Recent reviews by FoxRazgriz

Reforger is an ever-evolving engine testbed for the next entry in the ArmA series, and it is quickly proving to be worthy of its title. Infantry movement and interaction is head and shoulders better and more immersive than previous entries. Vehicle physics and interactions are also greatly developed to be as realistic as possible. Built-in radio mechanics are an exciting sight, and inventory management has never been as detailed as it is now. So far, the only content creation suites available are a rudimentary game master mode and modding, but when you consider how new the game is and the priorities of the creators, this is acceptable.

In all, this game is a welcome return to form for BI and the ArmA series.

Anyone buying this game in 2022 is in for a rude awakening.

For those familiar with the pain of War Thunder, you know how this game's grind is. Daily tasks get you into the habit of playing every day, and thus create that daily addiction for players. Miserly rewards for Player vs. AI matches encourages PvP play exclusively to grind Steel, and PvP play has some serious problems with this game's maturity and learning curve.

This game does not welcome or encourage new players. Not only is the in-game community more toxic than any other game I have ever seen or heard about, the learning curve for PvP is far too steep and hopeless for any new players to pick up and get good at without investing hundreds of hours. The game's matchmaking (if it even has any) is exploited by smurfs and does you no good if you party up with a more senior player (better bring some lube, noob).

Just like most modern games, the gameplay is satisfying and so is the singleplayer. But the multiplayer meta and community are so toxic to the point that I will vehemently proclaim that anyone curious about this game should stay as far away as possible!

TL;DR:
Pros: Satisfying combat and animations, appealing characters and aesthetics, loads of customization
Cons: Toxic community, malicious multiplayer meta including little/no matchmaking

P.S.: Any comments that have the character of "git gud" only prove my point about the community

Finished the story. Final edition below. Some spoilers ahead.

The NPC roster is definitely woke. It's not as bad as it seemed originally, but it still plays all the classic woke-tropes. Most of the white male characters are either incompetent, weak, immature, or otherwise not attractive in some way (no, these aren't flaws, because these characteristics ARE their entire personality, not just some aspect of it). Yet all the female or non-white characters continued to be practically gods who could easily resolve the crisis in Hope County on their own. There was no voice of reason. Every objective, quest, and line of dialogue was supercharged with emotion that would've compromised half of these missions before they began. I understand this is a game and the setting makes it hit close to home for many of these characters, but Ubisoft really let that flaw slide for many of their characters.

In addition, Ubisoft has this fascination in-game with "The Resistance," which is just a signal to their woke audience that they're an ally. Their PR record supports this, and seeing this bleed into game really hurts my ability to enjoy it.

The plot was far too convenient with no substantive end goal or plan. "Kill the Seed family" is the primary mission, but other than the basic "kill all the family members by fighting enemies," there's no interesting strategy or plan. Far Cry 3 was very straight forward: Escape the Island. But the pursuit of that goal still had creative twists and turns that weren't just "kill X character to continue," all enhanced by the protagonist's character development. A far better alternative would've been to have a plan to a) establish contact with the world outside of Hope County, b) gather intel on the location and operations of the Seed family, and c) meticulously prepare for and execute a plan to kill off each of the Seed family members. Many other games have done this structure of kill lists.

In addition, killing Vos was secondary until the main character developed a grudge, which he learned from. THIS IS CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. And it's lacking from this story. To move from chapter to chapter, the game relies on the antagonist capturing the protagonist multiple times, all under the pretext of the Chosen One trope. This got old after the third capture, and is a classic way that writers pull punches when it comes to bad things happening to their characters. A better alternative would be to reveal a hidden location or path after the necessary RP threshold was met.

Still no time allowed for character development, because there really was no protagonist. There was SOME hopeful spark of a character during Jacob's arc, when Rook became brainwashed, but it wasn't a part of a larger character exploration. Ubisoft really missed out on furthering player engagement by NPC-ing their protagonist.

Voicing a thought I had while playing, it would've been really interesting to have a Seed family member that seemed redeemable. Faith is the obvious choice here, because of her tragic past, making her the most developed and thought-out Seed. But this was never explored or even hinted at, for any of the Seeds. Working to redeem any of these characters (not necessarily succeeding in this quest; perhaps even tragically failing) would have been far more interesting than having just a long hit list.

The fact remains that the producers of this game are upset about the players sympathizing with the antagonist is because they haven't provided us with a sufficiently compelling and sympathetic protagonist.

Gun play, navigation, and vehicle interaction are very good. I'm an ArmA and DCS guy, so I enjoy simulators a lot, but I really appreciated how this game made their aircraft controls accessible and easy. This is the best characteristic of this series and makes the game very fun. The atmosphere and scenery is EXTREMELY well done, with a gorgeous countryside environment and very core American aesthetic.

