ArmA: Armed Assault

Operation Flashpoint enters next-gen? Hmmm.

	Version PC	Developer Bohemia Interactive	Publisher 505 Games	Genre FPS

Page: 1  2 

Page 2

Yes, I am a "n00b," hush down. This seriousness can be a bit much for players of my disposition - I like to take the piss and muck about, to be honest, but I can definitely see this style prevailing in a game as straight-faced and downright hard as ArmA, and it's refreshing to see. Multiplayer battles, as previously mentioned, can involve up to 100 combatants, meaning some truly epic battles are on the cards - having said that, it can still take you about twenty minutes to leg it a quarter of the distance of the island to get to the combat zone. I actually did this, only to be sniped as soon as I entered the area. Ah, rage.

This leads me nicely on to the main sticking point I had with ArmA - now I have to say "I" as I know a hell of a lot of people will have no issue with this, but anyway - the game is furiously hard at times, what with it relying on realism and all. Personally, I don't want to be involved in a real firefight in a game, confused, alone and quite bewildered - I want to be a one-man war machine taking down dozens of the enemy team before being shot down in a blaze of glory. Battlefield 2: stand up...

ArmA has its audience, and the format sticks unsurprisingly close to what Operation Flashpoint originally set out - it's certainly more of the same in that respect, but the scale of everything has been upped, with more land, vehicles, weapons and everything else. It's the spiritual successor made to appeal to fans of the first, and certainly not one to cash in on any trends. Admirable, but still not my thing.

Other negatives come from more superficial aspects - graphically the game isn't great, and looks particularly poor compared to some of its contemporaries. Again, this is missing the point somewhat, as this isn't a game about good looks (and to be fair, lower detail most likely helps with keeping things going in the 100 player battles), but it's still a bit embarrassing for a new game to look five years old out of the box.

Sound is generally spot on, but the way orders/details etc are announced is jarring at best, sounding like the autistic son of the talking clock. Again, I'm missing the point I know, as this method means absolutely any order at any time can be issued by anyone to anyone. That's a necessity more than anything else. But so what? I'm arrogant enough to demand better from my games, and that's what I'll do here.

It's things like this that leave a sour taste in the mouth and make ArmA feel unfinished, if not just severely unpolished. It's a decent romp, but I can do without the seriousness of it all. Back to being ROFLN00Bed at Battlefield, then.

Graphics Sound Gameplay Depth Presentation OVERALL 6.0 6.0 5.0 6.0 6.0 6.0

THE VERDICT: ArmA will, shockingly enough, appeal to fans of Operation Flashpoint. That was the reason it was created. It's something that will appeal only to fans of military simulation. There's a lot out there, but I'm not one of them. Besides, the game feels unfinished and is annoyingly unpolished, leaving the experience tarnished somewhat. Plus getting shot in the face after running for 20 minutes solid is just plain wrong.

Page: 1  2