ArmA Combat Operations Review

Jamison Lanum | July 29, 2007  | 0 comments  | Print  | E-mail

Passed Inspection: Huge battlefields, non-linear attack choices, full featured multi-player.

Failed Basic: Same six year old flaws and bugs, poor presentation.

Although not an outright sequel, Bohemia Interactive’s ArmA Combat Operations is without a doubt a mirror image of Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis, but differs ever so slightly in its modern setting. So much so that six years after Operation Flashpoint’s release hardly anything has been touched engine-wise. This re-produces some of the same flaws that plagued Operation Flashpoint back in 2001.

The game places players on the Atlantic island of Sahrani as part of a small US Army contingent helping to train the South Sahrani army. This is all incase another invasion comes from their resource-greedy neighbors, North Sahrani. Just as the training wraps up and the US is starting to ship back home, North Sahrani strikes, and as squad leader, the player must command their troops in an effort to repel the invasion.

One thing that mixes up the single-player campaign quite a bit is the mission structure. Comprised of both main and auxiliary missions, players have the option to complete one or two of these "side" missions before taking on one of the main objectives that advances the story. These optional missions are always incredibly difficult, more so than the main missions, and usually have the player operating solo. Once completed, the benefits make life much easier when partaking in the main objective, often shrinking the amount of soldiers and armor the player has to take down or evade. Each player decides for them self whether or not going through these side missions are worth it or not.

The game has a steep learning curve and is shipped with two difficulty modes that should have been named very hard and insanely difficult! No matter what difficulty route is taken, each mission will be extremely challenging; often requiring a certain amount of luck to finish it. And it’s not because the developer ramped up the difficulty level, but because the game behaves more like a military simulation rather than a twitchy shooter. Things like stamina, health, and the stability of the player’s rifle all come into play and the enemy is very capable of ending the player’s life with just one or two bullets. That realism combined with the expansive battlefields that players are placed in and are free to navigate to their heart’s desire really makes this game special, and offers an immersive open-ended experience like no other military shooter.

Sadly, that immersive experience is often short lived since the ghouls of Operation Flashpoint also haunt this title. This game could have been a lot better but is dragged down by some nagging flaws. Although useful at times, ordering the squad around while trying to not get shot can be rather frustrating. The controls are in no way shape or form streamlined for this type of play, and the problems are only exacerbated when the friendly AI run around like chickens with their heads cut off. Choppy animations and some so-so voiceovers don’t help matters either.

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