ArmA III
Preview
Gamescom 2012: Warfare like it's 2035
by Derk Bil
previewed on PC
Painting the town red (cntd)
If the target cannot be allowed to escape, calling in helicopter support is a good option. One of the more spectacular among these is the RAH-66 Comanche attack helicopter. Discontinued in real life, it still has a place in Bohemia Interactive’s future war. Being a lonely spotter on a hillside, it’s an impressive sight to see the Comanche dish out its hellfire and gun turret mayhem on an enemy base, especially when tracer rounds fired by the defending forces start flying around everywhere, lighting up the skies.
You can use pretty much every vehicle that appears in the game yourself as well. We flew a MH-6 helicopter to the southern point of the island just to gawk at the Nikos Sialmas “Spartan” monument. Well, maybe not just, we fired off a few missiles too and I loved seeing how they actually disappeared from the launcher rather than just being projectiles that magically appear out of nowhere. We landed on a base nearby but were a tad too slow to get into the armored vehicle waiting for us. The NPC that had taken the wheel started driving us around so we ended up sitting in the back to enjoy the scenery.
Into deep
We also checked out a single-person submarine and navigated it through the rocks below the water surface. The easiest way to control the sub is doing it from a third person perspective but if total immersion is your thing then rear-view mirrors, windshields and slightly more geeky on-board cameras will help you out in first person.
With the game taking place some 20-odd years into the future, Bohemia Interactive is able to take some liberties with weaponry. Special guns for underwater combat for instance, turn underwater missions into an exciting, lethal affair. Here too, danger lurks everywhere. While I was getting distracted once again, this time by the amazing detail of the rocky Mediterranean seabed, nasty men with their guns were closing in again and we had to take cover behind the rocks below.
We fought off some of the attackers before biting down on a bullet ourselves but that session really drove home just how much the underwater physics differed from the surface, adding a new layer of depth to the ArmA experience.
Playing nice with the natives
The ArmA franchise is not known for its ease of use. Realizing this, Bohemia has implemented a system to give pointers to less experienced players. Unobtrusive messages appear in the top-right of the screen, offering for example information about the missiles your chopper is equipped with or giving advice about different targeting options.
By default, ArmA games are immersive and ArmA III is no different. There is no RPG style compass and no mini map so you will have to whip out and look at the compass that you are carrying in your pocket. Looking through the scope of an assault rifle, you will see the world bobbing up and down just like you would in real life and to steady your aim you will need to hold your breath for a while short while. If you have the patience for it, that sort of realism will suck you right in.
