A step forward, but still taking baby steps.

User Rating: 7.7 | ArmA: Armed Assault PC
By lordmonfort | Review Date:
I've been a big fan of Op: Flashpoint for years and held in as most realistic combat sim out there...not the best looking or most stable, but certainly the most realistic. Most OFP fans always knew that there was a version of the program that was used by the US Armed forces for training purposes and when ARMA came out I thought this was that product. I played the Demo endlessly with a few friends and when it finally hit the shelves this week I couldn't resist. Here are my initial reactions:

I recently bought a new PC, but found that ARMA ran very poorly unless I dropped my graphics down to 640x480...Although I have to admit I'm running Vista and I'm not happy with it and will be switching back to XP soon. The graphics have been greatly improved over OFP, but Bohemia did very little to update the sound...why? The sound of OFP was never good to begin with. The new depth of field blurring is great and does bring some level of realism, but it would have been better if they could have made some sort of way to adjust your focus. The amount of tall grass is a bit troublesome as well...90% of the time I layed prone, I couldnt see my target because the view was completely obscured by tall grasses. This might not be a problem for conventional Milsims, but when you take into account the deadly range of the weapons in ARMA, you need to be able to see you target through all those plants. I havent had a chance to go Multiplayer yet, but hope to as soon as I can a few friend to buy a copy of the game. They did leave the old Mission Editor which is very easy to use and tons of fun...you can create any possible situation you want and with a little help from online guides anything is possible. Another great thing about ARMA is the ability to create skins and mods...so soon there will be hundreds of new islands, units, weapons, vehicles; not to mention new campaigns, MP maps, SP missions, ect....this alone will most likely put ARMA as the most comprehensive Milsim game out there (as it did with OFP).

Pros: *New graphics engine
*Depth of field Burring *Easy to use Editor
*Vast online resource of free mods to enhance the original game
*The most realistic battlefield experience on the PC

Cons:
*Horrible antiquated sound (someone should hack and rip the GRAW sound files to replace existing ones)
*Running high graphics is extremely taxing on PC..even newer systems.
*Not enough to deem it as a new game, but rather a rehash of OFP

In short, ARMA is a revamped version of Op:Flashpoint, but while most will say that little has changed, fans of the original will tell you that's a good thing.

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