ArmA 2 review — complex for its own sake
If you’re an FPS fan, you’ve probably heard of ArmA 2, a game who’s title is often confused with “Armed Assault 2″ — it’s not, ArmA is actually the spiritual successor to Operation Flashpoint. In ArmA 2, the game takes place in a fictional Soviet country called Chernarus, where a battle rages between communists (backed by Russia) and a Western backed democratic government. We won’t go into details because it would spoil the rather Tom Clancy-like storyline.
The gameplay of ArmA 2 does not resemble your average FPS, on the contrary, ArmA 2 is highly realistic and focuses on simulation aspects of the genre. Players can command AI squads into battle and get an overview of the battlefield with a “high command system”, kinda like the “Commander” feature in Battlefield 2. Both features work good and add a layer of strategy elements on top of a game that is already highly realistic and complex.
Speaking of complexity, the game is not for everyone. If you’re used to playing Counter-Strike and Battlefield, thinking you can just jump into ArmA 2 and start “owning”, think again. It’s gonna take a while to get used to, to learn all the features of the game — but that’s the way it was intended to be, it’s a real simulator for the hard core fans. But since only a fraction of FPS players have the time and patience, many will find it very slow and far less intense than most other multiplayer shooters.
Another issue with complexity is the controls of the game. There are numerous actions a player can do, and each action has its own key assigned, meaning you’ll be looking down on your keyboard for a long time, at least in the beginning. It’s inevitable that the more features you add, the more complex it becomes for the players. We would have wished the developer simplified some of the things, even if it meant removing some of the unused features — and there are plenty of those in ArmA 2, it seems. Overall, the game could use some streamlining.
The graphics render a realistic setting, and the audio and especially the art design are also top notch. The setting somewhere in the Soviet Union might not appeal to everyone, but it’s rendered realistically and suits as a great backdrop for the game (combined with the story and campaign). 
However, the graphics are by no means up to “Crysis” standards, nor are the physics. I fact, our high end system had a difficulty keeping up on the high settings, and even on high settings, the game still isn’t a looker.
Despite all the features, it’s the complexity and the buggy state that pull the game in a bad directions . No matter how patient you are, the first few hours will be a frustrating experience, and unless you’ve given up on the game by then, you might find it as an interesting war simulator.
Note: this game was reviewed with the 1.02 patch, which fixed some issues from the initial release, most notably, AI bugs. However, we still experienced that the game was somewhat buggy overall, although nothing that made it downright unplayable.
The Good:
Lots of features, lots of details
True military simulator
Great storyline and campaign
Stunning sense of realism
The Bad:
Too complex, even for die hard fans
Still buggy, after three patches
Very slow pace
Requires a lot of patience
Overall score: 5/10