Armed Assault 2 (ARMA2)

[minmaster]

is this more of a single player campaign game than multiplayer? seems like everyone's playing campaigns or story mode whatever its called.

 

[fatpat268]

I've been playing coop campaign with a buddy of mine... haven't touched the other multiplayer yet.

 

[Psynaut]

*Edit: I re-downloaded it from Steam and got it installed and played it for a while last night. it is interesting, not too bad. Graphics are very good. I can play it on the highest settings with few glitches or hesitations. I quickly learned to ignore the bad voice track and just pick out the information it was giving. I will play the last half of the second mission and the third mission this weekend. It is too soon for me to say if I will buy this or not, but I am having a good time with the demo, so far.

 

[flashbacck]

I was a huge fan of OpFl, so I figured I'd give the demo a chance. I only had a few minutes with the demo, but a couple of initial impressions... Graphics are Meh. I didn't have time to fiddle with settings so I went with the game defaults, which ran smoothly but weren't that great. Flickering jagged shadows on NPCs faces were a bit distracting. I have a C2D e6600, 4gb ram and a HD4850. I also had a really annoying mouse lag. I've seen this type of lag before, and it's usually because of Vsync or some postprocessing, so I'll try to turn those off later.

The other thing that stood out in my few minutes of play... the voice acting sucks BAD. Seriously game developers, if you're spending multi millions of dollars on a game, throw in a few thousand on getting competent voice actors. Don't do it yourselves.

 

[angry hampster]

This game is horrid. I played the demo for 45 minutes and still have no clue how to do anything. Why can I only get ammo from the crates SOMETIMES?

 

[angry hampster]

OK i just went back and played part of a mission. The vioce acting was pathetic.

 

[sandorski]

Not sure I want to even try the Demo, but probably will. Hearing many criticisms, especially about the Control Scheme.

 

[flashbacck]

I got some more time in with the demo...
I fiddled with the graphics a bit. Bumped the resolution to 1680x1050 (native), dropped shadows and postprocessing. This definitely sharpened things and removed blurring. On the built-in benchmark, I averaged 28 fps. Just for reference, it doesn't look as good as crysis and it doesn't run as smoothly.

I played through all the tutorial missions and it is impressive what they're trying to do. It plays very much like OpFlash plus some new base building and command abilities. I know a few people have mentioned not liking the slower pace, but the thing I loved about OpFlash was replaying missions just so I could setup the perfect mission execution. I remember replaying a convoy ambush mission, where'd I setup my C4 perfectly along the road in a valley, timing the detonations perfectly to hit all the armor and sending in my squads from the flanks to clean up.

Part of what made OpFlash great was the (more) open gameplay. There's a mission where you get captured, and you're suppose to make your way out on foot. I just beelined it to a helicopter, took out the pilot before he could take off, stole it, and proceeded to blow up the enemy camp.

Anyway, all that said, I think I'll wait for ARMA2 to fall into the bargain bin. Performance is subpar, there are graphical glitches, and oh-my-god if I have to hear "Coops" one more time with that fake, lame-ass, annoying drawl of his...

 

[brandonb]

I'm having alot of fun with Arma2 at the moment. I have the full version, I'm not sure if the demo has this, but in the full version you have an "armory" mission type.

But what you do is start with about 10 things to pick (be it a rooster, rifleman, boat, whatever), you pick one, and get into the game. You get challenges based on what you pick, and you have to achieve a goal. Once you do you get "points" and unlock more items. You can just keep going and keep beating challenges and unlock points to unlock new options creatures, guns, airplanes, whatever.

For example. I picked up a PBX, a navy seal boat for landing on beaches. THe first challenge is, stay above 50kph on this boat for 30 seconds. Ok, I do that, get 10 points, then get a challenge, do a 180 within 5 seconds. Ok do that. Then "see how far you can make this boat skid up on land" I failed within the time frame because I was actually driving out to see the carrier in the bay.

Picked up a rifleman. Got a "lets go hunting" mission. You have to run around the mountains killing sheep, cows, etc, and the more you hunt, the more points you get. Then got a "shoot skeet" mission and got to shoot at clay pigeons.

Kind of reminds me of flight simulator type missions.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

Wow, they really kept that stupid robot voice shit? Really?

 

[JTsyo]

I downloaded the demo, did the training missions and then tried a regular mission. Don't think this game is for me. The action to play time ratio was very low, though that might be because I played on the easy setting.

