so what's your opinion on ARMA II ?

I

indokyne

2[H]4U
Joined
Jun 21, 2006
Messages
2,159
I'm seeing mixed reviews from review sites - obviously taken w/ a grain of salt.

What are your experiences of ARMA II?

I'm mainly interested in the multiplayer aspect.

Games I like:
Delta Force Black Hawk Down series
Call of Duty Series (MW, MW2)
 
indokyne said:
I'm seeing mixed reviews from review sites - obviously taken w/ a grain of salt.

What are your experiences of ARMA II?

I'm mainly interested in the multiplayer aspect.

Games I like:
Delta Force Black Hawk Down series
Call of Duty Series (MW, MW2)
Click to expand...

ARMAII is a military simulator, COD is an arcade game.
 
Don't buy it if you want to jump into the action immediately. I've played this game COOP online, it has a long learning curve (even more so with the ACE Mod installed) but the overall game is awesome.
 
The ARMA2 is pretty good, especially now with the new patches. It is not COD, there are some servers out there that use various mods to get that feel, but meh.

Arma 2 is a great ground combat sim, and I stress SIM. It does tend to have a bit bigger learning curve then the standard run and gun FPS it is worth it. There are some great tactical servers out there and in my opinion the COOP maps are where the game really shines.
 
Im not sure I can classify this as a game, its more simulator than game. I couldn't find the demo fun no matter how hard I tried.
 
Yeah, as previously stated, Its a sim.. Takes a While to get used to all the controls and feel. But once you overcome that, its awesome.
 
Its fun as far as sims go but I was never truly happy with it since it was a little to simy for me. Now ofp dr I really felt was a great mix of sim and arcade but fell on it's face due to codemasters genius decision to go with p2p mp instead of server's.
 
PrincessFrosty said:
Im not sure I can classify this as a game, its more simulator than game. I couldn't find the demo fun no matter how hard I tried.
Click to expand...

Me either. I appreciated the hard work that was obviously put into the effort but when even picking up some ammo is a semi-chore that takes more than the one step it should, I know it's not for me.
 
Considering the plethora of weapons available, getting ammo out of a crate is actually quite quick. Approach, select rearm option from the action menu, be on your way. :D

Seriously, if you want twitchy run-and-gun gaming then Arma 2 is not for you. The game is not very forgiving to tactical mistakes. You will die. A lot. If you are willing to accept that the depth of the game is quite fun. Hitting a 30+ person server running a coop map like Domination while using voice comms to coordinate a combined arms assault can be awesome. There are some quirks that you have to adjust to but the mods alone expand the game well beyond anything else.
 
PanzerBoxb said:
Considering the plethora of weapons available, getting ammo out of a crate is actually quite quick. Approach, select rearm option from the action menu, be on your way. :D
Click to expand...

I'm told the final game certainly runs better than the demo and getting something simple done like ammo isn't quite the minor annoyance like it seemed to be in the demo, either. ;)


Seriously, if you want twitchy run-and-gun gaming then Arma 2 is not for you. The game is not very forgiving to tactical mistakes. You will die. A lot. If you are willing to accept that the depth of the game is quite fun. Hitting a 30+ person server running a coop map like Domination while using voice comms to coordinate a combined arms assault can be awesome. There are some quirks that you have to adjust to but the mods alone expand the game well beyond anything else.
Click to expand...

I'd like to try the actual final game myself sometime. :)
 
I bought it for 25$ when it went on sale at Steam - I played one mission, and then got to a city, and couldn't figure out how to direct my squad mates. They would just stand there while being shot at by snipers. After two hours of that I just gave up.

And during the tutorial mission, even though the tutorial sort of told you what to do, I spent literally a half an hour... no exaggeration, seriously a half an hour... trying to figure out how to open a box of ammunition and then take it out of the box and equip it.

Flying the helicopter was kind of fun though.
 
The patch level is 1.05 now and yes, as of 1.04 the performance was much improved. Now, don't get me wrong. The game on max settings with view distance out to 4K still makes my GTX260/SLI setup cry on occasion.
 
PanzerBoxb said:
The patch level is 1.05 now and yes, as of 1.04 the performance was much improved. Now, don't get me wrong. The game on max settings with view distance out to 4K still makes my GTX260/SLI setup cry on occasion.
Click to expand...

I remember playing a few single player missions where you would turn to where a town was with alot of structures, like buildings and shit, and watch my fps go from very smooth and playable to a slideshow. Pissed me off.

Of course I haven't played the game in months, probably since last september or more. I know they have supposedly improved it quite a bit but I lost interest.
 
Large cities can still be a problem due to the large number of textures involved. Yes, you can turn rapidly and sit there for a moment watching all the textures pop up.
 
Once you get the hang of it the game kicks complete ass. Much more optimized than it was, I remember when my 285 ran like shit - that's been patched though and everything is good. They also released DLC called 'Eagle Wing' that adds the AH-64 to the game. Currently working on an expansion as well. You need to get Ace Mod 2 if you pick up Arma 2. It is a system killer though.

