Arma2

[nakedsquirrel]

Heh, ARMA2 is a bit more than a flight sim there. These are two different games.

I like the way Arma does LOD drawing, it's very dependent on your graphics settings and it works out well in my opinion. I'm not a fan of the distant sprites in Clod.

The difference between the two is I can tweak settings to get Arma to run at a decent FPS. I can drop CLOD to 640x480 and I still get stuttering

[Buchon]

Calling ArmA flight simulator is a bit generous.

I guess his correct definition is Infantry Simulator.

[SsSsSsSsSnake]

"This game is to first person shooters, what IL-2 is to flightsims."




this is what he said

Originally Posted by Buchon

Calling ArmA flight simulator is a bit generous.

I guess his correct definition is Infantry Simulator.

not for long.



http://takeonthegame.com/ helicopter sim in the works by bohemia Interactive. same engine as arma series. ,more indepth flight physics of course

[whoarmongar]

Im a long time OFP and Arma2 player.

In fact even todays machines will not run OFP (2001) at max settings. just because a max setting is in a game doesnt mean it can be utilised.

Arma2 runs very nice with relative high settings, and calling it an infantry simulator just doesnt do it justice. Its true the beating heart of Arma is down in the dirt with the grunts, but it is so much more than just that.

I have played very often a typhoon and F16 falcon (12 aircraft)CoOp mission v 16 ai migs and SUs plus 20 or so armoured units plus the infantry plus another 4 or so ai aircraft plus another 30-40 infantry ai with very little stutter or frame rate problems. remember also these aircraft are moving at very high speed. The bigest advantage with arma is if you are shot down and have to bail out you can still continue playing the game, escape and evade enemy troops, try to steal some transport, or maybe call in a evac chopper(scripted or friend).

I also contend that due to the excelent scenery and maps Arma is on of the best chopper sims I have ever seen. It could be soooo much better except the game designers have made the Hinds and apaches to weak in armour and hit survivability, all done in the interests of "Gameplay".

The Arma2 mod comunity is fabulous. Dont take my word for it just go and look see what this comunity produces. Some of the models and sounds are awe inspiring (the A10 cannons sound fantastic). I have to admit my Arma2 is so modded I dont now know what is "standard" and what is modded. But then again I have no worries about steam banning me from online play with Arma2/OA !

Finally the mission editor in Arma2 is fantastic. Simple to use and with very little scripting additions the ai will do some amazing things. Once after ejecting over enemy territory as I was `chuting down I could see the ai jump into a vehicle to come and get me, believe me being hunted down in a forrest by an enemy ai squad whilst waiting for evac is a really nerve jangling experience.

[Strike]

Originally Posted by Buchon

Calling ArmA flight simulator is a bit generous.

I guess his correct definition is Infantry Simulator.

Are you referring to my post?

Arma does infantry combat well, but armored and flight is "semi-simulator". It's way more detailed and complicated than BFBC2 and the focus is not on fast-paced action, but using tactics and real-life caution when advancing on the battlefield.


Multiplayer in ARMA II can be EPIC because of the importance of good, coordinated teamwork. Many missions I've played you set out with a goal and plan how to acheive it, but things change and you need to rethink the plan again. You'll be looking at maps, scoping out villages and spreading out teammembers more than you'll be doing actual shooting. All weapons have real simulated ballistics with bullet drop, stopping power decrease and wind calculated. An RPG-7 does not fly slowly with a long smoketrail (when using the right mod (I'd recommend ACE 2)). It's more like firing a tankshell. The backblast will wound or kill your teammates, the rocket will impact and penetrate the armor killing the crew inside more often than blowing up the entire tank.

If you are used to the fast-paced action of BFBC2, then it'll be a new experience to try ARMA 2.

Compare it in real-life where you can say the pace and action of BFBC2 is like paintball, versus arma 2 which is like hunting in the forest. The reward for pulling something off in ARMA 2 is far better IMO than winning a match in BFBC2.

You have a wide variety of weapons, vehicles and a few maps (large-scale ones for campaigns and smaller ones for testing and fooling around). The game comes with a good mission editor that simplifies stuff like making a unit move from A to B, wait for a second unit to catch up, and assault point C at the same time from two flanks etc..

The flying in ARMA is more realistic than the battlefield series, but does also not fulfill a simmers requirements.

Yes, you have to manually lower/raise flaps and gear. You have the option to start and shut off your engine(s), you fly at realistic speeds (maps are huge so it's not scaled down like in all bf games), and damage can result in various failures (instruments, fuel leaks, engine shutdown, tailrotor, mainrotor).

Also, you can't just jump into a tank or heli and go solo. For driving tanks you need a driver and gunner minimum. A commander with better optics for target spotting and giving orders is recommended. That suddenly makes your tank a 3-man coordination masterpiece, or total flop. You can fly a heli, but without your gunner you're pretty useless, as you need him to lock on to targets, fire the machinecannon and help you spot threats. There's no option to bail out of a heli with a chute (in the unmodded version you can) and you are vulnerable as heck!

Normally a single shot from a rifle caliber round will render you dead or incapacitated. If hit in the chest/head you are most likely dead. If hit in the arms your aim is horrible and if you are struck in the leg you are forces to crawl. You can also bleed to death if you don't bandage the wound and if you fail to bandage it you will need a medic to stop the bleeding/restore some of your health.

The game has an EXCELLENT sound engine that simulates being shot at quite well and also simulates how sound is obscured by obstacles and makes it harder to point out where it's coming from and how far away it is. A sniper firing at you will really give you chills even if you're not close to being hit. The supersonic crack of the bullet passing you followed by the distant poof of the snipers rifle some hundreds of meters away is a thrilling experience.

Here's a nice distant view of CBU hitting a village Then close up

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKNzO...eature=related

Edit and some A-10 flying to show the scale of everything better...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hr3io...eature=related

[Skiiwa]

Arma 2 with all addons. I'm also running ace mod. Probably my fav game on my pc atm. I run mostly on high except for shadows. All I play is warfare against the ai. Its stable looks damn good and is pretty dang hard.

[Buchon]

Originally Posted by Strike

Are you referring to my post?

ehh ... no

Why did you think that ?



Im just saying that the core of the game is the infantry simulation.

Does the infantry drive vehicles and fly ?

Yes that is why in ArmA you drive tanks and helicopters, trough they dont reach the full simulation that have DCS Blackshark for example.

Personally i dont like arma2 for various reasons, not that interested, Operation arrowhead on the other hand is where its at for myself. much better updated engine. and a real nice take on FLIR implementation unrivalled anywhere else. not sure if they got round to adding that to A2.

[Zappatime]

Yeah, I'm a big Arma2 fan and the mod community is prolific to say the least, there's some truely great addons for it. To my mind it shares many similarities with COD, it can look absolutely fantastic in certain situations, the vehicle models are very sharp, but at other times slow loading textures and dipping frame rates when the going gets hectic can dilute the enjoyment.

I'd say it runs quite similarly to COD in many ways too, in its vanilla form out of the box it probably runs much better than COD, but it does depend what mods you end up adding, some of the nice explosion and effects eyecandy can do serious damage to its overall performance, but there's such a wealth of stuff to go at its a case of try it and see. Very tweakable setup helps.

Its worth remembering that Arma2 is really a third iteration release, being an evolution starting with Operation Flashpoint> Arma> Arma2 and as I recall my experiences with Arma in particular were not good at the time, it didnt run at all well with the hardware I had.

Anybody who loves open ended simulations, great mod community support and powerful mission editing software shouldn't hesitate to try it in my opinion, its very immersive, and given time COD has every chance of being regarded in the same vein.