ArmA II

[Bolkonsky]

Before I start, I recognize that there's already an ARMA II review, but it was written before they released several patches, so I figured it was due for a revised opinion.

ARMA II

ARMA II

Since HorseArcher already discussed the history of the franchise, I'll spare you the details on that, and delve right into the actual review. Just a couple quick notes about the game, me, and my system first, or if you want, just skip down a bit to the content.

About Me, My Bab- err, PC, and ARMA II

I'm a semi-avid gamer. I like to play games, mod games, heck, I'm even trying to program a game. (Epic failure at the moment though.) I also like to read, write, and play airsoft. At age 18 I have plans to enlist the the ROTC, and for those of you who don't know what that is, it's the US Officer Training Corp. Why is this relevant? Well, I'm just pointing out that I'm an avid military enthusiast, and a fairly intense gamer. I feel I should also point out that, while I don't own any of the Call of Duty, barring the first one, I have played them all. PC Specs My computer's specs: -Manufacturer: Me -Motherboard: 750i SLI (Extreme if it changes anything.) -Processor: Intel e6500 (Dual Core) @ 2.93 ghz -RAM: 4 GB of PC2-8500 (DDR2) -GPU: 2 GeForce 9500 GTs running in SLI, set to maximum performance, calculating physics on my CPU. -VRAM: My PC is saying 2800 mb As you can see, I don't have the best PC, but it's not the worst either. I keep my graphics set to about medium, and some things closer to high. (Textures, and Object Detail) while things like Postprocessing effects are off completely. (Primarily because they annoy me, though.) The game runs at a consistent 35-40 FPS for me, with no big bugs or glitches. Finally a bit about the game. At the time I'm writing this review, (12/14/10) it's been over a year since ARMA II was released, and the latest patch is 1.08. I'd list the changelog, but it's rather long. Suffice it to say, they supposedly fixed 90% off the biggest bugs. I've also played it for around 15 hours.

To say it simply, ARMA II is brilliant. Just brilliant. A real time, non-stop, completely dynamic and beautifully made landscape make ARMA II the perfect setting to make a military FPS. BI should be extremely proud of themselves with this masterpiece. It's unequaled on so many levels. The gameplay is a little unpolished, but that's to be expected with all military simulators. If you're looking for cool moves, and lots of dead Nazis, this is not the game to play. ARMA II is more about achieving your mission goals without killing civilians. Those two things will prioritize your whole campaign, and there'll be consequences if you fail either of them.


The gameplay is great. Animations are a little clumsy, collision is mediocre at best, there's several things I would change, but nothing sticks out as a game breaking bug. If you're a roleplayer, (like myself) you'll find that there's a variety of fun animations, such as a salute, and a sitting animation. There's no jump animation, just a vault one, which can be kind of a pain in the neck, since you can do it anywhere, and it looks rather silly in third person. That being said, all the animations look fantastic in first person, and the game is really made with first person in mind.


The guns are one of the best things in this game. They supposedly feature real-world ballistics, and penetrate only certain armors at a certain speed. They also aren't underpowered. One shot to the torso or head should be enough to take down a bad guy with most guns. This can be quite annoying at times, when you're crossing the map in a helicopter, and suddenly get killed out of nowhere by a sniper who you can't even see, but for the most part, things like that don't happen, and you should be safe enough.



Due to the length this review would be if I delved into every feature, I'll try and sum up the remaining gameplay features in one paragraph. For starters, you can drive everything but the aircraft carrier. I'm serious. Be it a tank, a humvee, a car, a jeep, a helicopter, you can drive it. This was a pleasant surprise, but most of the time I prefer to go on bicycle (yes, they have those) or car. You can individually manage all members of your team almost flawlessly. It's difficult to lose them, and once you get past the rather sloped learning curve, you'll find that you can order each of your troops to do things quickly, and effectively. Aside from getting into vehicles, which takes them about 10 seconds or so, they do their jobs rather well. If you're having trouble, just press "T" which lets you switch to them.

A quick mention for support as well. Also with a steep learning curve, once you have it mastered, you can call for an airlift to save your ass, an artillery barrage to stall enemies while your airlift is getting there, and/or a variety of other options. It's as simple as clicking on support, calling it in, opening the map, and choosing the location. It works flawlessly as well. There's so much more I could go into, but this is getting rather lengthy.


Now for the graphics! (dun dun dun!) Sadly so many gamers base almost their entire gameplay experience on graphics, and for those of you who do, you won't be disappointed! The graphics are insane, and there's a variety of video options to play with. However, sadly, your computer will most likely explode with everything on high, so you'll have to pick and choose, and make difficult sacrifices for the greater good of the god known as "Framerate" (what a cruel god!) For those of you will older computers, everything has a "Very Low" option, so share the love because it might just work on your PC! I'll post a couple screenshots just to show off the beauty, and I should mention, I haven't found any graphical glitches or bugs yet.


_{Note: I did not take any of these. X-Fire refuses to work with the game, so these are from a quick Google search, and place here only for your convenience.}



Sadly, none of these can even come close to fulfilling the sensation gained by viewing the gorgeous landscape from the crew chief position of a chopper, but it's better than nothing, I suppose.


