Announcement Arma 3 in May of this year was a pleasant surprise. It’s not that he wasn’t expected, no. It’s still too early for the second part to retire (albeit thanks to amateur modifications), so the continuation of the series was something so distant that we didn’t even dream about it. But, despite all the delights of ArmA 2, it has enough problems that mods cannot fix, so sooner or later the third part had to appear. Bohemia promises that this will happen next summer.
Greek resort
For several years now, the main political topic around the world has been the situation in the Middle East. No wonder the action Arma 3 will also take place on one of the Mediterranean islands. Moreover, this island is not an invention of the developers, as has always been the case before, but a virtual copy of the real Greek island of Lemnos. Its area is almost five thousand square kilometers, which is twice the territory of Chernarus from the previous part. It is not yet known for sure whether the developers are going to transfer the real terrain into the game down to the last detail, as was the case with Seattle in Take On Helicopters, but judging by the available materials, it will be so.
In favor of what’s new ArmA will carefully copy the real Lemnos, says a small scandal that happened a couple of months ago. The island’s authorities expressed their indignation precisely at the fact that virtual Lemnos is exactly the same as the real one – right down to certain “secret areas” that mere mortals are not supposed to know about (apparently, this refers to power plants and other important infrastructure facilities). And in general, according to the mayor of Lemnos Antonis Chatzidiamantis (Antonis Hatzidiamantis), they don’t need any war, even if it’s not real. From the most BIS, undermining the prestige of the island of “peace and creation”, so far no reaction has been observed.
Maybe this is a clever advertising ploy??
So, the scene of action has been sorted out, but with the parties involved in the new international conflict, not everything is so clear. It is clear that we will be on the side of the NATO soldiers, but their opponent is the military of certain “eastern countries”. What kind of countries these are is not specified. However, in some screenshots of the enemies you can see stripes that suspiciously resemble the Iranian flag. Why not?
It looks like Arma 3 Mahmoud Ahmadinejad finally showed the NATO members Kuzka’s mother. Apparently, things are really bad for them, if in the story the main character, an American special forces captain, is sent to Lemnos with the goal of no less than turning the tide of the war with a successful sabotage.
Perhaps that’s all that is known about the plot at the moment. Apparently, this time we will do without “bad Russians” – in the videos and pictures shown to the public, not a single soldier in Russian uniform has been seen yet. There is some semblance of the Mi-28 crossed with the Ka-50, but the “bear” is also supplied for export, so not everything is clear here yet.
We are promised rich bonusstrikecasino.co.uk “customization” of the character – you will be able to choose elements of uniform to your taste.
Beautiful is far away
This same helicopter (the developers called it the Mi-48 “Cayman”), which appeared in the first batch of screenshots published simultaneously with the announcement, became the cause of epic controversy among fans of the series. Someone thought that BIS “turned out to be” creating a fictitious technique. Others said that there was nothing wrong with “wunderwaffles” – the game takes place in the near future: you never know what else they’ll come up with and put into service in ten years? Still others chuckled quietly and sarcastically remarked that the developers simply decided to save on the license.
It is unlikely, of course, that the latter are right, even if Bohemia I’ve already done this trick with my ears (in Take On Helicopters the helicopters are very similar to real models, but they are called differently and are still slightly different from their prototypes). In addition to the invented Mi-28 in Arma 3 There is also plenty of real military equipment, including the Ka-60, the fourth Merkava, the Comanche RAH-66, which never went into production, and a whole arsenal of real guns too. Claims about the developers’ stinginess will have to be recognized as unfounded.
The same Mi-48 that caused such a mixed reaction. The coaxial propeller is from the Kamov, the cockpit and weapons are from the Mil.
But the Cayman still haunts me. Somehow the fictional weapon does not fit with the concept of the most realistic military simulator – well, it’s not like “Flashpoint”. “We turned out to be”? It can be considered that. This is bad? Not at all.
