Armed Assault 2, or ArmA 2, is a very unique game when compared to the other shooter titles we've seen out in the past few years. Its more of a simulation than a FPS, or 3PS.
What that means is, it tries desperately to focus on being "realistic".
Yet these days it seems for a game to be "realistic" you have to be killed in 2 shots, while your enemies take 4 or 5, you suffer from fatigue much more than your AI counterparts, and when looking through a scope, your character suddenly develops a severe case of the shakes. I admire the fact a lesser known publisher can make a (near) mainstream title, but ArmA 2 sufferers from a ton of problems.
Lets start with the single player. Arma2's single player campaign follows a 4 man USMC Recon team, sent into the war torn former Soviet controlled Island of Chenerus. You can play as all of the 4 and switch seamlessly from one to another, but you will spend most of your time as Cooper, the leader.
In just about every mission (except for the first 2) you are given intel, maps, bios and profiles on your target(s) and then left to your own devices, allowed to tackle the mission in any way, shape, or form you see fit. Weather that by legging it up a hill and calling down gunship strikes on a hostile controlled town, moving in with the cover of armor, or just taking your chances in house to house fighting, plus the HUGE open world, is a very unique feature to the game and campaign.
Thats right, there are no "maps" or "levels" you are on the same Map for every mission, and can go anywhere within that map, at any time. The map is one of the biggest I've played, to drive from one side to the other would take a great deal of time, and walking it would be impossible.
All that seems awesome, right? Well, it is. But there is one huge issues that not only overshadows the awesome open world, immersion game play, but downright ruins it, and uses it against you.
That issue, would be the AI. To put it bluntly, its awful. And among the worst I've ever seen in a game. The devs prided themselves on the unscripted, self acting AI, and it is by far, the biggest flaw of the game.
The enemy AI cheats. Yes, they cheat. In a game as unforgiving and "realistic" as possible, you would expect a sniper shot from 400m away, blowing your officers head off would throw you into panic, causing you to scatter and take cover, right? Well, in ArmA 2, once you fire, from any position, the AI automatically locks, and fixes onto your position. No matter if your totally hidden from the naked eye. This can be proven by a simple console command which allows you to see through the eyes of the AI, who instantly throw a large red square around you labeled TARGET! Not only is that bad, but sometimes they will raise their AKSU, fire off a burst, and kill you. Yes, from 400m away, with iron sights on a AKSU, killing a ghillied up sniper...with a single burst.
Now thats obviously frustrating in any game. But add the fact it took you 30 minutes of careful planning, moving, and crawling to get there, just to be cheated into death is unforgivable.
And to sum up your Friendly-AI, it's well.. retarded. They will jump out of choppers too soon, killing themselves and ending the missions, having a strange desire to stay in a formation, even when under fire from a Soviet attack chopper, standing out in the middle of the street with a handgun, while an entire battalion is firing on them, you know, little things...
On a lighter note, there is a really cool editor mode, which gives you every soldier, civilian, animal, tank, vehicle, Soviet, Guerrilla, Marine, etc etc in the game, and trust me when I say, there are hundreds of options for vehicles, soldiers and civilians on all sides. You can place them anywhere on the map, and create your own breathtaking fire fights, or just drive around with a 200 tank armed escort. You will for sure lose yourself in the editor, making up your own scenarios and playing them out on any side of the conflict you want, or just getting into a jet and bombing villages of innocent bystanders. And there is really no limit on how many units you can have, given you have a VERY good computer, which brings me to the next part.
The game looks simply amazing. At times, I've taken screen shots that, at first glance, look too real. My desktop background was a screen shot from ArmA 2, a Spetsnaz squad dropping down from a helicopter onto a roof. When my girlfriend saw it she asked "Oh cool, was that taken in Russia? It looks Russian" I told her to take a closer look, and it still took her a few seconds to tell it was a game. Yes, it looks that damn good. But you will need a top notch gamin computer to run it. Even the lowest quality is still on par with some graphics in console games recently released, while Very high quality is probably the best looking game I've ever seen.
For my final section, Multiplayer. This is where most say the game shines, massive coop battles with 60 other players, all working on different squad based objectives, or linking up with a massive tank assault on a capital city, to huge 30 vs 30 battles where each player is a commander, and can purchase units to command, and take over different cities across the map. There is currently nothing else out there that rivals the feeling of being in a tank, commanding 5 or 6 other tanks against another player, who has his own tanks and AT infantry firing at you and your men.
But so far, my favorite multiplayer server has to be the Chenerus Life Revolution server. It is a life sim, where you take control of a civilian, or a cop, with 20-30 other players and try to earn money, and make a living. As a civilian, you can buy a number of licenses, from driving to boating, to gun permits and oiling licenses. If no players are out on the oil fields, gas prices at the gas stations will sky rocket. Or, you can buy a boat, head to the terrorist hideout, and being using your hard earned money (weather you worked honestly for it, or sold and smuggled drugs) to buy weapons, smuggle them onto the mainland, and sell them at higher prices to other players.
The cops on the other hand, work their hardest to stop crime, and keep order in the sometimes chaotic cities of Chenerus, where bank robberies, shootouts and car chases happen pretty frequently.
The verdict, I would openly suggest this game to anyone who is on the fence, has peaked interest, or is a fan of simulations. For sim fans, the flying alone will keep you busy for hours, people are always looking for skilled pilots (some people JUST pilot aircraft, and hardly ever fire a weapon). Or, the Chenerus Life Revolution servers can provide you with countless hours of entertainment. While the single player campaign can be very..very...VERY annoying and tedious, and the AI is downright bad, I have already played nearly 100 hours of ArmA 2, and little else. 50 dollars for 100+ hours of entertainment, and growing? Yeah, I'd say thats a deal.
