DOUPE 15 Article on AA

[John CANavar]

Translation by bör on BI Forums

As I couldn't find any translation of the czech article about ArmA in the czech magazine DOUPE 15, I decided to do just another translations of Lord Perth' infamous czech-german translations...

Armed Assault Preview

Good ol' Flashpoint transferred into a new game, with nice innovations and more beautiful than before. That's, in brief, Armed Assault, the sequel to BIS' game. While early info dated last spring talked about ArmA as a reissue of Operation Flashpoint with a few innovations, the final version will be somewhat different. ArmA is a stand-alone game even if its roots are OFP. In our preview we'll introduce you to innovations that push the gaming experience and that surprise - pleasently.

Closer to mainstream ["mass of gamers" literally]

The first info is shocking: ArmA aims for a larger target group thus carrying some changes along. If you're looking for some sop, I'll clear everything for you: We won't be facing a revolution or an attack on something we loved, but rather an adjusting of the concept. There'll be multiple difficulty levels giving us the option to save more often, to make our fellow combattants tougher, to restrain friendly fire, etc.

Hardcore gamers and fans of OFP shouldn't panic though - ArmA still features the same tough and uncomprimising world they're already used (and they'll still get their super difficult mode)
This time the conflict takes place on an island, about as large as 400 km² - that's about as large as the three islands of OFP combined. The environment is richer and more elaborate than before, both its details and accoutrement please the eye. The engine has been nearly entirely reworked, the tree generator, which lets you forget the pseudo trees of OFP, stands for that. Each tree is an object that can be destroyed - driving through a forest with a tank is sensational, and when all the trees are cracking it feels very realistic. That's the case for the whole environment: Towns can be destroyed by bombardement, fences can be destroyed by cars, etc.

More roles in a mission

An unexpected innovation shows up on a spot, you would hardly have expected. The player will switch between multiple units which contribute to a mission, so the campaign gains an unexpected scale. In the mission we could watch in the developers' presentation the player had to clean a town to advance on the enemy's camp afterwards. While the main force is advancing on the new objective, the player takes the role of a sniper and cleans the approaches.
Completed single player missions will be available in coop mode, in which you'll be able to try out the different roles over and over.

The multiplayer mode gains importence, but at this point we want to describe the single player campaign. Altough it's shorter and it features only half as many missions as OFP, it'll feature a richer and even better gaming experience. The island the action takes place on is seperated in two halfs: The north is a post-communist run-down country whilst the south is a flourishing pro-west country. As in real life the two different forms of governments (and ideologies) don't come along with another very well, and the american army, doing a manoeuvre, intervenes in the conflict, the player will slip into the role of a soldier that is in the american forces. Although the length of the campaign will be shorter than in Flashpoint, the coop mode will countervail this.

Huge battles featuring umpteen players

We hail the reworked multiplayer that BIS has put more work on than before. The multiplayer features huge battles with umpteen players, places left idle will be filled up with bots. Due to the time such a mp game consumes - depending on the map up to several hours - the players may join in progress. The game won't restrain the number of players participating, it solely depends on the single computers. It's already possible today to fight battles with up to 60 players. That number, promising an unseen experience is only an outlook on the huge battlefields of the "future".

Due to multiplayer and the idle places filled up by bots the importance of A.I. rises, the developer team is intensively working on this topic. The enemies will be capable of calling support, taking cover - everything to make them capable of replacing real players and to make a adequate team member. The editor will enhance the durability of the game and we can look forward to further extensions (e.g. new dinghys, choppers, etc.)

It's not necessary to comment on the graphics - form yourself a view by the screenshots and the assurance that the game will look a lot more beautiful and vivious than OFP. Thanks to the used technology ArmA looks good, and it'll run on current computers without a problem. A 2,4 GHz precessor and 1 GB RAM are adequate for a good running gaming experience at good quality. But the developers still have to do the final optimization which will bring down the hardware requirements.

That alone should be enough to calm down the worries, that players of military simulations will have about ArmA. The rest of the ingredients let assume that the obsession called Operation Flashpoint - now called Armed Assault - will erupt once again. We're excitedly anticipating it.


Thanks to ...
spoock for scanning & posting the czech article
Lord Perth for doing a german translation another time.

[Obi]

I can't wait for this game. It should have a pretty massive following.

[Turbo]

I can't wait.

[FriedFish]

What's the latest word about when this is coming out?

[Obi]

Release date: H1 2006

What the hey does that mean?

http://www.bistudio.com/presspages/A...ss_Update.html

[Trooper]

im guessing the H = half. like Q = quater. So im guessing before the end of June.

[Llyranor]

PvP should be loads of fun ^_^

[munchkin]

I can't wait for this game. I am also unoriginal in my posts.

[perry]

I like "umpteen" players.. Massive wars are fun.. online of course