ArmA

Title: ArmA
Platform Played On: PC
Release Date: May 4, 2007
Date Played: May 2007, Spring 2011, March 2012
Time Played: 40+ hours
Completed (Y/N): Yes
Score: 4/5



Opinion:
ArmA, which stands for "Armed Assault" comes from the creators of Operation Flashpoint, and is only named ArmA because of the developers (Bohemia Interactive) not owning the copyright for that name. So for all intents and purposes this is the sequel to Operation Flashpoint.

Computer graphics have made quite an advancement since Operation Flashpoint (2001) came out, and so when ArmA came out it looked gorgeous with more advanced AI and weapon simulation than Op Flashpoint. Unfortunately as with all of the Bohemia Interactive games at launch ArmA was basically unplayable, the game was plagued with terrible framerate and countless bugs. All of these issues were eventually resolved via patches, for which I must commend the developer, they truly stick with their products much longer than any other developer that I have seen (aside Blizzard maybe). They will patch the game years and years after the sequel has been released eventually getting the game to the point that it has zero bugs.

But these bugs that were present at launch kind of shaped the way I played ArmA. When I first got it, it was unplayable. It ran at 10 FPS and unbalanced AI made me stop playing it after a few missions. I remember I could not finish the water tower sniper mission no matter what I tried. It was 4 years later once the game has been patched over a dozen times that I was able to try it again.

I must admit though, that once the game was fixed I could not stop playing it. ArmA provides the best military simulation out there (it has since been surpassed by ArmA2), with taking the simulation they developed for Operation Flashpoint and taking advantage of modern computing technology Bohemia Interactive managed to create a great looking and amazingly fun military simulator.

It did take me a while to finish up ArmA's main campaign, this is due to the fact that this game is very hard! Its a simulator remember? One bullet and you are dead. There is no Rambo-ing in ArmA, and there is no fooling around. It is all about strategy, and the ability to give commands. Its about crawling over a ridge and pulling out your binoculars to assess the situation. It is about outsmarting the enemy. There is no scripting. Everything AI does is calculated on the fly. So you can not rely that an enemy that was there last time will be there again. It creates a living breathing world, something very few games are able to pull off. All of these things are never present in your run of the mill shooters, and this is why ArmA is a unique experience. It is an experience you can not get anywhere else. It is not for everyone, but it definitely is for me. I enjoy spending 20 minutes sneaking onto a base just to be busted and having to replay that segment again. Why? Well because when  I do successfully execute my plan I feel a tremendous sense of accomplishment.

Screen After Completing a Mission

I have to knock ArmA for the inexcusable bugginess at launch. When I got this game at launch I could not enjoy it for the first year until there was at least half a dozen patches. Another knock against it would be the cut scenes and voice acting. They are downright atrocious; however neither of them is important at all and can be skipped. What matters is the clipboard at the start of a mission that contains your briefing, all the cinematics in between is just fluff to make events flow better. When it comes down to it ArmA is fun because of its simulation, not because of its story. I would give it A for execution and F for the story. But as I said, the execution is 99.9% of the game, story is not why one comes to ArmA.

All off this amazing simulation takes place ona couple huge islands, several hundred square miles for you to roam and approach your targets as you see fit. You can also use the built in editor to create your own missions from taking out a small patrol to assaulting a gigantic base.

ArmA is as close as you can get to really flying a helicopter and driving a tank, it is as close as you can get to participating in a war without actually being shipped to Iraq or Afghanistan. This is why I love ArmA. It is unique and in my opinion extremely fun. I definitelly agree that it is not for everyone, but if you are a fan of simulation you ought to check out ArmA. You can pick it up on Steam for a couple of bucks.

RPG7 vs BMP2