 

[rolodomo]

Checked out the demo, I like the simulation approach versus the typical shoot-em-up approach (pick up the ammo from the ground and recharge health).

I'm running 1920x1080 on a Q9500 at 3.9 OC. The games seems to like D3D triple buffering (via, e.g., ATI Tray Tools) w/ v-sync on. I'm getting a very smooth 30-35 FPS as reported by FRAPS (real FPS probably higher due to triple buffering).

The game does support cross-fire using the -winxp switch. Both my GPUs (4890 x 4870) get pegged near 100% activity.

I've got all details on high except I backed off on scenery complexity one notch.

It also supports Track IR, which is very immersive while wandering around the countryside (looking behind your back).

 

[fatpat268]

Originally posted by: angry hampster
This game is horrid. I played the demo for 45 minutes and still have no clue how to do anything. Why can I only get ammo from the crates SOMETIMES?

Yea... the game isn't the most intuitive game out there, and it's not for everybody.

But the game generally works well, aside from a few random glitches that will get eventually patched.

 

[coloumb]

fun game [HUGE demo size] - first person mode - holy sea sickness [or maybe it's because I'm not feeling well at the moment] - lots of side to side movement - not use to that in most other FPS games. I had to play the game in 3rd person view.

Voice acting - I agree with the rest - they could have done better.

TONS of control options in the menu - so it's gonna take a bit to figure out things - but so far a pretty fun game. I too think I'll wait until it's the bargain bin and I've run out of games to play.

 

[fatpat268]

Originally posted by: coloumb
fun game [HUGE demo size] - first person mode - holy sea sickness [or maybe it's because I'm not feeling well at the moment] - lots of side to side movement - not use to that in most other FPS games. I had to play the game in 3rd person view.

Voice acting - I agree with the rest - they could have done better.

TONS of control options in the menu - so it's gonna take a bit to figure out things - but so far a pretty fun game. I too think I'll wait until it's the bargain bin and I've run out of games to play.

You can actually turn down the head bob in the options if that bothers you.

 

[ZzZGuy]

I love the editor.

Make two forces close in on each other and watch on the side lines as a civilian, try different combination's of units vs units, use all the cool toys yourself and sometimes just set one side up for horrible horrible rape. If they ever resolve the graphics bugs (latest being the screen whiting out when I look at the sky) this will be one of my most favorite games.

I think I'll go try attack heli vs attack heli.

 

[Zenoth]

I've read that the A.I is good in this game, is it true? How does it compare to more arcade'ish shooters such as BF2 or UT3?

 

[brandonb]

AI is not that great. There's alot of times the AI will crash the helicopter running in shooting (and dives a bit too much) and boom right into a house or tree or something.

Infantry the guys will frequently go prone to cover, then get up, run away from the enemy about 20 yards, stop, go prone, then get up, turn around and run back towards the action. It gets annoying. It's similar to BF2 bots and comparable. But keep in mind that the AI does more. Such as they will group up with each other and go in force. There is a chain of command. You can tell squads of 16 to go to a certain place and they will all go there. Eventually. It's not the lone wolf x 32 as in BF2.

Overall, it works, but it's not good by any means. It's what I like to say "functional"...

 

[McLovin]

I for the most part enjoyed the demo, so I purchased my full fledged copy of a game off steam. Hit me up if ya want to roll some newbs.

Steam name is the same as here.

 

[ZzZGuy]

Domination seems be the most popular game type (co-op) where you take town after town on this massive map (and sometimes defeat the counter attack) vs the AI. I can easily see a single round taking a day or more.

Now, if you have a clan or just a group of people you can work with this is loads of fun. For example, load a chopper full of people as well as air left a manned APC, drop off outside town and have snipers cover the approach, identify AA tanks and take them out with javs, send in choppers with hellfire missiles to take out the rest of the armor, laser designate target rich areas for a A-10 strike (which someone flys) then proceed to roll through town with infantry squads supported by the big guns.

Now, if you are on a random MP server with no team work it'll all go FUBAR real quick. At worst it turns into a meat grinder that takes 30 minutes to get to, possibly with a friendly bullet in your head. It's all about team work and this game is brutally unforgiving if you don't have that.