Finally we get to the sound category. The gun effects are good, semi-realistic I think, and generally fulfilling. The voice acting is terrible, outside of your four man squad, everything is pretty awful. It takes some getting used to when someone says "Enemy Sniper. 200. Yards. Four O. Clock." in five different voices, but you generally learn to appreciate the fact that he's saving you from certain death, (this game is hard as hell) and ignore the horrible speech. The music is intermittent, good, dramatic, and bound to get a bit of adrenaline rushing. It seems to come in at just the right time, and I'm generally satisfied with that. So no real complaints here.

Overall Scores

Overall Scores

-Gameplay:
9.6/10
Great gameplay, with fewer bugs, and while you're bound to get frustrated with some things, the fact that everything is so dynamic and it has so many great features, easily makes up for it.

-Graphics:
8/10
They're amazing, but you'll need a NASA computer to put them all the way up. At the same time, however, it doesn't take much to make the game look nice, and you can put them way down for an older system.

-Sound:
7/10
Like I said. Only downside is the awful voice acting that you eventually come to love and appreciate. Especially when it saves you from dying. Music's really good as well.

And of course, there's about ten million different way to play the game, so you can always go back and give it a shot. I see myself investing 500 hours into this over the course of the next few years, especially with the great mod community, co-op multiplayer, and game editor!

Final Score: 9/10

Be certain to buy this! Well worth the money in every aspect, they're still supporting and patching it, and in my opinion, it's better than ever, and a true PC game!

[HansDuet]

I love the game but beign completely honest:
It lacks a working, fun to play campaign most importantly and when released, was very unfinished and buggy. Sounds are rather pathetic too, especially weapon sounds. Luckily you can fix them with mods.

But when you start to experience and making your own missions it is pure gold. No, platinum. At its best.
Its one of those games you either love or hate, I love it but I just can't go around recommending it as a must buy like I can do with Operation Flashpoint.

But it is a true heir of OFP.

[Bolkonsky]

See, I found the campaign to be fantastic. I love the plot so far, the missions are fairly stable, it's rather dynamic, so a few things can go wrong, but I think that just makes it all the more better.

Have you played the campaign with the patched versions?

[HansDuet]

I love the plot so far

What do you mean "so far"? Surely you have finished it before making a review?

Yea, not the latest but a patched version yes. The lack of good campaign is the achilles' heel of this game. The ace is replayability which is on the level of OFP. As for the plot and missions, not really my liking. It quite lacks big battles and concentrates on 4 man team going around the island in a jeep, looking for mass graves. I want good infantry battles with 4+ squads involved, the thing that this engine does best, not some spec-opsing.

Luckily there is the brilliant mission editor.

Operation Arrowhead campaign is much more fun but still they could do a lot better.

[Bolkonsky]

What do you mean "so far"? Surely you have finished it before making a review?

Nope, not done yet. I've played it for around 15 hours, as I stated above.

Yea, not the latest but a patched version yes. The lack of good campaign is the achilles' heel of this game. The ace is replayability which is on the level of OFP. As for the plot and missions, not really my liking. It quite lacks big battles and concentrates on 4 man team going around the island in a jeep, looking for mass graves. I want good infantry battles with 4+ squads involved, the thing that this engine does best, not some spec-opsing.

Luckily there is the brilliant mission editor.

Operation Arrowhead campaign is much more fun but still they could do a lot better.

Yeah, I wouldn't mind some big urban battles. There's a couple small-ish battles, but OA's campaign does seem more fun. (I have OA, just haven't played much of it yet.)

[Danny_K_1]

A more well deserving review in my opinion. + Rep.

[Bolkonsky]

Thanks!

[Raied]

Excellent review for an excellent game. + Rep

[ToonTotalWar]

ARMA 2 is a good game, but without the modding community such as Armaholic the game would not be the same game. Mods for this game are what make its success.

[HansDuet]

I disagree. Large modding community is a very good thing and it produces lots of missions and other stuff but still its only modding community. That alone won't make a game.

Kudos to Bohemia for making it easy to mod. In that way too its the heir of OFP.

Has anyone got the PMC dlc btw? It sounds interesting but I have insufficient funds to do pretty much anything right now.

[Bolkonsky]

Has anyone got the PMC dlc btw? It sounds interesting but I have insufficient funds to do pretty much anything right now.

Nope, not yet. It looked really cool, I'm hoping it'll go on sale with the other DLC around Christmas time.

[AussieGuy]

Could you do a OA review?

[Bolkonsky]

If I have time. Probably won't be until after Christmas though, as I haven't played much of OA.

[ToonTotalWar]

I disagree. Large modding community is a very good thing and it produces lots of missions and other stuff but still its only modding community. That alone won't make a game.

Kudos to Bohemia for making it easy to mod. In that way too its the heir of OFP.

Has anyone got the PMC dlc btw? It sounds interesting but I have insufficient funds to do pretty much anything right now.

ok i forgot, yes kudos to Bohemia for making the game and alllowing us to mod the game easily

[Hunyadi Mátyás]

This game kicks ! It's even better than OFP2!

[HansDuet]

OFP2 sucks donkey balls so thats not much.

[Bolkonsky]

Yeah, it stunk.

[herosshamy]

ARMA II is a really fantastic games for all. Weapons are one of the best things in this game. It works very well. Ace is the replay value is the OFP. Weapon effects are good, semi-realistic, I think, and usually met. It is more technological games then other. ARMA II is more about your mission objectives without killing civilians.

[Atatürk]

It's got lots of mods and skins as well.

If only my computer could run it.

[Bolkonsky]

Yeah, that's the biggest downside.

Recommended Intel i7 for PMC. (For the record though, it does run fine on a Pentium e6500)