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ArmA II

EMAIL PRINT pc

7.7 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 38 critic reviews
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Based on 241 votes
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Game Info

Publisher: 505 Games / Steam

Developer: Bohemia Games

Genre(s): First-Person Shooter

Players: 50

ESRB Rating: M (Mature)

Release Date: June 26, 2009

Summary

Building on 10 years of constant engine development, ARMA II boasts the most realistic combat environment in the world. It models real world ballistics & round deflection, materials penetration, features a realtime day/night cycle and dynamic wind, weather and environmental effects. The simulation of a combat environment is so effective, the engine forms the basis for training simulators used by real armies the world over. Although ArmA II is set in the fictional ex-soviet state of 'Chernarus' the gameworld is actually a 225 square kilometer chunk of the real world! ARMA II's highly detailed landscape is a meticulous facsimile of real terrain, modeled using extensive geographical data. This recreated region is brought to life with spectacular environmental effects and populated with dynamic civilian settlements and wildlife. Wild animals roam the atmospheric forests while the people of Chernarus try to live out their lives among the war-torn streets. The 27th U.S. Marine Expeditionary Unit have been deployed to the former soviet country of Chernarus in this third installment in the series of award winning PC war simulators from Bohemia Interactive, creators of Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis and ArmA: Combat Operations. Force Reconnaissance Team "Razor" are among the first to fight. This elite five-man team are about to fall down the rabbit hole, trapped in a war not only for control of the country, but the hearts and minds of its people. With the might of the USMC offshore and the Russians anxiously watching from the north, the stakes couldn't be higher. The fate of Chernarus is balanced on a razor's edge. [Steam]

Also On Metacritic

GAMES: ArmA: Combat Operations

Cheat Codes & Hints: Cheat Code Central

Also On The Web: Official Website

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

GamingXP

To make it short: Armed Assault 2 is a fantastic game which contains elements of flight simulators, tactic-shooters and strategy- games. This title rocks!

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PC Format

An impressively immersive and realistic open-world military sim. It's everything being a squaddie entails, minus the personal risk. [Sept 2009, p.88]

Eurogamer Spain

This game rewards the player lately, so novices will become easily frustrated. But if you give it a try, it really is worth it.

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Meristation

The new ArmA 2 is much more than a revision of Armed Assault or Operation Flashpoint. It really is a tool full of possibilities in addition to a detailed campaign mode where we can enjoy the most varied opportunities for combat in a very realistic representation of a war scenario, vehicles, weapons and characters. ArmA 2 represents the absolute freedom facing a modern battle, and where each of our choices will bring consequences. A title between game and military simulator.

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Vandal Online

This s a tremendously ambitious title everyone should try.

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Eurogamer Italy

It's not a game for everyone but it's simply the best war simulation available. Deep gameplay, tons of stuff to do. Go buy it.

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ImpulseGamer

In Conclusion, ArmA II definitely delivers in terms of realism, graphics and gameplay. It adds a few new features to this genre and if you're looking for a truly realistic military experience, than this is definitely the game for you. A gripping single-player campaign and engaging and addictive multiplayer, ArmA II shoots and scores!

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Everyeye.it

Arma 2 retains the philosophy of Operation Flashpoint, ad offers a realistic war experience, with no compromises. The gameplay is full of opportunity: the strategic and tactical freedom given to the player grants an excellent dynamism. Obviously, the title is difficult, deep, ad suitable for resolute players. But, after all, War has never been a bed of roses.

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Pelit (Finland)

Arma II is truly excellent military game operating system, but Bohemia really should outsource development of single player content. [July 2009]

PC Gamer UK

A brilliantly in-depth and vast war simulator that rewards your patience. [July 2009, p.69]

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Multiplayer.it

Reality is very expensive in this real warfare simulator from Bohemia Interactive. The game is very tough and difficult to manage but the campaign is very well devised, full of twists and turns, but its impossible not to mention the huge amounts of glitches and bugs here and there.

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VideoGamer

In an age where most developers are reaching out to embrace casual gamers, ArmA II is something of a refreshing exception. It is unashamedly ambitious in its design and execution, embracing rich complexity at the expense of accessibility.

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Eurogamer

There's a thousand more things I could say to justify my hearty recommendation of this incomparably rich war sim.

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SpazioGames

Besides the extensive and well orchestrated gameplay, the title retains a high longevity, thanks to the new dynamism of the plot and editor joined to the multiplayer do the rest. It remains a regret for the haste in closing the development, which does not do justice to a game that deserved a better final processing. If you think you can overlook the frustration that will result from the large amount of bugs and you love the genre, Arma II is what you want from a simulation of war: exterminated, deep and dramatic. As for the rest of the users, Bohemia Interactive has made a very specific choice not to simplify the formula for casual gamers and risking to frustrate for everyone. We believe the target was hit, ArmA II is a game for a few, but those few will be more than satisfied.