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=73531
 
I tried the demo when it initially came out and the thing that turned me off straight away was the overly complicated way to do simple things like the aforementioned getting ammo out of a box. A sim I can understand, but there is so much you can sim where it becomes not fun whatsoever. After that I was almost expecting to have to go to the latrine and what tortuous ways it would make me go through just to open a door and set on the pot :rolleyes:

Now, don't get me wrong, I like sims, and I can certainly understand the need for various ways to do things while in a plane or tank, but to do simple things like get ammo or equip a gun should NOT require a menu>submenu>equip>action> type of contrivance. Those type of things are what I call "no brainers" which one shouldn't have to have to put much thought into. Flying an Apache or or driving a M1A1 I can totally understanding needing to go through several steps to get it started and ready to go, but walking up to a crate of ammo or doing something like opening a door shouldn't be something one has to "think" about.
 
Buxaroo said:
I tried the demo when it initially came out and the thing that turned me off straight away was the overly complicated way to do simple things like the aforementioned getting ammo out of a box. A sim I can understand, but there is so much you can sim where it becomes not fun whatsoever. After that I was almost expecting to have to go to the latrine and what tortuous ways it would make me go through just to open a door and set on the pot :rolleyes:

Now, don't get me wrong, I like sims, and I can certainly understand the need for various ways to do things while in a plane or tank, but to do simple things like get ammo or equip a gun should NOT require a menu>submenu>equip>action> type of contrivance. Those type of things are what I call "no brainers" which one shouldn't have to have to put much thought into. Flying an Apache or or driving a M1A1 I can totally understanding needing to go through several steps to get it started and ready to go, but walking up to a crate of ammo or doing something like opening a door shouldn't be something one has to "think" about.
Click to expand...

Exactly right.

It's called "being over-engineered."

It shouldn't take 3-4 steps to do what 1 really should do and no, I don't mean it dumb it down like an arcade game.

A game can be a hardcore sim and still be intuitive. That wasn't my experience with the demo.
 
ARMA 2 is great, but its an acquired taste with a somewhat steep learning curve compared to other games. I've rarely encountered any problems with the game others have, it's been rock solid. Incidentally, I believe Project Reality for BF2 to be superior in terms of game play and mechanics, by far.

I think a combination of ARMA 2 and PR would be exactly what I've been looking for in a game. Much hope for PR2.
 
Last edited:
Agreed with most of the sentiment here. this is not a game for everyone. Its also a bit of a work in process with the continuous development and support this game receives from both BIS and the community. Perhaps I am just used to it at this point, but comments like "its too hard to figure out how to re-arm" seem a bit weird. You walk up to where you want to re-arm from (a dead body / a weapon box, etc.) and click gear or hit "g". Then you select what you want. It's 2 steps right? I know in some FPS you just run over a dead body and you magically pick up ammo, but even games like MW2 you go over a dead body and it gives you an option to pick up the weapon from that dead body and you have to push a button right? So this is one more step? I think the Arma 2 way makes more sense because maybe you only want to grab smoke grenades off the dead body or whatever, rather than switch kit.

To be honest after playing with the system since OFP I just feel its better and I have a hard time getting into any new FPS because I genuinly feel they all miss too many components that Arma offers. Its just my opinion, please don't be mad at me. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy games like MW2 and Crysis, I just feel they are more throw away in nature. Play through them, enjoy the story, then go back to Arma 2.

Also, unfortunately the demo is a pretty poor indicator of the overall game at this point I believe.
 
I played the demo and didn't like it

but this thread has got me debating picking up the game...hmm decisions, decisions
 
I thought the original was quirky, and this new one looks like it will destroy my rig so I will wait to build a new one before I buy this.
 
nubbin77 said:
Also, unfortunately the demo is a pretty poor indicator of the overall game at this point I believe.
Click to expand...

I think that's the most encouraging news out of all of this for any potential fence sitters or people like me who, despite not liking the demo, haven't fully written this thing off simply because it's obvious what a high quality work it is and there's a lot to like about it. :)
 
I'd love to get it for cheap, but I don't know if I can justify the price. Check out "Virtual Battlespace 2" - its a highly modified military version of ARMA2 made for VR military simulation! I heard there's a free version of it floating around somewhere, but I can't seem to find the "right" one on the website.
 
When Operation Arrowhead comes out it will have a lot of the VBS2 features built in.
 
VBS2 is based on the Arma 1 engine and shows its age. The free version you are talking about is the British Army's equivalent to the America's Army game. They hand it out at shows and recruiting events. It is commonly referred to as JCOVE.
 
I bought arma2 the week it came out last summer and I really hate how I feel I wasted 50 bucks. It just feels clunky even when the fps is high and that's just their engine and my fault for biting after playing the demo. I knew what I was in for yet last july was such a dry spell for good games, fps's in particular, that I went in full steam heh.

I can't help but feel that operation flashpoint dragon rising is a much better compromise of graphics, feel ,smoothness and sim than arma2 is yet because of codemasterms p2p bullshit it floundered. I believe if ofpdr had servers it would appeal to a much broader audience. The audience that likes cod/bf but who would like a little more tactical/sim in their life.
 
I'll agree that OFP: DR has some good points but not nearly the depth that Arma 2 gives. Now, if BI would just rewrite the damned engine completely instead of rehasing... :cool:
 
See the thing is OFP:DR looks good to me. Obviously not as good as arma2 maxed out but hell it runs light years better and just feels smoother and is a more refined version of this same engine. So if CM can do it why can't BI? I mean I'm all about eye candy and I'm a graphics whore just like the rest of us here but at what cost? Where do you draw the line? I personally would take OF's graphics and smoothness and gameplay over arma2's any day of the week and twice on sunday. Oh and the way CM did the radial menus for in game items is also far and away superior to the needlessly complicated way Bi seems to love to make the most trival shit.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top