The soundtrack to this game is absolutely superb and deserves every bit of praise they can get. The scores match the pace of gameplay very well and reinforce the themes presented. YouTube some of the most popular tracks to see what I mean.

The amount of side tasks and missions was definitely overwhelming. Ubisoft is a repeat offender with this sin, especially with Assassin's Creed titles, and it seems it has permeated into this title. This could've been in Far Cry 4, and if so I didn't play that game, so don't expect me to mention it. But I do find the free-roam aspect, combined with being able to seek out and destroy particular Seed family members, refreshing and engaging.

But despite all the in-game pros and cons, my opinion remains that the politics of Ubisoft and their intent in releasing this game is enough for me to not recommend it to others. They are actively at war with libertarian and conservative policies, preferring instead to broadcast wokeness and insult large demographics of their fan base. I acknowledge that some aspects of this game are satirical, but the amount of material and the frequency of the jabs are outside the bounds of what could be considered satire. Ubisoft is woke, and despite what their disclaimer says they hate any libertarian or conservative policies.

TL;DR: Good gameplay. Fun vehicles. Outstanding soundtrack. Gorgeous environment. Weak and contrived plot. Woke NPC roster. Bad developer/publisher for playing politics.

Father to ArmA2 and Grandfather to ArmA3, Armed Assault, more affectionately known as ArmA, is the pioneer of the next generation of Bohemia Interactive's sandbox genre starting with Operation Flashpoint. There is no better simulator of combined arms warfare than this classic sandbox game. While its graphics and controls may not have aged well compared to the latest and greatest of its descendants, ArmA is still the classic shining example of realistic combined arms warfare. Compelling and immersive campaigns, a still vibrant and unique multiplayer, and limitless potential with a mission editor, this is the defining title in Bohemia Interactive's much-loved franchise and is well worth the purchase and the gameplay.

Gamers who enjoy going to back to "retro" or classic games (and who don't mind tolerating antiquated controls and graphics) will appreciate this game.

Driving these tanks, airplanes, and ships is fun. Shooting other vehicles is fun too. But the multiplayer matches will make you hate yourself.

First, this game is a grind. If you came for the cool mid-game content, you better settle in for the long slough through all the ♥♥♥♥ tier vehicles. Progression at Tier 3 and beyond is at a snail's pace unless you purchase premium time. If you really want to waste your time subjecting yourself to the grind, you better decide what vehicles you want to drive VERY EARLY and spend every second of play time grinding towards that. During that grind, you'll get sniped across the map, flanked by a route you didn't even know was there, left for dead by your team, and completely outclassed thanks to the BR system (discussed here in a bit).

Have fun not making any progress on that ♥♥♥♥♥♥ stock tank you spent hours researching and are extremely excited to have finally purchased, because before you know it you'll probably find yourself locked into an unwinnable situation caused by things completely outside your control!

On the topic of grinding for parts, nothing in this game is more soul crushing than finally getting to use that really cool tank you've been working towards only to find out that it's completely outclassed for it's BR, it performs like ♥♥♥♥ without upgrades, and it costs a small fortune to repair after getting picked off without ever seeing the guy who killed you.

Second, the Battle Rating system, which is used to balance the matchmaking, is deeply flawed, especially for heavy tank drivers. Heavy tanks are placed in battles full of vehicles with weapons that can easily penetrate their heavy armor (thus defeating the entire purpose of a heavy tank). You might as well never invest in heavy tanks and just focus on tank destroyers if you want to stick to the fun parts of this game, which is shooting and killing other vehicles.

Third, the historical accuracy only goes as far as how each vehicle performs. If you are looking for a historically accurate WW2 vehicle warfare simulator, THIS IS NOT IT. Tanks and aircraft, particularly heavy tanks, will NEVER face in an online battle what they actually faced during the era in which they were used.

Fourth, I've been playing this game for well over 7 years. The game modes have not changed or been expanded on in all those years. Gaijin has zero creativity or innovation when it comes to game modes. Their idea of enhancing or expanding gameplay is introducing new vehicles which were only ever existed in blueprints or tweaking penetration matrices or BR values. Bombers in Air Realistic battles is the biggest example of this. They were next to useless when I first started playing, and they now continue to be undervalued and completely disregarded by Gaijin and the community. There's nothing quite like being the only bomber in an AR battle, where you get completely swarmed by an entire team of fighters without any protection from your own and start to ask what is the point of you spending your time on this game.

So, if you want to be a bomber pilot, you should take my advise on heavy tanks listed above and just forget bombers in favor of fighters if you want to have any fun.

