ArmA: Armed Assault (PC DVD)

I first bought Arma from Amazon.co.uk whilst I was in business in the USA, so had to wait 3 months before I got home to play it. Whilst I was in the USA I followed the forums and grew concerned about the quality of the product with regards to bugs and performance issues that many people both here on Amazon and on the Bohemia Interactive forums were complaining about.

As my machine is "middle of the road", it was with some caution that I installed (and patched) Armed Assault. Not only did it play far better (and faster) than the demo did for me (I had to turn the settings down a bit on both), but it also appears to be one of the most well behaved windows games I own. Call of Duty 2 crashes whenever the desktop is involved. Arma happilly sits there in the background should I need to alt-tab back to the desktop.

The mission editor is great, and actually a necessity. Whilst there are 2 helicopter training missions included (Transport & Combat), you won't get much flight time there, and if you want to be effective Online as a good pilot, you'd do well to launch the editor, place yourself and an empty chopper and go get used to it.

There are many who have complained about the graphics of Armed Assault, but I find no fault with them. The scenary looks beautiful (even at my medium settings), the real time weather and correct star charts all add to the beauty and realism of the game.

So who is this game for? Hardcore military fanatics? Definately. Counter-strike and FPS spray-and-prayers? Definiately not. Anyone looking for an immersive and realistic shooter? Yes. It has been a while since I have lost sleep over a computer game, but Arma has done it.

How about the online? I've played 2 missions online so far. One was with a friend, a night-time mission in to a town. The atmousphere was incredible and we used teamspeak for comms during our offensive. No objections here. My biggest concern was the online public servers, but I am pleased to say I found an amazing online server (16th AA Battalion, I believe it's called) running a mission called "Air Cavalry". With the exception of the odd idiot joining for some team kills (who were promptly kicked), the whole team worked together, transporting troops to and from the airport, guys moving the repair, refuel and rearm trucks in to close proximity to incoming choppers. Tanks providing street-to-street support for troops, who were always watched over by the blackhawks ready to pick them up, and move them out.

I understand some have had some issues with this game, but I have to say I can easily admit that this is the best purchase I have made this year. I know many are waiting for crysis, but although that DirectX 10 game may blow people away, it will not come close to Armed Assault for tactical realism, immersivness and replayability. The mission editor ensures that the creative amongst us can continue to produce replayable missions for many years to come. It's been 5 years since the older sister of Arma hit the stores, and that community is still going strong. As you see COD2's online presence drop in the next year or so, expect Armed Assault's presence to be felt well in to the next 10 years. That's what I call replayability.

I have been awaiting Armed Assalt for a long time as a fan of Operation Flashpoint and was not disappointed.

The game is very similar to Flashpoint in terms of its control interface (although some controls have been changed to incorporate a lean function), so Flashpoint fans should have no trouble playing Armed Assault. For those that are not, the controls are for the most part very simple and easy to learn, only becoming difficult when the player attempts some slightly more difficult tasks, such as flying a helicopter (which is mch more difficlt than in Operation Flashpoint).

Graphically, the game is very flexible. Most lower-end PCs that meet the reqirements run the game quite comfortably on low settings, and players with performance machines are in for a visual treat, with extreme-length draw distances and NPC models that are a far cry from the blocky mannequins of Flashpoint. I would argue that on the highest graphics settings, Armed Assault looks much better than other games such as Battlefield 2142.

The gameplay itself is certainly an aquired taste, as one or two bullets from an enemy will have you loading up again, but as long as you keep to the ground and move safely, you will survive. Operation Flashpoint was notoriously difficult, and this is the same in Armed Assault, except that Armed Assault has been blessed with a save function, allowing you to save your game wherever you please, preventing the annoyances of almost completing a mission and having to restart just moments from completing a mission.

The game world itself is huge, as you are playing on a 400 square kilometre island, and the game features dozens of different vehicles to use, from the AH-1 attack helicopter to a farmer's tractor.

