Red Alliance

If a game can nail the fundamentals, a lot of mediocrity and outright flaws can be overlooked or even forgiven. Red Alliance is almost one of those games. First off, this is a very, very modest game. It's has some fairly nice graphics, even if the art design does come off as fairly generic, and the gunplay is solid. But everything else about this game just comes off as cheap, almost as if it was a Half-Life 2 mod. I say that not only because the game feels and looks a lot like that game, but also the structure of the game in identical, with linear levels strung together with loading screens, with some hidden ammo and health caches sprinkled around. Also, the voice acting and actual story is actively horrible. Some voice performances are better than others, but they are all in service of a campy narrative involving sci fi soldiers and a plot to take over the world. If I wanted to be mean, I'd call those aspects lazy, but that doesn't feel fair as the game does have some quality to it. The gunplay is very, very solid. I wish controller support came with auto aim, but even without it, it was a lot of fun popping headshots and scrambling to cover. The game is tough to, with only a few enemies being enough to wipe you out instantly if you are caught out in the open. This, and the pretty extreme ammo scarcity, drive the stakes of combat way up, and therefore makes every downed for all the more impactful. Plus, since there are no hitmarkers to let you know when you've hit something, it forces you to look for the drop of the enemies headlamps and listen for their death grunts. The lack of hitmarkers to tidily let me know when an enemy is down forced me to be a bit more situationally aware in gunfights, and that was a fun, though subtle, change for me. Also, while these environments are absolutely places I have seen before, they do some interesting things with level design that keeps the pacing nice a novel. One mission you're outdoors in the snow with a drivable buggy. The next you're sneaking through a compound whiteout alerting any enemies. The next your shooting (not) zombies in a haunted laboratory. The game switches up gameplay scenarios, weapons, and set piece fights enough that it remains fun for it's short 5 hour runtime. And that playtime might be a bit generous, as I did spend some time going off the beaten path to find those hidden crates I mentioned earlier. I know this game isn't high art or anything, but I had fun with it. Sure, almost every bit of it has been done at least slightly better in another shooter like F.E.A.R. or Half-Life 2. But I still think this studio did a damn good job. If you want a fun 5 hours, and are ready to lean into or ignore a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ story, maybe give this one a shot once it's on sale.