War games tend to present the battlefield as a place where heroes are born and enemy casualties increase in steps of 100. They also tend to give players the impression that fighting in a war is one of the coolest things that could happen to them. This has been going on since the very start of video games, so Bohemia’s Operation Flashpoint took us all by surprise. War was no longer fun. Enemies were no longer mindless drones and it took considerable skill and strategy to bring down a single trooper, let alone a squad. A single stray bullet was all it took to end the mission and have one of the famous war quotes the game liked to throw in the players face when he died printed on the screen. No, war was no longer fun.

Aspects of the game left fans crying for more

This (re)volution happened back in 2001 and today the game has a huge following. But even though Bohemia did an exemplary job with OFP, some aspects of the game left fans crying for more. Over the years the insane amount of mods available made most of the complaints moot, but the announcement of OFP2 still made a lot of people ecstatic. After years without a single word from Bohemia, fans started to get worried and after Bohemia lost the rights to the franchise things looked very grim. Luckily Bohemia didn’t intend to go down without a fight and the result of their strong will is Armed Assault.

While the game doesn’t share the name with OFP, that’s probably the biggest difference between the two. From the moment you start the game up the similarities just keep jumping at you. The menu system is a bit more streamlined, but it still feels the same as before. The choices presented to the player are pretty much the same as well. Single player missions, a lengthy campaign, a robust multiplayer component and an extremely powerful editor. Not all of the missions are unlocked at first so the campaign should be the first stop for the majority.

Expect quite a few scenic rides

Those of you who played OFP might remember that the game took place on three separate islands, each of which was roughly 100 square kilometers in size. I doubt anyone thought the islands were small, but Bohemia still decided to kick things up a notch for Armed Assault. There are only two islands available this time around, but each of the two is bigger than all of the old islands combined. Because of the sheer size of the playing field some of the missions in the campaign take the opportunity to show that size off, so expect quite a few scenic rides before and after some of the combat operations.

I wasn’t a fan of these drawn out mission starts at first, but towards the end of the campaign I got used to them and actually started appreciating their effect on the atmosphere. You know how you sometimes hear on the evening news that a convoy in Iraq was ambushed? Unlike every other action game out there Armed Assault does a fabulous job of presenting such “mundane” combat encounters in a very realistic way. There is no dramatic music to prepare you for what is about to happen and because of the attention to detail the authors put into crafting the two islands you can’t tell a certain spot on the map away from the rest either (a typical example of this would be a fishy texture in a part of the level where you can tell straight away that something will happen). When the first barrage is fired or an anti-vehicle rocket appears from behind some bushes a delicate dance starts that has little in common with action movies or Call of Duty-like games.

The major difference here is that your chances of survival are no better than those of your opposition. A shot to the head is all it takes to finish you off and catching a hail of bullets to the legs is usually a one way ticked to heaven. Rambo tactics are obviously out of the question, but even hiding in cover and only peeking out to fire the occasional round into the distance usually ends with a third nostril. Instead you have to stay in cover, work with your teammates and try to flank the enemy soldiers. There are no lone heroes in Armed Assault, strength can instead be found in numbers and cooperation.

Speaking about your companions, the AI is surprisingly lifelike. At the start of the campaign when you are just a regular soldier you’ll be getting orders from your sergeant. Except for the few scripted scenes most of the calls the AI makes are dynamic, so knowing that you aren’t being ordered around by an idiot is nice. In fact, I learned a lot by paying attention to the commands, so when I became a squad leader myself I was able to use some of that knowledge to my advantage. The enemy’s AI is just as good, so you’ll never experience a situation where the two sides would just stay in place and exchange bullets. The dynamic nature of the AI also ensures that playing through the campaign twice will result in two completely different experiences.

Just like with OFP the game isn’t just a foot soldier simulation either. You can drive every vehicle you come across, which includes civilian cars, tanks, APCs, and even helicopters and planes. The controls for the ground vehicles are almost perfect and driving a tank feels like it should (as far as I can tell). Airborne vehicles are a bit more problematic though. While the controls for handling a helicopter aren’t that bad and just require some getting used to, flying an airplane is a nightmare. I have no idea why Bohemia decided to implement such stupid controls, especially since the ones in OFP were so much better than the new ones.