And here’s why – it’s no secret that both the first and second ArmA became what we love thanks to fashion. Creations in themselves Bohemia, of course they are good, but as a platform for creating modifications they are even better. The developers promise that in the third part modmakers will have the same opportunities to change the game as before. This means that you will have fantastic weapons, Kalash rifles, and in general everything you want – just wait for the mods. We’ll wait – it’s still “naked” ArmA only suitable for completing the campaign and having fun in the editor; fight online without A.C.E. quite boring. A.C.E., if anything, this is a global mod that makes Arma an extremely “hardcore” simulator (although, it would seem, much more “hardcore”?).
Few people know that Bohemia Interactive Studios deals, among other things, with projects commissioned by military departments. I’m talking about a military simulator Virtual Battlespace. Yes, fans ArmA And OFP can boast that they are playing an action game that is so realistic and “hardcore” that the army uses it to train soldiers.
To be honest, everything is a little wrong. Soldiers don’t play Operation Flashpoint — VBS although it uses the same Real Virtuality engine as other games Bohemia, but significantly different from them. Virtual Battlespace more complex, and the main emphasis in it is on coordination of actions and orientation in unfamiliar terrain. And to shoot is at a shooting range.
Currently, the simulator is used by more than a dozen law enforcement agencies and departments, including the US Marine Corps.
A slightly fantastic plot and weapons are nothing more than a way to attract the audience. After all, as recent events show, the notorious Modern Warfare (I mean the term, not the name of one action movie) is more interesting to a much larger number of buyers than shootouts from ancient AKs and M16s. However, there are also connoisseurs for whom the native Kalashnikov is dearer than all the nanosuits combined – me, for example.
Well forgotten old
Here’s the visual Arma 3 doesn’t look fantastic at all. Beautiful, but we have seen more beautiful and more technologically advanced ones. Some animation elements (running, reloading) seem to have not changed since Operation Flashpoint. Many will say that this is not the main thing, especially since the open spaces here are such that there is no way Battlefield never dreamed of it, so we have to sacrifice a little quality in the name of quantity. It’s hard to disagree, but it’s also hard to argue with the fact that marking time, exploiting old developments is a bad idea.
However, let’s not quibble. BIS finally did what many have dreamed of for so long – added PhysX support to Real Virtuality. Judging by the amount of time in the demo videos devoted to highly artistic "ragdoll" and pushing boxes with cars, the developers are very proud of the fact that in ArmA what has long been considered a standard for action films will appear.
The list of innovations is not limited to physics support. There is also the opportunity to modify weapons (change the sight, tighten the silencer – well, just like in Crysis), helmet-mounted cameras, changing clothes, scuba diving… The list could go on for a long time, but here’s the catch – all or almost all of this has already been implemented in the modifications for the second part Armed Assault. The developers have previously plagiarized a little of the same A.C.E., but now, apparently, they decided to arm themselves with ideas from mods to the fullest.
All this is not bad, on the contrary – it’s great when developers use ideas from fans – but something truly new is missing. Much of what was announced has already been seen in one form or another. Well, except that the hands on the steering wheel now move along with the steering wheel when you turn – this definitely never happened before. However, the game is not out yet; You never know what tricks the creators have up their sleeves?
The campaign promises a “sandbox” – free missions, conversations with NPCs, side quests and much more. Sometimes you even have to take off your military uniform and pretend to be a civilian.
Are you waiting Arma 3 just like I’m waiting for her? As a longtime fan of the series OFP And Arma, I really want to get a feel for the third part as soon as possible, although, I admit, I don’t like all these flirtations with fictitious technology and moving the action to the near future. But in the event that BIS will be able to overcome the constant scourge of his creations – buggies, errors and unstable multiplayer operation (oh, this desynchronization, which ArmA 2 still can’t get rid of) before release, and not after a bunch of patches and additions, then what difference does it make whether the plot is fantastic or not, whether the weapon is fake or real?? The word will be up to the creators of the mods, and they will be able to build from Arma 3 anything.