ArmA: Combat Operations

ArmA Combat Operations Review

Reviewed by ircmaster on February 05, 2008  |  report this review

Title: ArmA: Combat Operations
Platform: PC

The gameplay of ArmA is a very unique one. It's not your typical FPS shooter. It's aimed more at a realistic-style-military-shooter. You're basically in a squad or controlling a squad and you have the option of going around anywhere on a 400km(sqaured) island. Walking across the island on foot from one end to the other takes 45 minutes real time. When you're given missions you have to perform certain objectives which are 90% always unique. Be it pick up someone with a helicopter or a truck or assassinate an enemy officer you can always find new mission objectives in the game. The multiplayer features a massive max of 140 players available to play in one server. The shooting is very realistic with the game featuring over 40 different weapons and vehicles which are all driveable including the civillian vehicles ranging from air to sea vehicles and snipers and short-range weapons like SMG's. The damage system is also realistic. Your aim and ability to walk/run is affected by how damaged you are. For example, if you get hit in the leg twice you won't be able to stand up, you can try to sprint a bit but then you'll fall down and you'll have to crawl for a bit. If you get shot in the arm, when you zoom in with ironsights or anything else you're ability to keep your hands steady will be limited as your hands will be extremely wobbly at times giving you the inability to hit anything. This can get annoying at times because of the fact that you might not be able to stand up and you sometimes have to crawl back to the extraction point putting you at a high disadvantage

This games graphics are amazing. It features full depth-of-field, high-resolution textures and really nicely modelled characters. The island its self is full of trees and sandy dunes and the occasional village or two. The depth-of-field is the best I've seen in a game. It does it's best to focus on what's important and up-close enough to be able to be seen in real life. If something is too close to your eyes it will be blurred out like without showing the textures up-close which as you know usually look really bad in most games (like the Source engine games). The HDR effects do a good deal to the game as the sun can sometimes block out your vision instead of sit there without a purpose. Mosquitos, dragonflys, and bees can be seen circling the air in the game providing a realistic environment. The blood effects look really great and gory, but not too gory so it looks like somebody's been actually shot severely (when they are). The game goes so far into realism that if you see a distant explosion or shot, it takes a while until you hear it as well.

Overall score: 5/5 Stars

Sorry for such an abrupt ending but the character limit wouldn't let me put the full review. To read the full review go to http://www.fpsbanana.com/clubs/threads/3219