Red Orchestra offers some of the best World War II multiplayer experiences not seen in a long time.
Faithful to nearly every single multiplayer team shooter out there, Red Orchestra has teams of players attempting to defend and hold/attack and hold certain landmarks on a map. There are a good number of different classes of soldiers one can play as, such as assault troopers, riflement, snipers, machine-gunners, etc, etc. Also, in an interesting note, the game doesn't keep track of one's kills. Players are ranked by how many points they accumulate, and although kills offer one point each, the vast bulk of points are awarded for teamwork. For instance, when one's team captures a certain landmark on the map, and you happen to be within the vicinity of that landmark, one gets his fair share of points. Points are also awarded by keeping machine-gunners fed with ammunition, but that is pretty much it.
In terms of vehicular combat, the game offers a good number of realistically modelled tanks, assault guns, and armoured personel carriers. In another interesting note pertaining to these tanks, tanks and assault need at least two people to operate them properly - one man to gun, one man to drive. Also, whether you are a gunner or driver, you only get a limited viewing of your surroundings through first person only.
What is rather interesting about Red Orchestra is how close the game is in terms of historical authenticity and accuracy. There are no crossairs; one must aim with the iron ights of his gun. There is no third-person view when driving vehicles; one must drive a vehicle from a rather limited first-person/cockpit view. Machine-guns run out of ammo very quickly, and the recoil of submachine guns and rifles is pretty high.
Graphics-wise, the game does look rather nice, with nicely modelled vehicles and somewhat crisp textures. There are no special next-gen smoke or lighting effects, but overall the game does look nice, with wide sweeping maps dotted with small hamlets and farms, along with some vegetation. The only complaint that can be lodged against the graphics is about how very generic the character models are, and how stiffly and unrealistically they animate.
In terms of sound, all the weapons sound quite good, with that nice kick to them. The voice commands are decent as well, in their respective German/Russian. But, there is hardly any music in the game, and the sounds, although they sound functional and are quite pleasing to the ear, are nothing special.
Overall, if this is some of the more decent multiplayer shooters out there, based in a rarely used setting (the Eastern Front) with functional (yet hardcore and realistic) gameplay mechanics, and a decent and mature community. The only criticisms I can lodge against the game is perhaps the fact that the models animate quite poorly, but otherwise, for an indie game, this game offers a solid and functional multiplayer experience for only a mere twenty dollars.