Strategy Informer  

What did Codemasters learn from Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising? Not to be a jack-of-all-trades' shooter. "You can’t be everything to all people!"

Adam Parsons says that Red River is "much tighter, more focussed" than its predecessor. They wanted to "remain authentic" but appeal to more FPS fans.

What big lessons did the Codemasters team take away from OpFlash: Dragon Rising so they could avoid similar pitfalls with the Q2 2011 bound Red River?

"You can’t be everything to all people!" admitted Parsons.

"We felt Dragon Rising over-stretched and therefore fell short in several key areas. This resulted in making Red River a much tighter, more focussed experience."

It's all about fiscal time management and other buzz words. "As a business we have to balance what we can do against time and budget, like any other developer, and still present a game that engages and resonates with our target audience."

"We took stock of where Dragon Rising’s successful co-op formula worked, and identified the areas we wanted to improve, responding to critical feedback, internal focus testing and information taken from the community," he continued.

Red River appeals more to a broader type of FPS fan. "Making our game more accessible whilst ensuring we maintain the core values that make Flashpoint unique was key for us, i.e. We wanted to remain authentic whilst appealing to players of more traditional first person shooters, who yearn for a more challenging and cerebral type of experience."

Be sure to check out our full interview with Codemasters' Adam Parsons here. Operation Flashpoint: Red River releases on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC Q2 2011.

Related games: Operation Flashpoint 2: Dragon Rising (PC), Operation Flashpoint 2: Dragon Rising (Xbox360), Operation Flashpoint 2: Dragon Rising (PS3), Operation Flashpoint: Red River (PC), Operation Flashpoint: Red River (Xbox360), Operation Flashpoint: Red River (PS3)