I've played a couple of hours and so far it is alot of fun. I will say that it is no ArmA to start off. It is more of a BF2/COD melded with a a massive open world and good simulation of ballistics and penetration, and a little touch of ArmA mixed in.

First off with all settings maxed at 1680x1050 it runs smooth as silk regardless of what is happening on screen. The view distance is awesome and the game itself looks good as well. It won't win any graphical awards but being able to sustain the view distance that it does that is an acceptable trade off.

They stuck true to their original intentions which was to bring the most realistic title to date to the consoles, not to the PC however :/. It is still alot of fun to play and the use of tactics is necessary. I've gotten myself killed quite a few times already by being stupid. It is possible to run and gun to a certain extent but most of the time you'll find your self in a position that is not healthy and you'll most likely end up dead.

The AI are hit or miss, quite literally. Sometimes they can't hit the broad side of a barn and sometimes you catch one right to the melon. They don't seem to use controlled bursts to any effect either, almost everything I've seen is spraying in full auto. Your friendly AI seem to be pretty competent aside from not always moving when you want them too. When they fall back under fire they stay low, and stop from time to time to return fire and suppress then commence movement.

There are also some console touches, such as the almost non-existent gun sway while moving scoped in and the tiny recoil. Also in regards to the review from Norway I posted earlier, I don't know what the reviewer was talking about with the ammo situation. The only time I have really come close to running out of ammo is when I was heavily engaged because of a mistake that I made and the enemy bodies do not disappear after 30 sec, i'm going to have to call BS on him for that.

Overall the weapons handle nicely, it is not always easy to hit the target which is a good thing. It's hard to hit anything with the red dot site and there is no sighting system for the GL's so it's going to take time to get used to their feel. The thermal scopes almost seem like a hack they're so effective but such is the nature of the beast i guess. The damage system is also pretty good, most times I get completely incapacitated rather than just injured. The AI medic is also pretty dodgy, I've only tried to use him a couple of times and those times his path finding skills were lacking and I ended up dying. That wouldn't be a problem in Coop though.

The command menu can be a little annoying. Not only trying to find the correct command but the fact that you have to close it manually after you issue an order with the 'q' key. Sometimes you'll issue an order you didn't want to because it uses to the wasd cluster to navigate the menu resulting in an errant order. Just one more thing to get used to. You also cannot move while issuing orders, that would be much worse if that the AI were super accurate though, which they're not.

So first impressions is that it's a good game in it's own right if you approach it from that perspective. Don't expect ArmA and don't expect the arcade feeling of COD/BF2, have an open mind and have fun. I haven't had a chance to play online yet but I expect the Coop will be the best mode at least untill or if they release a dedicated server.

Anyone else have any thoughts?