The joy and satisfaction in playing Arma 3 stems from its difficulty and complexity. It is a military simulation engineered to make you think, to plan your movements and to play the game with tactics that are seemingly inspired by 'real life' armed forces. You can step into the shoes of almost any battlefield role: soldier / sniper/ engineer / medic/ pilot / logistics / drivers/ gunners / commanders / scuba diver, all using a plethora of vehicles. This leads to a, well documented, steep learning curve. However, with the 'bootcamp' and 'showcase' game modes, which explain the many features of the simulation, you can be sure to have a good understanding of the base game mechanics in a few hours.
Following these first few hours, the real nuances begin to show. The depth and detail of the simulation demands mastery to perform well, especially in a multi-player situation where the real meat of the experience is. The practice that leads to this mastery is an often frustrating but incredibly rewarding experience. I would describe myself as an amateur after approximately 150 hours played, but I've learned enough to land a troop transport helicopter in the heat of battle, delivering 10 team mates to an objective and score points for the team. The feeling is incredible, but try the same thing too many times and other players get wise to your movements, you must adapt to survive.
Furthermore, the community of Arma 3 is amazing, it has a vibrant mod scene, often the community improves the game as much as the frequent and impressive developer updates do.
Graphically, considering the scale of the game it is impressive, with a full suite of Nvidia options such as physX and HBAO. The immersion is further improved by the quality of picture in picture, fully rendered vehicle interiors, all of which (assuming you have powerful hardware) make for a very highly detailed world.
Gameplay it is equally impressive, but I must admit it lacks a certain slick feeling you find in other less ambitious fps games, with occasional bugs. However, it is never distracting or game breaking and can be excused given the sheer scope of the game, after all how many games have at least 15 stance variations, allowing posture variations while standing, crouched and prone?
I can wholeheartedly recommend this game if you are interested in military FPS and simulation games, as it is one of the finest examples of the combination of those two genres.
2014-12-09T08:23:13-0500
Game bought on IG
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