Arma 2 was an awkward beast when it was released in the hot summer months of 2009. You were lucky if your computer ran it smoothly plus the game was plagued with bugs and on-line lag issues. At first impression the game may have felt unfinished and broken but this is forgivable however when you consider the scope of this military simulator. The detail of the 225 km2 streaming landscape, the mostly accurate representation of the 80 weapons and 130 drivable vehicles, the deep ballistics modelling, comprehensive mission editor and the infinitely moddable engine all combine to create something truly unique. This review might be sounding like a US Army inventory check-list at the moment but I’m just trying to hammer into you just how bloody massive this game was. Arma 2 was the most ambitious videogame ever made in the field of trying to simulate infantry combat and while, in the remaining months of 2009 you may have cursed Bohemias name for their lack of polish, entering into 2010 and after several substantial patches you would have been playing with an entirely different and much improved beast.

By the time Operation Arrowhead was released the Arma 2 engine, ‘Real Virtuality 3’ had been optimised, tweaked and stabilised. This meant that from the very beginning ‘OA’ was an excellent experience and not the buggy mess which Arma 2 was. OA features all of the features of Arma 2 but also adds some game changing additions to its inventory, (I mentioned most of them in the introductory paragraph). Two of my favorite additions would be the optics and the UAV Littlebird. OA’s release coincided with my first purchase of a joystick, this meant that I wanted to fly planes and helicopters at every opportunity. Fortunately there’s an excellent single mission in OA which lets you fly the Apache and also deploy the UAV from it, this mission – quite brilliantly shows you what you can do with this combination of vehicle. You fly the Apache from an airfield, over some mountains but then stop miles away from your objective. From the Apache you then deploy the UAV which has a flightpath way-point system you can set from the map screen. Whilst looking through the UAV’s camera you can switch optics from night to IR white and black. The IR modes very clearly show you the heat signatures generated from the landscape beneath you – this optical vision is most popularly shown in that famous Call of Duty 4 mission, ‘Death From Above’ and just like with the UAZ in Bad Company 2 you use the camera to paint targets for the Apache to lock onto and fire missiles at from its safe distance a few miles back. It is systems like this which show just how simplified games such as Bad Company 2 are when you consider that firing from a UAZ doesn’t require any helicopter to be present to fire on the painted target – the missile just magically appears from the heavens. This isn’t a bad thing on BC2’s part, I just mean to point out the difference.

The new A-10 is a fun aircraft to fly and a great addition to OA. It’s a highly maneuverable flying tank killer and has sure saved my ass more than once in multiplayer. While the simulation of flying and firing the A-10 within OA isn’t quite as realistic as say DCS A-10C Warthog – the flight system is still deeper and requires a touch more skill (especially during bombing runs) than in say, Battlefield 2. I do wish though that Bohemia had modelled that haunting, elephant-like howl which the 30cal cannon strapped onto the nose of the A-10 makes.

All this is just a taste of OA’s features and modes, there’s so much more including a dynamic large-scale singleplayer/coop campaign along with many more single mission scenarios. If you can stand the god-awful dialog and voice acting then the campaign is a fantastic way of learning how to play the game, especially in coop with up to four friends (each one controlling a different aspect/role within the unit.) – the standalone scenarios are some of the best though, I enjoyed each one of these thoroughly, thankfully they omit the need for awkward character development and personality and play out as just straight forward missions.

Such is the strength then of OA’s multiplayer capabilities and community that these elements make the game shine higher than most others out there. I admit – it is not for everyone, the learning curve is steep and the barrier of entry is high but god damn, when it clicks it is like nothing else. As much of a simulator this might be it is much more of a game. A fun game about shooting people in the face just like any other. When you do get to grips with the controls, after spending a few hours in the scenarios learning how to shoot and figuring out your personal style of play, when it all just falls into place and you say, ‘I get it.’ Then you realise just what you have to play with here, it’s a sandbox game like no other, you truly interact with the game in your own way unlike most other games trying to do the same thing could dream of.

Get yourself into a Domination match online with 64+ players playing cooperatively against the AI in a fight for territory across the entire map and you see all of the games brightest features in constant use. This epic multiplayer mode would not be possible without the fantastic mission editor, a deep and easy to use environment which can set up entirely unique multiplayer game modes.

There’s always something new to do in this game – even after you’ve exhausted it’s single player content and have played many hours of multiplayer there’s a bunch of mods out there that dramatically change the way the game behaves. A.C.E 2 is a complete overhaul mod which adds new units, weapons and also tweaks the ballistics modelling and audio, it’s almost like a new game.

At the core of it, this game is smart, tactical and fun – it demands a lot but its rewards are worth it.

[9]

*Arma 3 is due out this year – we can’t wait.

About the author

Michael Manning

Michael is a sound designer and composer working in the games industry. His portfolio can be found at www.manningaudio.com