Unfortunately, there are some problems with the game. On some single-player missions, bugs in pathfinding will result in incompletable missions, such as one where you are required to board some tanks; upon doing so the tanks will drive up the road and then turn back to the start and wait...forever. The problem of vehicle pathfinding is shown when, in some missions, driver NPCs will turn randomly off the track, reverse, and then continue on their way, for no apparent reason.

Furthermore, the maps are chunky and more dificult to interpret than in Operation Flashpoint, and mission briefings are poorly translated and written. Some of the enjoyment may be removed because of this, as well as that Bohemia Interacive, the developers, have removed the 'characters' in the story, although this does place further emphasis on the greater conflict of the game and give it even more of a 'simulator' feel (which is what the game is about).

Overall the game is highly enjoyable, in both single and multiplayer, in spite of the minor bugs, and I recommend it to anyone, unless of course you strongly disliked Operation Flahpoint. The game would have a higher score if the game had been released with more polish. Patches will certainly be released, and make the game an even more enjoyable playing experience.

Well most people seem to complain about the bugs in other reviews, but that seems to be all fixed now, they have released a couple of huge patches, the last one was almost 600mb. If you dont have broadband, somehow, then this probably isnt worth getting, as the multiplayer and other mods are really good.

The campaign I like, its got a believable plotline. The secondary missions are a nice touch as well, they aren't essential but doing them makes the main mission easier, such as one of them you attack an tank base so that in the main mission there is less armour for you to have to deal with in your helicopter. Although the one thing this is lacking from Flashpoint is the personal feeling you got from playing only four different characters in the war, but the way there are newsreporters sort of makes up for it somehow.

The editor is one of the best features. You can create all sorts of mission and the manual describes how different waypoints and triggers work so it is easy to create missions where one platoon wont move until the armoured assault has taken control of town or anything. Also the amount of content in the editor allows you to create all sorts of situations, such as allowing you to add Ak74s, RPG launchers and pistols to civilians allows you to create a rioting city or you can load up a truck with weapons to smuggle it across the border sort of tasks.

The multiplayer is much improved from Flashpoint. Now you can join mid game, if you die you can take control of an AI unit rather than becoming a seagull, although that is still there in the end. Also being able to use a mic to talk to your squad etc is good, much more usefull than on battleifeld 2 where tactics and squads don't matter much, now you can organise how you intend to move through a block of houses, or who is supposed to cover where.

For the people who complain about the over skilled AI, well thats probably someone used to playing battlefield 2 or call of duty where you dont fight anywhere beyond 10m away. The sort of distances you should be fighting are anywhere between 200 to 500 meters ideally. Thats why rifles have sights for those and not for 10m and 20m. That said if you dont have a powerfulish PC it wont be able to handle the view distances. For those people who complain that they dive into the grass which they cant see through but the AI can, well have you tried moving. The AI will realistically shoot where you dived down or where you shot from. If you dive and roll to the side, crawl forwards a bit, roll a bit more then the AI won't be shooting at you any more. One time I tried to sneak up on the AI, he shot at me so I ducked and dived and managed to get round behind him while he was still shooting at the bushes where I ran to. This isnt for those who believe in the old method of running forwards while getting shot 10 times then shooting the enemy, you might get away with a short charge before your leg getts a bullet through, then you can try crawling the rest of the distance as you cant stand up, they even add a sort of dragging the leg motion when that happens.

Also, graphically, this is superb. With flowers dotting the grass, vast areas of woodlands detailed to tree bark, birds and bugs flying about in the air, this creates a whole backdrop for you to fight through. Shells and other explosives throw up the mud, diving in the grass flattens it out, tanks will bowl over trees creating cover for the infantry. Bullet holes on buildings and vehicles creates a new aspect when you get picked up on multiplayer by a chopper with shattered windows, bullet marks and the gunner hanging limply over his weapon makes you wonder if the return trip would be such a good idea.

Overall it is definitely work the money and with patches and mods it just gets better.