From the makers of the original Operation Flashpoint (Bohemia Interactive) comes the next installment of the peerless http://www.bistudio.com/index.php/english/games/arma3 series. Featuring even more detail than ever before, this time the action takes place on an island in the Mediterranean (modelled after a real-world island, though scaled down slightly for gameplay purposes) and set against the backdrop of a full-scale conflict between NATO and an Eastern (European?) nation:


So far it looks like the game is shaping up rather beautifully, even in the face of Battlefield 3's bar-raising. Physics and animations have been improved, cities are larger than ever (with every building now accessible) and it will even be possible to finally http://www.bistudio.com/images/stories/arma3/screenshots/scr02.jpg - overall the developer's intent seems not just to upgrade the existing game, but to create the most comprehensive war simulator yet. Netcode revisions are apparently also on their list of improvements, although I'm sure there will still be a humorous amount of bugs to be fixed on release, as ever.

I know that relatively few on this forum are into the ultra-hardcoe warsim genre, but I for one am most certainly looking forward to this shiny, explosive sandbox.

Gameplay Walkthrough: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRFtVVsjnJk, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqznY_nJc9k, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6t13eNGJj2s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3YHbcYK82E (same footage as above, but more specific commentary)

http://www.youtube.com/arma3official#p/a/u/0/DKKbisvGspQ

In other news, they've also announced a http://www.arma2.com/free complete with the versatile mission editor, only without the singleplayer campaign or support for user-made mods. Should be released sometime soon.

Another underwater scene.... I swear to god all these modern shooter games are cribbing their ideas from each other to get this bland ball of sameness. I know it probably plays differently, but of all the screenshots you chose the diver one first. What next he's going to be in a New York like city?

The Operation Flashpoint franchise is older than those other "modern shooters"...

I know, I also know how hard core it is compared to regular shooters. It's just not very inspiring is all.

I only chose the diver because it's been a rather lacking feature in previous Armed Assaults. Water has always been the sore point in this otherwise exceptional sim.

But if you prefer, here are a whole host of other screenshots:

http://www.bistudio.com/images/stories/arma3/screenshots/scr01.jpg
http://www.bistudio.com/images/stories/arma3/screenshots/scr03.jpg
http://www.bistudio.com/images/stories/arma3/screenshots/scr04.jpg
http://www.bistudio.com/images/stories/arma3/screenshots/scr05.jpg
http://www.bistudio.com/images/stories/arma3/screenshots/scr06.jpg
http://www.bistudio.com/images/stories/arma3/screenshots/scr07.jpg
http://www.bistudio.com/images/stories/arma3/screenshots/scr08.jpg
http://www.bistudio.com/images/stories/arma3/screenshots/scr09.jpg

;)

Gotta love BI's use of color and lighting. Makes their games so much better and more natural looking than the otherones with their huge movielike contrasts and almost cartoonlike colors.
Still waiting them to create a campaing as good as the original OFP -- quite honestly speaking, it's one of the best single player campaigns I've ever played in games like this.
And hopefully the game gets more polish that Arma 2. I'd rather not try to take over a hill for a dozen times because my teammates suddenly comatose and die after a seemingly specific row of trees.

I wonder if this ArmA will suffer the same faults the past two OpFlash games have?

Which was...?

You mean I don't have to be terrified of the water anymore?! :blush2:

Stupid AI and bad graphics. I've only played the past two OpFlashes on the 360, so I don't know if the PC versions have the same problems.

ArmA 2 was awesome though, so this one should be good as well.

I'm noticing they're getting better and better with lighting which is essential for realism. Gran Turismo 5 has excellent lighting, and I think Battlefield 3's lighting is more realistic than this from what I've seen.

I do believe we are approaching photorealism sooner than I expected.

Exciting prospect, isn't it? :laugh:


You do know the recent Operation Flashpoint sequels - Dragon Rising and Red River - have nothing to do with Bohemia Interactive, right? Rather they were made by Codemasters, who own the OFP name but didn't actually make the original OpFlash from which the spiritual-successor ArmA series began (developed by Bohemia Interactive instead.) AFAIK, the ArmA games haven't been released on Xbox360.

I am actually wondering if it will require a NASA computer like ArmA2.

Oh who am I kidding, it most certainly will. Still gonna get it and leave it on my shelf until I get the required HW for it. :celebration:

I'm kinda sad I have to give up Win XP and move to 7 just to play this game.... in effect playing Arma 3 will cost me about 150€ (including possible windows installing costs -- I have no knowledge of how to tinker with computers --- and even more over, possibly a new mobo, ram and processor and installing those, so the price just keeps getting higher) :laugh:


The official "still subject to change" requirements:
OS - Windows 7 / Vista
CPU - Intel Core i5 or AMD Athlon Phenom X4 or faster
GPU - Nvidia Geforce GTX 260 or ATI Radeon HD 5770, shader Model 3 and 896 MB VRAM, or faster
RAM - 2 GB
HDD - 15 GB free space
DVD - Dual Layer compatible
DirectX? - 10

Based on those specs, my laptop may be able to run it so I may be interested. Though I'd be lying if I said I played ArmA before.

Oh, ok. I thought that Codemasters had been involved with both series.

Nope. They just published the original, then made the sequels in-house. Meanwhile, BI kept making their games under a new name.