14 hours of scratching the surface

Arma II is an extraordinary game. I've played it for nearly 14 hours so far, meaning that I've already spent more time on it than games such as BioShock 1 & 2, Mirror's Edge, Cryostasis and Metro 2033. Yet while I know these games insideout, and was able to write detailed reviews on all of them, I feel like I have barely scratched the surface in Arma II. I haven't touched the campaign and I have only worked my way through 50% of the tutorial. I still have trouble controlling the tank and I keep crashing in the VTOL tutorial. I haven't memorised the controls and I don't even know what a lot of actions even MEAN. Completed scenarios? One and counting. But... damn, this game already fascinates me thoroughly. And it ought to. I went to quite a lot of trouble to get a working copy (one store forgot to supply the CD-key), and I eventually ended up paying €25 (about 32USD) for it. This was a few months back, and I hadn't touched the game for quite a while. Still, Bohemia's tactical shooter fascinated me even during that hiatus. I knew Arma II was an activity in itself that I needed to learn, and mastering it was and still is quite a distant dream. However, I didn't want to be the type of gamer that writes a title off after an hour because it doesn't do handholding and the familiar run and gun tactics aren't rewarded. So after a few days of staring at Arma II's box, which had sat on my shelf untouched for a few months, I finally had the guts to fire it up again last week.

And I'm glad that I did. Apart from doing a few tutorial missions to familiarise myself with the basic game mechanics, I delved into the sandbox editor. With this tool, you can create your own scenarios on either two of the gigantic maps. It's the kind of editor that's easy to learn but incredibly difficult to master, so obviously, my current efforts aren't anything special.

Still, I managed to create a pretty damn enjoyable mission yesterday. The entire mission came down to the elimination of several enemy squads scattered across the foresty Chernarus map. The whole thing turned out to be more of a survival test, because after I finished the missions nearly 2,5 hours later(!), the Russian special ops team I started out with was reduced from 9 to 3 men, with me and the team's sniper being wounded.

And that's what brings me to the essence of Arma II and why it is so fascinating: it really manages to capture and portray accurately the essence of warfare. You know how reviewers always attribute such qualities to games like Medal of Honor and Call of Duty? While those games are enjoyable in their own right, such claims couldn't be further away from the truth. When was the last time you were actually afraid to get hit in such games? Why even be careful if you can just hide behind the nearest rock and have your health fully replenished? In Arma II, get hit once in the wrong place and you're done for. Get hit in your leg and you're wounded, making you slower and diminishing your aim.

I actually felt increasingly terrified whenever we (I or my AI teammates) spotted an enemy squad. Our numbers kept getting smaller while the size of their squads only seemed to increase. At one moment, I actually started to feel sorry for the AI teammates who died under my command one by one. For the first time in a video game, I started to understand, if only for a little, what must go to a soldier's head in real warfare. Of course I had the save/load options to help me out, but I realised that one wrong move or maneuver could mean the difference between life and death, and that the latter phenomenon is constantly lurking around the corner.

The environments help emphasise the believability of the game, and my fondness of it. According to the game, they take place in a fictional Eastern-European country called Chernarus ('Black Russia'), but in reality, the maps are heavily based on the geography of the Czech Republic, the home country of developer Bohemia Interactive. Either way, it makes for the typical Eastern European atmosphere which I love so much. Not to mention the atmosphere comes across as very believable as well. The impressive graphics and amazing sound design make walking through the woods feel so real that it's nearly frightening. Especially if there's a squad of guerrilla riflemen waiting for you on the other side.

There are still tons of other things I'd like to talk to you about, but I realise that if I am to mention all the things that caught my attention during the 14 hours I played game, I'm going to have to write a 30-page essay on it, and I don't want to do that to you, nor to myself. And to think that I'm still just scratching the surface. The possibilities of this game seem endless, and the extremely confined way in which I experienced the game so far already is enough to have me hooked. I don't know if I will ever be able to do a proper review on this game, if only because I actually have very limited knowledge of military simulators and tactical shooters in general. But if that review ever comes, expect it to be long.