TL;DR: Driving/flying/shooting all these vehicles is fun, but terrible and long-time broken game mechanics like the BR matchmaking system and game modes that make an entire branch of vehicles useless (particularly bombers and heavy tanks) make this game a painful experience. You don't know frustration and demoralization until you've play this game, but you'll still keep wanting to play because on the rare chance you get to actually win in a situation it'll feel good. But the anguish you take getting there and the ratio of good times to bad is definitely not worth it. This game will abuse you like a drunk, deadbeat father, but all you'll want to do is keep working to please it.

Overall:

Never before has so much been said with just a little bit of silence.

The Laws of War DLC takes an unusual angle on the heavily saturated market of war games. Instead of new weapons and units, you are given a humanitarian faction. Instead of a bloody, shoot-em-up campaign with you commanding vast amounts of firepower and stealing the lives of hundreds of enemies, you are given the story of a town ravaged by conflict and misfortune.

And it has worked brilliantly!

This new spin on warfare, an angle that shows the civilian loss and permanent impact upon the nation and its people, is driven home during this immersive and engaging mini-campaign with themes, settings, and dialogue that will haunt you like the ghosts of Oreokastro for years to come. Your own opinions on warfare and the way it is waged will be questioned by examining the characters of this narrative as well as their actions, and subsequent consequences. You will be thrust into a compelling setting, whose visual and audio effects will drive home feelings of abandonment, lost innocence, and the chaos of modern warfare. To draw players in further, this addictive campaign is told by relatable, full bodied characters who will be your guide through this self examination.

For those looking for a new single player campaign, which is an expansion onto the vanilla ArmA 3 campagin, and who enjoy a really good story, this is the DLC for you!

For those who enjoy mission making, this DLC gives you an element uncommon in war games (humanitarian actions) and can greatly deepen your missions and stories.

For those who enjoy enhancing their own skills at combat, this DLC will provide you with unique units such as the utility UAV, enhanced mine detector, and APERS Mine Launcher to use in the most innovative ways that only you can imagine.



A message for the negative review authors:

To some, this DLC will seem unfair in what it gives each player. Some negative reviews will tell you that for the price of $11.99, you will get almost no new content as far as gear, modules, or vehicles.

To those who wrote such negative reviews: I CHALLENGE YOU TO PLAY THE MINI-CAMPAIGN THEN REVISIT YOUR NEGATIVE RATING OF THIS DLC. Play it for the narrative, to feel like your actions in-game have real consequences. That is what Bohemia Interactive is trying to teach you!



To those unsure whether or not to buy:

You should buy this if _:
- you want a story that challenges you to examine your actions and their consequences in-game
- you appreciate a multi-sided and immersive narrative whose theme and setting will haunt you for days
- you wish to deepen this sandbox game with an extra unusual element (the IDAP faction)
- you wish to further your immersion of the most realistic war game to date by seeing the grim side of armed conflict and its affects upon the lives of the people that it touches

You should not buy this if _:
- you are expecting a fast-paced shoot-em-up string of bloody missions
- you are expecting an armory of new weapons, gear, and vehicles
- you do not wish to think about how war is complicated and every shot fired has a consequence
- you measure a DLC by the amount of new weapons, gear, or vehicles it offers compared to its price (there is MUCH more to this game than just the guns and uniforms, and it you have not played the ENTIRE vanilla ArmA 3 "The East Wind" campaign, you are not getting the full value of this game)



In conclusion:

This DLC focuses on the exact topic that ArmA 3 has focused on since the beginning: War.

Yet it focuses on this motif not with explosions (well, maybe some), gunshots, or heroic battle cries of glory, but with the silence that is only found when everyday life has been completely tainted by the curse of conflict. This DLC will call into question your opinions on warfare and how it is conducted, doing so by using its addictively immersive and compelling mini-campaign. This DLC makes the setting of ArmA 3 even more realistic and immersive, adding color and depth to a sandbox game that is the leader in realistic war games.

I HIGHLY recommend this DLC for anyone who wishes to sink further into the immersive world of ArmA.

As a CompSec college student, I was thinking about making a game for my senior project that revolved around hacking into computers using techniques and methods that reflect real-world threat vectors. The idea got shot down by the department, but I still wanted to play a game like the one I described.

This IS that game. Well done, devs!

At the time of this review, I have nearly 4K hours, am part of a realism unit, and have made lots of missions and custom content within the game. The game is currently in a state of near-total completion, with multiple free and purchasable DLCs and gameplay aspects released.

Long review, I know, but there's a lot to this game for which I want to express my opinions to help any potential new players on making the decision to buy the game and invest their time.

ArmA is a combined arms simulator and sandbox. The integration of infantry, armor, air power, and other supporting units across a vast map with diverse landscapes is what makes this game special. Do not mistake this game for an FPS. This game is beyond compare to "war games" like Battlefield or Squad.

