Genre: FPSCompany: Got Game Entertainment
Platform: PC
Release date: July 7, 2009 (ver. 1.07 June 25, 2010)
Retail price: $50
As a traditional gamer growing up playing classic shooters like Doom, Quake and Unreal, I’ve gotten used to a certain flow that shooters typically follow. While there are definitely many areas in which Arma II: Combined Operations impressed me, the “flow” of this game is not one of them. Described more appropriately as a “military simulator”, this game takes you into a whole different experience.
Arma II takes place in the post-Soviet republic of Chernarus, which is currently on the brink of a civil war. Your team, “Razor” of the 27th Marine Expeditionary Unit, has been sent to gain control of the country and return order. I was immediately impressed with the audio-visual aspects of this game right from the get-go. The quality of the graphics and the unique way in which they’re drawn were impressive. The soundtrack is fantastic and definitely keeps you in the mood. Sadly, the moment didn’t last. Having to start a level over, I found that pressing the Esc key in an attempt to skip the intro video will instead take you to the menu screen and then restart it completely when you try resume. And believe me, it isn’t short.
A small tutorial at the start of the game will help you get a feel for the controls, though I would definitely recommend the game’s “boot camp” for anybody that wants to play effectively. I’ve played many first-person shooters in the past and every one seems to follow the same basic control principles. This game tends to deviate from that somewhat which can be frustrating in the heat of battle. It’s extremely difficult to do something as simple as switch weapons. I can see the advantage of using the scroll wheel for the “use” button; but many times, there were multiple options per interaction. This can be quite annoying when shot at. It’s pretty obvious that if I’m getting into a vehicle and nobody is in said vehicle, I’m going to want to drive it, right? Imagine trying to scroll down to the “get in drivers seat” option while under a hail of bullets. It’s going to result in death, at least until you get used to it.
Once you get past the introductory missions, the game opens up and provides a wealth of information before each area; but even after studying the map and reading through all the material provided, I was still fuzzy on what the actual objectives were. Often times I found myself following the orange arrow which would usually take me to a place where there was nothing happening. If you ignore the arrow in search of excitement or get lost on the way to your destination, the game seems to move on without you, making it hard to get back on the right path. Most of the dialogue between your team members will be in military jargon, so for me, it was tough to follow or even respond to the commands, which I’m still not sure are necessary. Even when you followed the directions given, the game lacked a certain amount of action that I would consider key for keeping gamers like me intrigued. I’d arrive at my destination and often find myself unclear as to why I was there.
The expansion “Operation Arrowhead”, included in this package, takes place years later as a new conflict arises in Chernarus. Unfortunately in addition to more content, the expansion also comes with some bugs. The AI was unimpressive. I played on the default difficulty setting and had no trouble at all dancing in front of the enemy; circling around him and still being able to kill him. Snipers laid out on the floor ignore you for a good ten seconds before finally “waking up” and eventually attacking you. Because of this, it was tough to distinguish the difference between friends and foes. The glitches just got worse as I attempted to run one of my teammates over while driving the jeep and watched them pop into the air and take no damage from the two-ton vehicle. I am certain that friendly fire is possible after being promptly shot and killed after attacking a teammate on accident. After getting out of the vehicle, my team kept yelling at me to get back into the vehicle, only to have no instructions from there. Ultimately, if you enjoyed the standalone Arma II, you’ll probably be happy with the expansion, otherwise it’s more of the same frustration.
I attempted to try my hand at multiplayer, but the apparent dedication of my teammates and the fact that I had no idea what the jabber coming over the speaker meant intimidated me to the point where it didn’t seem fun. The constant warning that I’d be “reprimanded” if I didn’t roleplay made it very hard to fit in with the crowd or ask questions. I doubt you’ll find rocket whores in this community, but there’s obviously an involved and committed group playing this game.
Despite it’s flaws, there is something about this game that makes me want to be able to play it. Maybe it’s the exciting music and all the shouting, but unfortunately the learning curve is so high that I found myself frustrated, sometimes turning the game off instead of soldiering on. For somebody who is actually looking for a military simulator, a military enthusiast perhaps, this game seems to be spot on (aside from the occasional bugs); but for me, the game was just as boring as running around and waiting in the real world is.
