Ripten Review: ArmA 2: Operation Arrowhead

Anyone that knows me well would know I am an avid military enthusiast, and I love anything related to realistic simulations of the military life. So when ArmA 2 came out I was chomping at the bit, however my low powered PC didn’t run it, so I had to wait. When I finally got my hands on the game I played the absolute hell through it, then I heard Operation Arrowhead was coming out and I nearly wet myself.

Fast forward two months, and I finally have the game downloaded and I am amazed. First of all, Operation Arrowhead is a completely stand alone expansion pack for ArmA 2.  However, you can play them completely separate or merge the content into either game. That means for new and old fans alike, you now have two ways to get back into the series, and it couldn’t come at a better time.

Fast forward three years after the original conflict in Chernarus (ArmA 2), and a new flashpoint situation is rising to a boil in Takistan, a region heavily modeled after the current warzone in Afghanistan. As usual, American forces are sent into the area to prevent further civilian deaths and destruction, and that is where the player comes in. As with ArmA 2, the combat is the polar opposite of today’s instant cocaine shot of action. Combat is at most of times carried out at range, with small engagements that can result in life threatening consequences, and Bohemia Interactive has done a brilliant job of capturing that once again in Operation Arrowhead.

As I mentioned, Operation Arrowhead is a Standalone Expansion pack, which means it can be used on its own, or combined with the predecessor to access the features and content contained within each.  As such there is a plethora of new military goodness, including vehicles, weapons and even some new factions to play as. On the vehicular side of things there are 12 new vehicles including the M1A2 Abrams and Boeing CH-47 Helicopter to use and destroy, 7 new types of firearms (namely the SCAR and all it’s variants) greet users as well as 6 factions heading into the fray, my favorite being the United States Army.

Similar to ArmA 2, Operation Arrowhead features different playing areas, each with their own features and terrain differences. The main area of Takistan is 160km2 and features central Asian terrain that is modeled accurately through the use of satellites and real life surveying. Zargabad is 70km2 and features more urban environments perfect for scenes you would imagine in Black Hawk Down. Finally, the Desert area is completely empty and is for use with the town-generation module.  All the areas are brilliant to play in, and I think some amazing content will be made with the Desert and all the creation modules.

With the new expansion, Bohemia also included numerous engine changes and modifications to both make the game run smoother, and look better. SSAO was added, which places a heavy draw on most GPU’s, however the game runs a lot smoother when compared to ArmA 2. Numerous features from popular ArmA 2 modification “ACE” were added which eliminates the need for standalone modifications and in turn also makes the game run smoother. On the topic of modifications, Bohemia added an in game mod manager which works brilliantly and is a great addition.

As would be expected there is a fully fleshed out story-driven campaign, which is great to play and really immerses the player into a virtual world that still bears consequences parallel to real life. There are numerous “Scenarios” that place the player in various roles, ranging from a sniper deep behind enemy lines, to an Apache pilot who has to deploy a remote controlled drone capable of destroying enemies from kilometers away. All of these are fun to play and offer a great deal of replayability both on higher difficulties and with friends. To add even more bang for your hard earned buck, there is a mission generator that randomly generates a task, playing field and adequate soldiers to give you a great on-the-fly content generator. This plays well and is good for a bit of fun if you don’t want to get heavily involved in a campaign or multiplayer.

When it comes to games like this though, AI plays a very important role in both acting realistically and keeping you safe and secure. Unfortunately at times the AI leaves a lot to be desired, and literally makes me want to crawl into my screen and abuse them. During the aforementioned sniper mission my AI soldier would run off on his own quest and get himself spotted, getting me killed. During campaign AI leaders have trouble triggering points that move the game onwards, which in terms breaks the game up and lowers the level of immersion. This happened minimally though, and the majority of the time I barely had a problem with the computer controlled players.

Of course the real strength within a game this realistic lies in the co-operative nature required to play it, both with humans and computers alike. The multiplayer experience is as strong as ever and I can imagine even more players flocking to online servers, and in turn increasing the ever awesome online capabilities. Nothing beats strategically planning to assault a village and watching everything happen like clockwork. All of that requires precision and training though, which new players can learn with the in-depth and improved Boot Camp, something ArmA 2 featured but didn’t  effectively put across, unlike this time.

I won’t go into sound or graphics with Operation Arrowhead, as ArmA 2 and this game are both renowned for needing a resource hungry machine. With a 1280×720 resolution, a HIS 5750 GPU, AMD x4 630 2.81Ghz, I was managing a solid 60FPS. On my computer this game runs smoother than ArmA 2, something Bohemia Interactive set out to do from the get go. Sound is hard to measure in ArmA 2 and Operation Arrowhead, as both titles can be modified until the cows come home, and people rarely use the default sound engines anyway.

The game does feature a brilliant soundtrack that incorporates both Metal and Eastern music into one, offering a really good cohesion that perfectly builds the tension and mood around missions and game play alike.

I honestly recommend this game to anyone and everyone, if you have a computer good enough to run it. A performance drop could affect your enjoyment of this game, but I wouldn’t go as far as saying you should built a computer solely for it.  A rock solid campaign is backed up by unlimited possibilities thanks to the mission and map editor, as well as the pre-made scenarios. It wont be long until amazing content is being churned out by the community, adding to the never ending gameplay of Operation Arrowhead.

The Rundown:

+ Great expansion that really sets the bar high for future packs
+ Amount of content is mind boggling and there is truly unlimited playtime
- AI is still pesky and ignites my inner rage
- Community is thinned due to the PC requirements needed to run the game effectively

ArmA 2: Operation Arrowhead was developed by Bohemia Interactive and our copy was published by Valve (Steam) for the PC. The game released in the United States on June 29th 2010 with a retail price of $39.99 USD or $49.99 when bundled with ArmA 2. The copy used in this review was for the PC and purchased by the reviewer. The game was played for 20 hours split between Campaign, Scenarios and Multiplayer. Specs of the PC used are as follows: Asus M2A74-AM-SE Motherboard, AMD Quad Core 630 @ 2.81ghz, HIS 5750 1GB DDR5, 4GB RAM, Tritton AX720 Dolby Digital 5.1 Headset, Windows 7 (64 Bit).