(my first review ever, really. lemme know what you think.
)
What that means is, it tries desperately to focus on being "realistic".
Yet these days it seems for a game to be "realistic" you have to be killed in 2 shots, while your enemies take 4 or 5, you suffer from fatigue much more than your AI counterparts, and when looking through a scope, your character suddenly develops a severe case of the shakes. I admire the fact a lesser known publisher can make a (near) mainstream title, but ArmA 2 sufferers from a ton of problems.
Lets start with the single player. Arma2's single player campaign follows a 4 man USMC Recon team, sent into the war torn former Soviet controlled Island of Chenerus. You can play as all of the 4 and switch seamlessly from one to another, but you will spend most of your time as Cooper, the leader.
In just about every mission (except for the first 2) you are given intel, maps, bios and profiles on your target(s) and then left to your own devices, allowed to tackle the mission in any way, shape, or form you see fit. Weather that by legging it up a hill and calling down gunship strikes on a hostile controlled town, moving in with the cover of armor, or just taking your chances in house to house fighting, plus the HUGE open world, is a very unique feature to the game and campaign.
Thats right, there are no "maps" or "levels" you are on the same Map for every mission, and can go anywhere within that map, at any time. The map is one of the biggest I've played, to drive from one side to the other would take a great deal of time, and walking it would be impossible.
All that seems awesome, right? Well, it is. But there is one huge issues that not only overshadows the awesome open world, immersion game play, but downright ruins it, and uses it against you.
That issue, would be the AI. To put it bluntly, its awful. And among the worst I've ever seen in a game. The devs prided themselves on the unscripted, self acting AI, and it is by far, the biggest flaw of the game.
The enemy AI cheats. Yes, they cheat. In a game as unforgiving and "realistic" as possible, you would expect a sniper shot from 400m away, blowing your officers head off would throw you into panic, causing you to scatter and take cover, right? Well, in ArmA 2, once you fire, from any position, the AI automatically locks, and fixes onto your position. No matter if your totally hidden from the naked eye. This can be proven by a simple console command which allows you to see through the eyes of the AI, who instantly throw a large red square around you labeled TARGET! Not only is that bad, but sometimes they will raise their AKSU, fire off a burst, and kill you. Yes, from 400m away, with iron sights on a AKSU, killing a ghillied up sniper...with a single burst.
Now thats obviously frustrating in any game. But add the fact it took you 30 minutes of careful planning, moving, and crawling to get there, just to be cheated into death is unforgivable.
And to sum up your Friendly-AI, it's well.. retarded. They will jump out of choppers too soon, killing themselves and ending the missions, having a strange desire to stay in a formation, even when under fire from a Soviet attack chopper, standing out in the middle of the street with a handgun, while an entire battalion is firing on them, you know, little things...
On a lighter note, there is a really cool editor mode, which gives you every soldier, civilian, animal, tank, vehicle, Soviet, Guerrilla, Marine, etc etc in the game, and trust me when I say, there are hundreds of options for vehicles, soldiers and civilians on all sides. You can place them anywhere on the map, and create your own breathtaking fire fights, or just drive around with a 200 tank armed escort. You will for sure lose yourself in the editor, making up your own scenarios and playing them out on any side of the conflict you want, or just getting into a jet and bombing villages of innocent bystanders. And there is really no limit on how many units you can have, given you have a VERY good computer, which brings me to the next part.
The game looks simply amazing. At times, I've taken screen shots that, at first glance, look too real. My desktop background was a screen shot from ArmA 2, a Spetsnaz squad dropping down from a helicopter onto a roof. When my girlfriend saw it she asked "Oh cool, was that taken in Russia? It looks Russian" I told her to take a closer look, and it still took her a few seconds to tell it was a game. Yes, it looks that damn good. But you will need a top notch gamin computer to run it. Even the lowest quality is still on par with some graphics in console games recently released, while Very high quality is probably the best looking game I've ever seen.
For my final section, Multiplayer. This is where most say the game shines, massive coop battles with 60 other players, all working on different squad based objectives, or linking up with a massive tank assault on a capital city, to huge 30 vs 30 battles where each player is a commander, and can purchase units to command, and take over different cities across the map. There is currently nothing else out there that rivals the feeling of being in a tank, commanding 5 or 6 other tanks against another player, who has his own tanks and AT infantry firing at you and your men.
But so far, my favorite multiplayer server has to be the Chenerus Life Revolution server. It is a life sim, where you take control of a civilian, or a cop, with 20-30 other players and try to earn money, and make a living. As a civilian, you can buy a number of licenses, from driving to boating, to gun permits and oiling licenses. If no players are out on the oil fields, gas prices at the gas stations will sky rocket. Or, you can buy a boat, head to the terrorist hideout, and being using your hard earned money (weather you worked honestly for it, or sold and smuggled drugs) to buy weapons, smuggle them onto the mainland, and sell them at higher prices to other players.
The cops on the other hand, work their hardest to stop crime, and keep order in the sometimes chaotic cities of Chenerus, where bank robberies, shootouts and car chases happen pretty frequently.
The verdict, I would openly suggest this game to anyone who is on the fence, has peaked interest, or is a fan of simulations. For sim fans, the flying alone will keep you busy for hours, people are always looking for skilled pilots (some people JUST pilot aircraft, and hardly ever fire a weapon). Or, the Chenerus Life Revolution servers can provide you with countless hours of entertainment. While the single player campaign can be very..very...VERY annoying and tedious, and the AI is downright bad, I have already played nearly 100 hours of ArmA 2, and little else. 50 dollars for 100+ hours of entertainment, and growing? Yeah, I'd say thats a deal.
(my first review ever, really. lemme know what you think.
)
