ARMA: Gold Edition

I just barely got done spending the better part of an evening crawling through underbrush and grass in an attempt to escape pursuing enemy forces. They were pursuing me because I destroyed numerous armored vehicles and at least half a platoon of enemy infantry in the dead of night to stall their invasion. If the above paragraph sounds tedious, then Arma may not be for you. I'll be the first to admit that I absolutely love this game. It's loaded with goodness, and every mission will play out differently depending on your play style. Arma is a extremely open game (open, not sandbox). You're allowed to tackle missions pretty much any way you want (within some limits). I don't think there's a game out there that comes even close to capturing the reality of modern combat, but if there was...this would be it. The simple variety of things to do in this game alone makes it worthwhile. You can fly airplanes, helicopters, drive tanks, and pound ground as an infantryman. You'll take orders, give orders, watch men die and get shot a zillion times. And now the negative...the engine is a little clunky. And the bad guys (even set on low) are ungodly in their aim! The save key will be one of your best friends. Also...the plot leaves a lot to be desired. But, ff you enjoyed Operation Flashpoint, you owe it to yourself to check this game out. Or if you're looking for a good change of pace from the COD games and other run n' gun shooters, this is it. Modern warfare at its finest, and worse. Oh, And the mod community is fantastic.

I loved OFP and i loved ArmA. Played it hours of hours. No other community is as active as this one. So many mods, cars, guns and so on. But i must say OFP (Arma Cold War Assault) is the better choice. Arma 1 only supports singlecore and the holliday-scenario is not the right one i believe. Arma 2 is one again like ofp. Dirty Enviroment brings a lot better feeling. Anyway Arma 1 is an awesome game and you shouldnt miss it. :-) Hope Arma 2 comes on GoG too.

After Operation Flashpoint a sequel was eagerly awaited, but a true successor only arrived with Arma II and its expansions. The developers later admitted their heart was not into this game and unfortunately the consequences are on display in Armed Assault. While the main terrain is excellently executed, the units and equipment are not finished up to the same standard and the campaign and missions are badly designed and executed. Optimisation and other code issues mean the game does not perform very well in comparison to Arma II. As such Armed Assault is not a recommendation and although the editor and mods can turn it into an adequate form of entertainment, the aged Arma Cold War Assault is more enjoyable to play.

I was a big fan of Operation Flashpoint. I think Arma 2 is really good as well. But Arma 1 was a huge disappointment for me. Bad optimization or hundreds of bugs are one thing (actually present in every title of this saga), but maybe not the worst thing in a game. The fact that the campaign is terrible is the main problem. The single player campaign is just AWFUL. Missions very bad designed with poor imagination and zero realism. Missions like: "Stop a whole convoy of vehicles and soldiers you alone, without any help nor support", or that other mission in which you are a sniper and you have to shoot from a designated point, and if you move 10 meters far from that point the mission fails!!! Is that the way snipers fight in real life? In another mission you are part of a small team of Spec Ops attacking a town with enemies. No matter how many times I repeated the mission (let's say 50), every single time the whole team is killed at the very beginning of the assault. What a team of elite soldiers! Bravo for the AI! Well, seriously, this saga have great things, Operation Flashpoint and Arma 2 are great games. Arma 3 is good but not that good... I know the games so don't think that I am a hater who play MoH and don't understand Arma... but arma 1 is a very bad game, believe me. Very bad. Do not pay money for it.