowhead
ArmA III
Insurgency
Best comments
I once came to the conclusion that the most accurate and realistic campaign in war games is presented in the third Arma. Seriously.
Only there you are going to serve your fatherland, and because of this you find yourself in complete trouble. Then all your friends get out of this asshole, but you are shot at like the last sucker and thrown back. When you go back, you find a bunch of scourges, which you join only because they shoot at those who shoot at you. You hang out with them for a while, because there’s nowhere else to go. Then, your enemies decide that this very bunch of scourges has somehow gotten too hot, and they carry out the most brutal action to cut out all those who disagree. It’s a miracle you survive again. And so, on the verge of death, you are quietly saved from your affairs by some shady types who say: “YES WE ARE OURS, WHAT ARE YOU?”!».
And so you sit on the base of these “ours”, and then bang-bang-spending, nonsense, friendly fire, FIND WMD, what a crap?! Well, you find this WMD, bring it to the bros, and you: “Well, that’s… in short, it’s none of your business what it is and whose it is – but we’re taking it away.”. And you will be here. Good luck.». And they leave you on the island to get out of there on your own.
And also war is dirt and death, inhuman cruelty, despite all the conventions, mothers who will not see their sons or even daughters, children who will live without a parent/s, ordinary people who suffer regardless of the side and in the end, this is a tragedy that must be remembered. Therefore, please add to this blog the game “This War of Mine”, which well shows the other side of this war
As for me, the whole essence of modern war is perfectly shown and fully revealed: in the series generation kill. It shows the stupidity of the command, and disrespect for the command, and personal quarrels between soldiers and commanders in war. And also, the theme “The disgusting attractiveness of war” is revealed there. Excellent and one of the most truthful series about modern war.
Few people think about it, but previously the most advanced technologies directly or indirectly related to military affairs
mmm, if you take off your rose-colored glasses and look a little closer, you can see that now everything is absolutely the same
But not the current one, but the past, medieval. When you go out for a fair fight and you and your opponent fight on equal terms. Back then, war was an everyday occurrence and few people died in it. Not like now – one wrong move and either the sniper will pierce the skull, or the machine gunner will kill him with a burst of fire. Or even a shell will land on your head. Agree, there is something romantic in medieval battles.
Well, there were archers, and ambushes, and traps with stakes, and boiling oil from the walls, the same catapults. Somehow you highly idealized the past, then the ability to kill from afar was also available, although not as effective, and the commanders had enough cunning. But there were also one-on-one fights, of course.
And the article is good. Let war really only remain in games.
Day of Infamy and still serves as a mod for it (the game has server search tabs with this mod). Why they separated it – I don’t understand
As far as I remember, OFP originated from the heads of the Shpanel brothers, and only then grew into a simulator for Western armies
Personally, I liked the plot of ArmA 2 better. The Slavic flavor still works. Well, this plot both drew ideas from the past (the Yugoslav War) and “foresaw” the future (the Conflict in Donbass)
Still, in the Middle Ages very few people died in wars. For example, until the Mongols came to Rus’, so many people died in civil wars that it was everyday life
And recently a game was released that was a mod for insurgency, which itself was a mod on the source engine. Day of Infamy. The same insurgency only in the WWII setting.
A moment of tediousness, ofp and arma grew out of a simulator used by the British military and not only.