Video game: Arma Anyone?

[bubblewhip]

Has any of you guys played ARMA? Or it's predecessor Operation Flashpoint? If you don't know, ARMA is video game akin to the Battlefield series in which you take combat from air, land, and sea on a map of around 225 km^2. This isn't any unrealistic shooter though, ARMA is basically the civilian commercial version of an actual military simulator used by the Czechoslovakian military called VBS or Virtual Battle Space. While it's not perfect, stuff from the real world such as range estimation, topographical maps, external ballistic factors, and even the Rifleman's rule all play in ARMA.

Here's a trailer for it.

They are currently working on a new game ARMA 3 which will implement a lot of graphical upgrades as well as more realistic features such as MOA accuracy. Set in the future though, so they have stuff like laser range finding rifle scopes.

Gameplay here

Though there are acknowledgements that ARMA is not perfectly realistic. For that you need to have the A.C.E mod which is the closest thing I ever encountered to an actual sniper sim.

If you are tired of games misrepresenting firearms and military equipment, you should give ARMA a shot. It's a game that will convert massive AR-15 haters who only learn from the history channel and video games that the M16 sucks and AKs are in every way superior, why the M16 is used around the world for military operations.

There is even a zombie mod, which takes all the realistic aspects of ARMA and adds zombies to it. What's not to love?

Be careful though, this game is not for the ordinary shooter fan. It is very complicated even in its base form, most gamers shriek back to their Call of Duty's. The community left playing can be very serious about how they play, even asking for military records to join into a clan.

You can get ARMA 2 with the Operation Arrowhead expansion on steam for $30.

[Jericho941]

Nope. Games that try to be "simulators" annoy the hell out of me. That, and Microsoft Sam is a ridiculous squadmate. But even if it weren't for the dated graphics and complete lack of voice actors (or a script that makes sense), the thing that drives me off the fastest would still be the snobbery.

The farther you go toward the "realism" spectrum of gaming, the bigger the percentage of the community is made up of total jerks who think they're better than everyone that plays other shooters. They act as though they're more intelligent or even more capable than your average CoD player, even though what they're doing is essentially the same thing (WSAD to walk move, point and click to use gun on man), just at a much, much slower pace.

So, while I do find it annoying when people yank on the forward assist on the M4 to charge it, or its dust cover flaps open and closed with each shot, I'll forgive a few silly animations when I'm playing a game with a lot less down-time. That is, not Virtual Hiking for miles until some sniper takes me out.

The community left playing can be very serious about how they play, even asking for military records to join into a clan.

That'd be a big red flag to me more than anything else. Probably full of guys like this.

[Kommander]

What happens when the clan made up OD DeltaRangerNinjaSeals gets WTDPOWND by a bunch of twitchy 12 year olds with a dew habit?

[Jericho941]

The losing team always says it's because the game's not realistic enough, or they're too busy having lives to bother getting good at a video game, unlike you fagnerdvirgins living in your mom's basement (where you heard me banging her last night, gaylord).

When you get right down to it, 12-year-olds are the most annoying due to high pitch, but hearing grown men say the exact same things is... kinda depressing.

[bubblewhip]

What happens when the clan made up OD DeltaRangerNinjaSeals gets WTDPOWND by a bunch of twitchy 12 year olds with a dew habit?

Usually the 12 year olds give up and say "THIS GAME SUX!" When they find out you can't really move and shoot at the same time.

[Dub_James]

Is multiplayer free, or a monthly charge? Been a while since I played Joint Ops.

[Highspeed]

I played the original Flashpoint ( actually bought that ) and Flashpoint 2 ( didn't buy that one )

I quickly get bored with first person shooting games though, for a number of reasons.

1) The friendly AI are at best dimwitted, at worst a bunch of cretins whose only aim is to get themselves and you killed while milling around aimlessly bumping into walls and each other.

2) Despite attempts to provide a realistic military style of play they are all still much too 'one man army' for me.

3) Playing online involves those annoying pre-teens, some of whom put so much effort into learning the game ( and exploiting it's quirks ) that they can kill a twelve man fireteam with only a K-Bar. I hate mouthy kids.

4) Lack of situational awareness. It's much too hard to see enemy targets at longer ranges due to video limitations and the general feeling is that you have a medieval knights helmet on and are peering through it's slit.

Having said that the original Operation Flashpoint did give a good simulation of long range shooting. Kind of, for a video game. I liked the chicken wire effect in the NVG too, although it was way exaggerated.

The best AI I have encountered in a first person shooter is Left 4 Dead. I played that at a mates house where every room has a networked Xbox plus a large monitor and a headset I got to be the outlaw biker character with the tattoos ( for obvious reasons ), my mate was the Vietnam vet ( because he's ex military ) and his son was the black guy ( because he didn't want to be the girl - he's at that age )
Which left the girl ( Zoey, I just looked it up ) as AI
At first I'm like 'Screw that AI bitch she's dead already' but after a while I noticed she was doing really useful things like healing us and watching our backs. So then I'm on the headset going 'wheres Zoey, we have to look after her'
They really got something right when they coded that.
It was a lot of fun actually, but still not enough to make me want to play more than occasionally, mainly due to point #4 above. Plus I can't get on with Xbox type game controllers and can't be bothered to learn, due to points #1 thru #4 above.

[bubblewhip]

Is multiplayer free, or a monthly charge? Been a while since I played Joint Ops.

Oh yes. Multiplayer is free. In fact the full version of basic ARMA 2 with multiplayer only is free.