For single player, I really like the campaign so far.
The "armory" challenges are not really my cup of tea but seems there are many that like to complete a task/goal given to them in games (such as achievements).
The editor gives you sooooooooo many options, I have hardly scratched the surface of what you can do with this. I can spend hours setting up small battles going "hmm, what would happen if I did this?" and say add a sniper on a hilltop or a A-10. Also seems you can set up bases but I haven't gotten around to playing with this yet. Now if they ever add a terrain editor to make custom maps then this game becomes ten times better, imagine "The battle for [Insert home town name]".

The AI, it's good to a point. Setup right they'll give you one hell of a fight, but they have many brain fart moments. The infamous chopper/plain crashes are a prime example, then there's the driving like grandma.But they follow orders well and will give you great entertainment when you set AI vs AI.

 

[Scouzer]

Been playing the demo... so so soooo buggy. If this game worked properly 98% of the time, I'd already own it...

The AI is terrible as well

 

[brandonb]

Originally posted by: Scouzer
Been playing the demo... so so soooo buggy. If this game worked properly 98% of the time, I'd already own it...

The AI is terrible as well

I'm starting to play the campaign with full version, and I'm starting to see alot of the horrible AI. It's starting to bug me. My squad leader will be down a hill shouting to everybody "REJOIN FORMATION" and the 2-3 other AI is up the hill just sitting there prone getting shot at by a tank... Then I lose the mission because I can't have a single person die in the mission. They just won't follow in a timely manner.

So I've pretty much given up on the mission at this point, I tried it a few times and the same results.

 

[fatpat268]

I haven't seen too many bugs... there's a few I've noticed, but nothing game breaking.

As far as the AI: yea, it gets on my nerves. But, instead of dealing with the AI, I've been playing the campaign with a group of friends, and it's infinitely more enjoyable.

 

[Scouzer]

Originally posted by: brandonb

Originally posted by: Scouzer
Been playing the demo... so so soooo buggy. If this game worked properly 98% of the time, I'd already own it...

The AI is terrible as well

I'm starting to play the campaign with full version, and I'm starting to see alot of the horrible AI. It's starting to bug me. My squad leader will be down a hill shouting to everybody "REJOIN FORMATION" and the 2-3 other AI is up the hill just sitting there prone getting shot at by a tank... Then I lose the mission because I can't have a single person die in the mission. They just won't follow in a timely manner.

So I've pretty much given up on the mission at this point, I tried it a few times and the same results.

Yeah, formations are a serious problem. If I'm in an engagement, I want my guys to find cover and STAY there and ENGAGE. Instead, they'll fire a few shots, STAND UP, and run around! WTF! No one in their right mind STANDS and runs around in a firefight. The AI spends very little time shooting, and most of the time just moving around aimlessly, getting shot. The solution? I force everyone to lay prone. They still end up spending more time crawling around then actually shooting, so most of them die anyway. It's so fucking frustrating!

Good luck keeping your guys in formation too, they wander all over for no reason then lose contact with you, so you have to go find them. Sounds fun, yes?

Oh, and if there's enemy armor, good fucking luck getting your AT guy to shoot his SMAW at it! You might as well shoot him and take the SMAW otherwise the enemy armor will kill your whole squad.

Not to mention my favourite part of the game--the mission editor--is beyond fucked. It's bugged so you can't link units to a common commander right now, so the editor is useless until a patch.

I still get a laugh at how buggy BI games are. Arma I has had 15 patches now, which is unreal.

 

[ZzZGuy]

I've noticed something with regards to stability of the game. On my desktop pc with 4870 crossfire I can't put the video memory up beyond low or crank anything else up too much or I get a host a different bugs, form the FPS dropping down to about 2 FPS until I alt tap to for it to reload, graphics become fragmented, whiteouts, crashes to desktop, lock up and getting stuck in in a loading/receiving loop (MP only though...). On my friends desktop with a 4850 he still gets some of these bugs but not nearly as much. On my laptop with a 9800m I can crank the graphics up till the video card is ready to melt and the only have problems are with night vision flickering a lot and lighting issues where looking around while standing still will go from mid day to dusk.

As for the AI, yea it can use a lot of work.

Multiplayer is buggy with the missions at times. Most common bug is clearing out a town and the objective not completing thus requiring a restart(Domination mode) . Another is the enemy doesn't spawn at all in the new objective so you can't finish it (evolution marines mode).

But bugs aside I am very much enjoying the game.