ARMA 2 Operation Arrowhead

[Neb]

The standalone expansion (doesnt require Arma 2) with new warzones, updated visuals and more.

EU/US Release Date - Jun-29-2010 exclusively for PC

War simulation FPS sandbox game

Set in the fictional region of Takistan and taking place three years after the Arma 2’s campaign, Arma 2: Operation Arrowhead features three new world maps with radical new terrain; sandy deserts, a dense city with surrounding countryside and a rocky mountainous region.

Also included in the standalone expansion pack is support for controlling unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to observe, strike and rescue from afar, along with a fully-modelled FLIR thermal imaging simulation with unprecedented realism to give the player advantages while working at night, going as far as to model vehicle engine heat, tyre friction and even glowing weapon barrels after being fired.

A new campaign is included, with Bohemia Interactive taking the experience gained from its previous games, combined with real world events and political intrigue, to create a storyline that serves as a chilling reminder to the geo-political situation the world finds itself in on a constant basis.

Other new features include a detachable backpack system for carrying more weapons and ammunition, and an overhauled optics system allowing keen marksmen to ‘zero in’ their scopes to account for ballistic fall-off.

ARMA 2: Operation Arrowhead employs a third-generation engine benefitting from more than a decade of continual development and unique experience in implementing new technologies and procedures. Named the Real Virtuality engine, it is widely recognised as the premier platform for modern military simulations where realism and technical accuracy are crucial. Bohemia Interactive Studio’s Real Virtuality engine is used as a base for real-world training simulators implemented by numerous governments and militaries around the world including the United States Marine Corps, the United Kingdom Minstry of Defence and the Australian Defence Force.

ARMA 2: Operation Arrowhead features in full:

•New Playable Content: New story campaign for both single and multi-player gameplay. Wide range of new tutorials, single scenarios and multiplayer modes.

•Massive Game World: Three brand new Central Asia-style large maps including expansive urban, desert and mountainous terrain, featuring a fully destructible and interactive environment.

•Extra Units and Vehicles: Multiple factions for all sides including US Army, United Nations, Takistani Army and Guerrillas making a collection of 300+ new units, weapons and vehicles.

•Ultimate War Simulation Experience: Fully integrates with the original ARMA 2 for unmatched warfare simulation.

•Unique Gameplay Elements: Detachable backpacks with equipment, advanced weapon optics, material penetration modeling, remote real-time simulation of Unmanned Arial Vehicles (UAV), freedom of decision and repercussive actions.

http://www.arma2.com/agegate/agegate.html

 

[homerdog]

I have the Arma 2 demo. If I crank up the settings it looks pretty close to photoreal, but then it runs like poo. Just posting this to confirm that the yt video is representative of actual gameplay graphics, if you have a Fermi or some such.

 

[Neb]

They tweaked quite a lot since the demo for final Arma 2 game with lots of patches. Though perfomance was quite decent with 2880x1800 downsampled to 1440x900 with ~3000m draw distance and max settings I rolled quite OK at 20-30fps in Arma 2 demo on my 4890 1GB. Looked perfect like video though Arrowhead seems visually uppgraded in effects and more.

Of course higher draw distance (10-20km) was quite brute force method for terrain mesh rendering and heavy on CPU/GPU and DIP calls. Hopefully they tweaked it for a software/HW tesselation based system like most other games.

 

[NRP]

Is this one of those games that is brutally realistic, where you walk for an hour, get shot from nowhere, then have to march for another hour just to get back to where you got shot? Or is it a bit more forgiving?

 

[homerdog]

It's pretty brutal judging by the demo.

I fired it up again for a reality check.




^ I'm hopping over a fence that's why it's blurry.

 

[Neb]

That is pretty brutal but you got draw distance to ~~3km? If so then check in the screenshot thread as I have screenshots with fraps and 2880x1800 -> 1440x900 with all max settings and 3-3.5km draw distance. I maintain it above 20fps.

 

[homerdog]

Draw distance was a little over 3km. Everything was maxed except AA (low) and AF (normal), 1920x1200 scaled to 1440x900.

 

[Neb]

Draw distance was a little over 3km. Everything was maxed except AA (low) and AF (normal), 1920x1200 scaled to 1440x900.

I had no AA enabled as 2880x1800 to 1440x900 was good enough for BS style IQ on 20" LCD. But yeah if you have MSAA eanbled and SSAA it will have major perfomance penalties. But MSAA and SSAA is soemthing they tweaked to be less brute force solution as it was in demo.

 

[Davros]

Is this one of those games that is brutally realistic, where you walk for an hour, get shot from nowhere, then have to march for another hour just to get back to where you got shot? Or is it a bit more forgiving?

Perhaps Operation Flashpoint Dragon Rising would be better for you

 

[NRP]

Battlefield is more my speed. I don't mind realism, but not to extent in sim games like this.

 

[Neb]

Battlefield is more my speed. I don't mind realism, but not to extent in sim games like this.

Arma1/2 is to other FPS games like BF series/OP2 what MS Flight Simulator X is versus Hawx or similar arcade flight shooters. In short a hardcore sim of utterly fine value.

 

[Davros]

Battlefield is more my speed.

If you like battlefield you should absolutely buy frontlines fuel of war

 

[Neb]

Games out btw. Also ACE mode is in beta stage and it is out for OA!

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=102460

 

[green.pixel]

Some videos, first one is great.

 

[karlotta]

And now with latest patches, and beta patches (real nice testing setup from BIS) they have added LargeAddresAware for win64 , and SSAO.

 

[Neb]

Yeah SSAO is really slick and visuals great as I have it (max, 1680x1050, 16xAF, 2xMSAA). Quite purdy dynamic DOF it got when aiming, really nice HQ and subtle. I just miss a contrast slider, a vegetation/object LOD slider.

But dont miss out on the beta ACE v1.5 for OA as it is great. Amazing I would say in what it does to improve realism and immersion... just amazing and it is beta!

 

[findhorn_elves]

Flashpoint 2 was great for me i havent tried arma 2 yet

 

[Neb]

got to say this expansion and Arma 2 is just pure amazing. The dynamic factor is unrivaled and vast. Was today playing procedurally generated mission of getting from point A to B with a distance of 400m through a small village with a few enemy soldiers I took care off. While engaging them I noticed 2 russian transport helis fly over the sky over some cliffs. I took cover while they passed 200m infront of me and then followed their trail.
After a while and straying out about 2km out of mission zone I saw a settlement/small village. At first it looked empty but a bit up there where civilians and blood stenches on the ground. Found a dead woman and a wounded man. Then I heared machinegun noise at distance, about 1-2km further away behind the boulders. Some milita men hunting down a few civilians trying to escape. I was about 4-5km out of my mission zone and in other games it would be completly empty of any AI or events except scripted simple smoke/explosion effects at distance.

It really gives the sense of war with everything going around you that has nothing to do with your mission and it being dynamic and procedural is really exciting. It's not scripted and every replay returns different events and results.

Fantastic!

 

[Davros]

Demo available
http://www.arma2.com/demo/arma-2-operation-arrowhead-demo_en.html

 

[Kyyla]

I bought combined ops and completed the first recon mission. Seems like a nice game! It's a nice feeling to roll the draw distance slider to the right