What New Players might find attractive:
- Comprehensive combined arms experience
- Lots of factions to play, vehicles to drive, weapons/equipment to use
- Vast, open-world-scale sandbox environment
- Lots of mods that can change this game how you like (contemporary factions, HALO factions, Star Wars factions, Warhammer 40K factions, zombies, aliens, new maps, new weapons/equipment/vehicles, advanced movement, realistic medical systems, radio plugins, etc.)
- Units dedicated to exclusive missions and certain styles of gameplay (look up "ArmA 3 Realism Units")
- Immersive, interactive, and interesting singleplayer missions
- In-game learning and discovery features like Virtual Arsenal, VR Training, and Field Manual
- Content creation suite, including the 3D Mission Editor, built-in scripting language, and other BI tools for modding/scripting/mission making

What New Players might NOT find attractive:
- Less-than-optimal performance
- Moderately-sophisticated AI
- Occasional bugs
- Lack of familiar concepts and features found in other FPS games (progression system, melee system, and appearance customization), but this is negligible
- Lack of advanced simulator aspects (players used to driving/flying vehicles in simulators might be disappointed at the simplicity of ArmA's mechanics, but this simplicity allows accessibility into all aspects of vehicle play)
- Unfamiliar DLC model (I have a section about this lower down in my review)
- Higher-than-normal learning curve when compared to more familiar AAA FPS games (but definitely not as high as Tarkov or other such difficult games; again, ArmA is NOT an FPS game)

I recommend potential players go to the ArmA wiki to see a list of weapons, equipment, and vehicles, because these lists, while more extensive than contemporary AAA shooters, is not the true value of this game. But for those that need a short list...

Weapons list includes a vast array of infantry small arms (rifles, sidearms, machine guns, SMGs/PDWs, marksman rifles, AT/AA launchers), crew-served static heavy weapons (HMGs, GMGs, Mortars, AA/AT Launcher turrets), and even different kinds of explosives and mines. Ground vehicles include unarmored vehicles, MRAPs, variants of light, medium, and heavy armor, SPAA, mobile artillery, utility/support vehicles, and even unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs). Aerial vehicles include rotary and fixed wing aircraft in all shapes and sizes.

The units, factions, and missions that come with the base game, hereto referred to as "vanilla," represent a near-future speculative fiction universe. This has caused controversy among the community, but is in reality only a slight departure from the mid-2000s speculative fiction of Armed Assault and ArmA 2. I personally enjoy the universe that Bohemia Interactive has created, as it shows what they think the future of warfare will look like, similar to novels such as Ghost Fleet. Many of the vanilla vehicles and equipment already exist, just presented under a different name and slightly different appearance.

To explore the different aspects of solo gameplay to its fullest, I recommend playing through the entirety of The East Wind vanilla campaign, along with the other, shorter campaigns. Not only is it a good fictional narrative, but it explores parts of each map and offers the player a vast amount of freedom in regard to the completion of objectives (for most missions).

In its current state, ArmA 3 offers a long list of advanced lore-friendly training missions and in-game documentation (called the Field Manual) to guide players in understanding the different parts of the game.

Regarding the multiplayer experience, this game is best enjoyed with a gaming unit or clan dedicated to its gameplay. Joining a group of coordinated players who are able to give and receive instructions and have exclusive missions is the best way to experience the heart of ArmA. Which group to join is a very personal decision and depends entirely on what you want to get out of the game.

In regard to optimization, there are certain realities that players have to expect and adapt to in order to play this game. The AI are not perfect, the missions and scripting have their problems, and performance has always been a problem. However, in the grand list of pros/cons for this game, optimization is far outweighed by the atmosphere, replayability, communities, and my personal, overall satisfaction.

For players who enjoy creating their own things, the included Mission Editor allows you to make your own singleplayer, coop, or multiplayer missions, using any of the in-game resources you want. The game supports its own, very well documented scripting language which allows advanced creators to push the limits of what they can in missions. Creating and using mods is also extremely common, and I recommend browsing the Steam Workshop and ArmAholic forums to see all that is possible in regard to modding.

Regarding DLC and other content, players might be disappointed when reviewing the model, simply looking at the quantity of weapons, equipment, maps, and factions offered in comparison to other AAA FPS DLC models. However, when considering that BI has constantly released free DLC and gameplay expansions during this title's lifecycle, as well as the game's overall feature list, replayability, and community, the occasional paid DLC is not an unreasonable model. A wise player would consider the DLC just a way of supporting BI as they continue to create the most realistic and accessible combined arms sandbox game on the market today.

TL;DR: ArmA 3 is a gateway into the combined arms sandbox experience. The singleplayer missions and campaigns can introduce players to the gameplay and explore the predictive fictional universe BI has created. The community keeps the game fresh, with mods, missions, and units/clubs/clans/groups dedicated to specific gameplay. I cannot recommend this game enough for a wholesome experience, but players definitely need to be aware of the cons before they invest time and money into this game.