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GamesNation

War simulation games fans should be grateful to the Bohemia Interactive dev team. ArmA 2 is an incredible title, technically impressive, often a marvel for the eyes. Realistic, absorbing and immersive, it puts you straight into close-to-real war action throughout its 225 square Kilometers, villages, people and armies.

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GameSpot

This ambitious military sandbox game comes close to realizing its potential but falls short due to its buggy single-player campaign.

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Gamer.nl

When you say ArmA 2, you say top-notch realistic gameplay. Take the large amount of bugs for granted and you will be rewarded with a game that comes close to reality with its scale and possibilities. This game separates the boys from the men.

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Armchair Empire

The motto of the United States Marine Corps is "Semper Fidelis." I can think of no higher compliment for ArmAII than that.

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AceGamez

It'll be too much for many casual gamers and quick-dippers, but if you feel the need for a challenge then it's well worth the effort, as there's more of a sense of achievement in beating this than you'll find in any other shooter this year.

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IGN

I love having dozens and dozens of realistic weapons and vehicles and highly detailed geography and ballistics modeling, but the unintuitive interface required to manage it all and the irregularities in the scripting make it hard to appreciate those qualities.

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3DJuegos

Is hard to evaluate a game like ArmA II. In its current status it should deserve a lower rating, but in the future is pretty obvious that the game will get better, so we have choose to look beyond the present. A remarkable shooting simulator with too many bugs, but also with an amazing scope and proposal.

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Gamer Limit

ARMA2 succeeds in creating an impressive simulation, but fails in creating an accessible game.

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Absolute Games

The atmosphere of ArmA 2 reminds of now-classic Operation Flashpoint. Dirty streets, shabby signboards in Russian, ugly Soviet-style architecture – you can see this in any real provincial town in Russia. The volume of work is astounding, but the potential hit is marred by flaws and rough edges, in both single-player and online modes.

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GameZone

Far too complicated for the casual player and not meaty enough for the military nut.

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Gamers.at

It's a shame the developers obviously didn't have enough time to finish ArmA II properly before they shipped it: There are many bugs in the game and the AI's actions mostly just don't make sense at all. One piece of advice: Get patch 1.01 – with it the game is at least moderate fun. Still, we hope that some further patches will follow and fix ArmA II's major flaws so that it will finally become the great game it could be – next time, however, we'd like to see the game finished by the time of its release!

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LEVEL (Czech Republic)

The vast and open world of ArmA II offers an incomparable army experience. You only need to accept its slow pace and batch of unpleasant bugs. Still ArmA is the only matchless war toy.

PC Zone UK

It's for the patient. [Aug 2009, p.62]

Eurogamer Portugal

ArmA II can’t reach another level of quality thanks to the numerous errors and the huge hardware requirements. Only devoted fans of the genre will take advantage of all its potential, which are many.

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Edge Magazine

ArmA 2 isn’t just dogmatic and unforgiving – it’s also very awkward in its construction and the weight of its ambition frequently proves too much for the sometimes-brilliant main campaign to pull off. Nonetheless, its vast, detailed world and unapologetic dynamism turn the game from sandbox to snowglobe – something you can’t resist shaking up just to see how it looks.

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Teletext GameCentral

The most realistic and versatile soldier sim ever, but also the most bug-ridden and inscrutable.

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GameTrailers

Even for those willing to invest the time to learn all there is to know about ArmA 2, the glitches and the bugs are currently too much to take. Maybe once they've patched it up, there will be something more playable. We look forward to that day, because there's really something special in ArmA 2, cheesy voice acting and all.

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Total PC Gaming

Further patching could make it one of the most immersive shooters of the last decade…but not as is. [Issue#22, p.47]

Boomtown

It's a shame that ArmA II has suffered the same problems as its predecessors.

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PC PowerPlay

For now, though, Bohemia's opus is a boy that would be king; the potential is there, but it's just not ready yet. [Oct 2009, p.70]

GameShark

For those really on the fence, I'd say give this game a bit of time and come back in about a month or two as the developers try to work their post release magic.

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Gaming Nexus

Bohemia Interactive's ArmA II provides an ultra-realistic military shooter for those that are up to the challenge. There are some rough spots, but those are adequately compensated for by the complex and realistic battle environment.

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Worth Playing

Arma II is a very deep portrayal of warfare, and it's not for the faint of heart who want their shooters to involve little more than pointing a gun and shooting. However, its depth is somewhat two-faced, as though its environments and overall feel seems as real as ever, the multitude of bugs that you will face really take you out of the fight before you've even been felled by enemy fire.

