Arma II Review

What's new

In between working on Arma and Arma II, Bohemia Interactive was also busy developing it's government-grade milsims, so it should come as no surprise that Arma II incorporates some of the lessons learnt in VBS2. For milsim veterans we thought it would be handy to summarise in a bullet point list the major improvements between Arma and Arma II.

• Time to bleed: In Arma, if you were hit by small arms fire you were either dead or you may as well restart the mission. In Arma II most wounds will incapacitate you and you will bleed to death within a few minutes. However, you can be dragged or carried out of the line of fire and be treated by any suitably equipped soldier.
  
• Time to run: The AI has been improved, not so that it shoots more accurately than before, but so that it behaves more accurately when under fire - seeking cover and trying to disengage when it's on the defensive.
  
• Time to duck: New motion captured animations allow a greater freedom of movement than earlier milsims, such as clambering over low obstacles such as walls.
  
• Time to look in here: You can enter many more buildings than before, making FIBUA/MOUT even more stressful than usual.
  
• Time to pick this up: The new inventory system is more detailed and comprehensive that in Arma II. Disappointingly however, unlike in VBS 2 the maximum load each soldier can carry is still based on the volume rather than the weight of items.

Conclusion

Given the shortage of hardcore PC-only games these days it's refreshing to see an independent developer such as Bohemia Interactive striving to achieve such a lofty goal - that of a fully immersive military simulator playable on a standard (albeit powerful) PC, not a supercomputer. One can well imagine the technical and gameplay compromises that would have had to been made if Arma II was a multi-platform title for both PC and consoles. As it is, the game struggles to run at a decent frame and uses pretty much every keyboard combination you can think of.

Ultimately, while Arma II isn't the most realistic tank or flight simulator, these elements are of secondary importance compared to the infantry warfare gameplay. What's more, I can't remember the last time a company released a proper tank or flight sim on the PC, let alone one that simulated combined-arms warfare.

Yes, Arma II still has a fair number of bugs, yes it runs like a one legged drunken horse from time to time but no game, civilian or military has come this close to simulating the terrifying, vulnerable world of the modern infantryman. Poor bloody infantry indeed.