Why, why, why Delila
The single player story I shall say is brilliant but very ambitious. The sandbox style story is great to see in a FPS war game but on the same hand is rather difficult. When I got to the 4th or 5th mission I was asked to take out some enemy placements dotted about the area I was in. The problem being that I had no markers or clue's as to where they may be. Its a brilliant idea, don't get me wrong but it does leave the player with 'OK, what do i do now?' syndrome.
The multiplayer made everything come together for me. When you start its the same 'OK, what do i do now?' but once you start getting into a game by taking a few objectives and blowing up tanks it becomes addictive. Especially when you start getting airlifts from truly some of the great pilots who can land a nighthawk on a pin head. The one occasion that stands out for me was a pilot who managed to shake off a SU-34 in a Huey while taking us to the next objective, once there he landed us in a field that tanks would have trouble crossing and returned to base to pick up some more people. It was just a brilliant bit of aviation on his part, and its times like that which make you ignore the slight imperfections and want to play more and more.
The main fault that I have with this game and it crops up in more or less every review is the AI's ability to drive ground vehicles. Its like being driven by a 90 year old on LSD, they randomly feel the need to swerve wildly, stop, do a 360 turn then continue to drive or get lost on a corner, get out, then back in then crash into a lamppost the do an Austin Powers style 30000 point turn to get back on the road. The pilot AI isn't that bad, the only problems with that are its occasional urge to hit a tree when taking off and the ever so often occasion it can't land due to a bush being in the way. If Bohemia had spent a little bit more time addressing one or two issues it could of been the greatest shooter of all time. Hopefully Operation Arrowhead will see to fix these issues and bring ARMA II up to its true and full recognized potential.