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GameStar

ARMA 2 doesn't seem to be a finished game. The AI is cheating, physics and controls are out of date and the game is full of annoying bugs. That the game manages to look great from time to time doesn't help much. Hopefully Bohemia Interactive will release some patches soon. The game still has a lot of potential.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this game is 7.7 (out of 10) based on 241 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Martin H gave it a10:
A great game, I just got to the mission where anything got open ended and it has been stellar with the1.04 patch. But the score is also for the developer going for it. I don't play games for fun, rather for challenge and for expiriencing situations that I cannot in real life. I also come from an eastern european country so I find the battlefield highly authentic, it really reminds me for my childhood. And getting shot, well that is part of war, I actually am excited as I get to try a different approach. And of course there is some luck but with a lot of training, patience and advancing very slowly you can really expirience one the best simulators out there.

James N. gave it a10:
Unique atmosphere, realistic, good graphics, wide modding support. It has a really steep learning curve, but once you get over that, it's like a mafia family, you just don't leave it for no reason.

Pete J. gave it a1:
One of the worst games Ive ever to have had the displeasure to have installed. It took me a whole weekend to get it to run, and then basically its not that the game has bad game play - the problem is that it has NO gameplay. The voices are a joke, and despite the awesome screenshots I saw on the net, I had to run the graphics on such low settings that it looked terrible(and I have a fast PC) After searching their forum for fixes, I found that this is pretty much the standard experience. BUYER BEWARE!

SteveJobs gave it a0:
i tried to do the training part - omfg, it was retarded, you point at a guy to drag him or ressuccatate him and it practically displays which ever options it wants (never both at the same time) oh and to get the option you actually do want you have to walk around him for a good five minutes, + the AI is remakably retarded, i had to start the mission over and over again to complete training because of their idiocity and eventually gave up!!!! these irresponsible product managers should not even have the priviledge of selling one game and obviously their 10 years of experience hasn't taught them jack shit... what a pity because the rest of the gameseemed good, what a waste!!!!

Itamar B. gave it a9:
I would have give a 10 if not for the numerous bugs (a man standing in front of you is heard over the radio?!?!?! with 3 diffrent voices :D ) but beside this, the game is one of the best i ever played. too bad bohemia didn't finish it on time.

mike c gave it a5:
Running i7@4ghz w/ 2 - gtx 260's and 6 gig ddr3 ram. i get frame rates that dip down to 20ish. playing flashpoint2 at the moment and getting 60fps MAXED out. arma2 could have been GREAT. but it wasn't. it lacks the polish that great games have. VOICES are completely ridiculous. For this reason alone i would stop playing the game, but there are other reasons... AI see's through everything and knows ur there a mile away... campaign is so bugged out that missions have to be played multiple times to finish. i played multiplayer for a bit and it didn't seem bad, but could use a bit of structure. with the proper patches and NEW VOICEOVER this game could be the greatest game EVER, but unfortunately it falls so far from perfect. pickup flashpoint 2, it may not be uber-stupidly-realistic, but its fun!!

j p. gave it a6:
I want to like this game and I did give it a chance. My main issue with ArmA2 is that the net code is the worst I've ever seen in an online FPS. I see jerky stuttered movement of other players of the worst kind. It's hard to even hit opponents they jerk around so much. I'm playing on servers that show 20ms or 30ms ping. I don't know what the problem is. I have an OC'd E8400 @4ghz w/1066mhz RAM and an ATI 4870/512 and have lowered my graphic settings a lot and am getting decent FPS (40~50fps). As far as I'm concerned ArmA2 is not playable online on a server with more than 25 people on it. Also the user interface is so very clunky. Also, your soldier insists on going into a kneel position when crouched which gives it a very jerky sloppy feel. You can't smoothly stop & start moving in this game except when your weapon is down. There needs to be a smooth way to keep it low when moving. Also, the game uses too many of the poor quality sounds from ArmA1 like the bigger explosions. There's a lot to like in ArmA2 but it's just not refined to a high degree. It's very rough. The game definitely sides on the realistic over fun factor. The game's setting gets redundant and boring. The urban settings pale in comparison to other PC FPS'. There just isn't much small scale detail in them. Blocky.. Also the game is a huge CPU hog, poorly optimized and you'll need a very expensive PC to enjoy the highest settings at a smooth framerate. The game just feels... cheap. What the game gets right is it's modability and flexibility. It truely is a hardcore PC exclusive FPS and I commend BiS for trying. They just didn't succeed on enough fronts for me to love this game, and it is a game.

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