ArmA II, is it worth it?

[ColdCamV]

Ok some of you guys are gonna get angry at me for this, but i want to know (from people who actually play the game) is ArmA II any good? and is it worth playing?

Let me know, Cheers

[Purg]

That's a loaded question. It depends on the type of game experience you're looking for. I think it's excellent but I like this kind of tactical shooter.

[ColdCamV]

I like tactical shooters aswell but i've been hearing up and down reviews about it and would really like to know from the community. I mean reading the funny stories from this game it sounds fun but upon watching the video for it I thought otherwise and im like...mmm better ask first

[Purg]

I guess the best feel for gameplay you can get with ARMA2 is watching the videos.

It's great for co-op play on a controller server with a mod like domination. If you can stand periods of 20+ minutes of nothing really happening then all of a sudden being in the middle of a firefight, then it could be the game for you.

It can require patience, a tolerance to some frustration and a very decent machine to run it well to get the most out of it.

One of the biggest plusses for it is that it has a very active modding community. Some of the things that get released for ARMA is awe inspiring at times.

Think of it as a first person war simulator - that's about the best way I can describe it.. and if you can see the whites of the enemies eyes, you're probably about to die.

[ColdCamV]

So basically if you want to get the best feel for the game and have fun in the game do co-op and stuff lol

how many ppl can you have in co-op and basically im really looking at getting this game now so if and when I do get it imma need some help from you guys haha

[Purg]

I've seen 64 player co-op servers out there, most of them are probably around the 32 mark.

Hosted one for Mech and Splat last night on a domination map, was pretty good..

[ColdCamV]

I see sounds good haha, I dont think I could do a 64 player one i was thinking maybe like...12 players or something

[Sp!at]

This is a very different type of shooter. It is not a shooter where you jump in racing around building your frag count like traditional shooters. The map is massive (many many kilometres square) and you can go anywhere you like. So even though there can be 64 players you usually only come across 4 or 5 together at one time.

There is an element of planning involved at the start, such as what sort of kit you are going to take and if you want to build an AI squad to support you. You can also make command decision such as what sort of support you are going to move close to the action (the base can be many kilometres away from the action but you can move spawn vehicles anywhere you like and spawn from them instead).

Mech, Purg and I played for many hours yesterday on a map while we were on TeamSpeak and it was a hoot (and a great learning experience for me). Because it is so open ended you can basically sort out your own objectives as you go. As an example, when we started Mech and Purg quickly made an AI team each and loaded a few into the mobile bases and had the AI drive toward the hot zone. The rest of Mechs AI squad and I jumped into a helicopter and started to fly toward the zone while Purg para-dropped earlier and started to clear one end of the town. When we got there, the mobile bases hadn't arrived yet, but we then slowly made our way toward the town. Mech and Purg were wiping out enemy armour while I was sniping at enemy paratroopers. Etc etc etc.

Even the single player missions are great and there are heaps of user made content and mods.

There is a learning curve and not much documentation so there can be some frustration at the start.

Heaps of fun, though. Heartily recommend it.

[Purg]

Be aware though, I run a version of Domination that allows for AI recruitment just to make it a little more balanced for us because there's only 2 or 3 of us playing a map vs 60+ infantry and 20 or so armor on every town.

Most MP servers don't allow the AI mod and you have to rely on teamwork from other players with limited communication - for instance, you'll rarely ever get another medic player to heal you. There are occasions where you'll get your legs chopped out so if you attempt to move you'll instantly go prone and the only way to recover from it is to have a medic patch you up or respawn/die.

In scale, it's massive - there's nothing you can really compare it to in terms of other popular shooters that you may have experienced in the past. It does help if someone can show you the ropes though. I used to play ARMA a long time ago and even playing ARMA2 online took me a little time to get accustomed too. Recently I've been playing a lot of Operation Flashpoint and going for a run last night after about a 3 week break, I was a little rusty.

Nothing beats whacking a BTR90 from 600 meters with a SMAW though.

[ColdCamV]

See now it sounds really good haha

I reckon it would be better just a few good mates like that rather than going on against people you dont know and trying to work as a team with them