It is finally possible to hide in the high grass areas

So far all of the features I mentioned were found in OFP as well. So what new features does Armed Assault bring to the table? First and foremost an improved graphical engine. I’ve already mentioned the increased size of the battlefields. The most noticeable improvement however is the amount of detail the new engine displays. Grass is no longer a flat texture on the ground, so it is finally possible to hide in the high grass areas. Forests aren’t composed of a single body of trees anymore either, which is especially noticeable when flying a helicopter over them. Urban areas also got a face lift. In OFP the biggest civilization centers were still just small villages, so fighting in a town with real streets and alleys for a change is nice. The AI has some problems navigating the tighter alleys, but for the most part the whole urban combat aspect of the game is handled decently.

Unfortunately for all, the game tends to run like an asthmatic war veteran with full gear on. Simply put, even the best gaming rigs out there will have problems running the game with all the details maxed out. Luckily the amount of options is just staggering, so almost everybody should be able to tweak the game so it runs at a playable framerate. Personally I found the resolution to have the biggest effect on the framerate, so I ended up at 1680x1050 instead of 1920x1200. This allowed me to crank up the draw distance though, so the end result was very pleasing on the eye. One effect I could have turned off but I simply refused to, was HDR. The simple reason for that is that the HDR implementation in Armed Assault is the best I have ever seen. It doesn’t look as good as the one in Oblivion, but the way Bohemia tied it in with the gameplay is just amazing. To give you an example: If you use night vision during a mission and suddenly decide to turn it off, it will take you up to ten seconds before your eyes get adjusted to the new lighting conditions. You will effectively be blind for the whole time.

The sound front of the game didn’t change much from the days of OFP. The game still simulates the traveling of sound, so you’ll hear an explosion from the next cliff with a short delay. Other than that the sound effects sound very realistic, from machine gun fire to the sound of a tank’s engine. The voice acting in the campaign isn’t bad either, though the animations of the protagonists are very rigid.

If you want to experience war without rising your life, this is the way to do it

Regardless of the professionally done campaign the main selling points of Armed Assault are the editor and the multiplayer aspect. The first is as fleshed out as it was before, so it is still possible to create virtually any situation imaginable. A beginner can create simple battles while experts have all the tools necessary to create huge battle operations with hundreds of participants.

This ties in directly with the multiplayer experience. Checking the game’s online browser in the middle of the day (which is not the peak time) reveals hundreds of servers running custom missions, so running out of content is nearly impossible. I should point out that if you will want to get as much from the game as possible you’ll have to join a clan sooner or later. It is here, in clan matches, that the game truly shines. If you want to experience war without risking your life, this is the way to do it.

Conclusion

Underneath all the changes Armed Assault is just an upgraded version of Operation Flashpoint. For the most part this is a good thing, but in 2007 some parts of the game feel a bit dated. While it was possible to forgive OFP it’s very rigid animation system back in 2001, it can’t be ignored it this time around as well. And no matter how realistic the game is trying to be, the interface could be more user friendly. But these are just minor annoyances that pale in comparison to some of the amazing firefights you can experience in this game, whether in the campaign, a custom mission or online.

Gameplay	8/10	The most realistic combat simulation ever released, end of story.
Graphics	8/10	It’s OFP with a lot of plastic surgery. There is still some fat remaining, so have a decent rig if you want to enjoy it fully.
Sound	7/10	Back in 2001 we applauded the system. Today it still does a good job.
Value	9/10	The campaign will keep you occupied for a while. The editor and the countless custom missions available guarantee years of replayability.
Preference	8/10	A decent netcode and some of the best confrontations available will keep you coming back.
Overall (not an average)	8.2/10	It is not OFP2, but it’s what version 1.9 would probably look like. Highly recommended!