Arma 3 from Bohemia Interactive is the latest in its military simulation series of games, which began with the original Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis. With Arma 3, both the visuals and gameplay have received major improvements and redesigns that result in a game that is far more polished and entertaining than previous entries in the series. Even more so than previous games in the series, Arma 3 is primarily a massive military simulation sandbox that only grew larger with the modding community.

While either in the editor or during missions, players will be traversing the Aegean islands of Stratis and Altis of Greece, the latter of which is a massive 270 km² in size. New to the series, players will be able to navigate underwater environments using either submersible vehicles or diving in wetsuits. The list of weapons and vehicles available to players is rather difficult to grasp at first as the variety from everything from tanks and airplanes to machine guns and sniper rifles is outright extensive. As the game takes place during the mid-2030s, most vehicles and items are still recognizable in addition to the inclusion of in-development warfare technology that has yet to be deployed on current battlefields.

Players new the Arma series can learn the basics through showcase levels that also highlight new gameplay features and graphical improvements to the engine. In addition, players can test their firearm skills in various shooting challenges that vary in type and difficulty. When finished training, players can then browse through the multiplayer lobby for online matches or delve into the continually-growing selection of community-created scenarios through the Steam Workshop. Players can create scenarios using the in-game editor while having access to all of the game's resources from vehicles to weapons. The process of downloading scenarios through the Steam Workshop only requires one click which in turn automatically downloads the new content.

The game focuses heavily on infantry combat and that is where it shines. However, is does offer up an impressive number of vehicles with which to traverse the vast distances on offer and to wreak havoc onto your enemies. Everything from civilian hatchbacks to heavily armoured tanks to transport helicopters and unmanned drones can be used and there are no cosmetic vehicles to be found.

Some areas have wrecks of cars lying around which obviously are of no use to you and it can be very frustrating to find yourself in the middle of nowhere, walk into a town in search of a car and find the whole place devoid of anything useful. The vehicles are also delightfully fragile, which is not only realistic, but serves to keep the infantry focused gameplay balanced. You won't be any safer flying around in a helicopter than you are running around on the ground as heat seeking missiles traverse the distance between you and the launcher very fast, so if your reflexes aren't good enough, you're going to lose your tail rotor, which will bring you down.

There are more than enough weapons to keep you interested for a long time and the ability to customize them with a plethora of accessories is a nice touch which enables you to make your gun completely your own. Realistic ballistics and damage models make the game very engaging and disbelief is effortlessly suspended as the game world immerses you in a tactical combat simulator experience unlike any other.

Tactics are vital in Arma 3, but it's terrain that really makes the difference between success and failure. It's crucial to learn this before Adapt begins, because the difficulty suddenly ramps up. The first mission sees you alone, unarmed and with a city full of enemy soldiers between you and any kind of safety. At this point, setting saves to unlimited using Arma's highly customisable difficulty levels becomes a necessity. Fittingly, as you progress, you will die many, many times. That said, it's important to note that combat is more satisfying than before thanks to improved animations, smoother weapon handling and better optics - meaning the challenge stems from your opponents rather than clumsy controls and slow-to-aim weapons.

The Crysis series can move over for benchmark tests as Arma 3 is without doubts one of the best looking PC games of 2013. Nearly every aspect of the game's engine has improved dramatically which is evident in the extensive visuals menu with toggles and sliders for every modern graphical setting. Arma 3 requires the latest and greatest hardware to run everything the game has to offer on maximum settings. Fortunately, the game's various graphical options allow for scaling back to a more manageable framerate.

Audio enthusiasts wont be disappointed either as all of the game's sound effects contain a strong sense of realism. From gun shots whizzing through the air to the landscape being shaken by explosions, the sound effects truly immerse players in the battlefields. Performance wise, Arma 3 has been improved through recent patches but still has some problems with optimization on even the most powerful hardware. Players should research the game's recommended specifications as an upgrade or two of computer hardware might be required for playing the game with an optimal framerate.

Arma 3 is the definite game of the series thus far combining everything that Bohemia Interactive has learned over the course of development. Most fans of the Arma series will be delighted by the massive sandbox and in-depth editor available for modding. Ultimately, Arma 3 is what players make out of it for themselves, either if it's messing around in the editor or joining friends online for multiplayer matches. With Arma 3, Bohemia Interactive proves yet again that it knows how to expertly craft military simulation games.

>Friend tells me to try out this game mode where a player plays as Zeus and spawns enemy and makes missions.
>Not doing anything better in this rainstorm.
>Sure I'll join
>Takes at least 20 minutes to make squads
>12yearolds.jpg
>We're all ready to roll out for a mission to take out a comms post.
>In the meantime a middle-aged man is driving back and forth in a humvee saying "weee"
>Right before we go oscar mike my friend's gotta go.
>He gives me position of squad leader.
>Power.jpg
>takes us about 10 minutes to get to objective
>Roughly 3 steps out of jeep and I get shrapnel up my prostate from Hadji IED on the hill we stopped on.
>loss.jpg
>Respawn on a dude named Jon (remember that name.)
>Pick off several gaurds before meeting up with main fighting force.
>"Squad 1, export the mortars, Squad 2 blow the ♥♥♥♥ outta that comms post."
>5 minutes go by and at least 8 tonnes of explosive charges encirlce this poor sattelite.
>One guy taps off his charges before element is at safe distance
>An explosion with the force of 3,000 Rosie O'Donnald sharts emits from the bottom of the sattelite platform
>Everyone dies except for two people, one of which is the pre-tapper.
>Other guy? Jon. ~15 people spawn on Jon
>We manage to pile into a helocopter before our superior asks us what the ♥♥♥♥ happened.
>Arrive at base, everyone unloads.
>Helo forgets gear on landing
>Gets back up to reland.
>nosedive.jpg
>1 Helo down 1 to go.
>We sit in ceremonial circle for 5 minutes until we get our orders
>"Escort box truck to coastal outpost"
>Oh ♥♥♥♥ coordination.
>I take control over our entire platoon for this op, about 25-30 idiots.
>Organize callsigns and order of jeeps to protect with one medical 12 wheeler.
>Starts off fine, one roadblock, kill enemies before we lose one soul.
>2 ambushes over hills
>Convoy goes FUBAR and sprays enough lead to fill up a milsurp shop against prolly 15 hadjis
>Kind of reorganize
>Move down road about 2 klicks
>Repeat previous ambush.
>About 10 people have died so we were not that bad
>Hit another roadblock
>Everone actually takes up firing positions and takes out enemy encampment next to roadblock
>Zues spawns more
>I order 3 man squad to advance
>They take out enemies
>theylisten.png
>We say ♥♥♥♥ that roadblock and roll around it
>Move down road
>Another ambush
>lol no thanks
>Drive past the enemy fireteam
>Run into final roadblock
>Helo rips into them
>Zues ♥♥♥♥s the chopper
>Falls on jeep disintigrating squad in it
>Medical truck get ripped to shreds
>madmax.png
>We hold down facing the roadblock as Zues continues to spawn more.
>Eventually make solid progress
>Zues spawns enemies behind us
>"♥♥♥♥ 360 PARAMETER"
>We're doing fine in numbers but at least everone is injured.
>All of a sudden a voice calls out
>"ZUES CAN SUCK MY DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICK"
>♥♥♥♥ing Jon took the truck and booked it to the obj now only 2k down the road
>Me and some micless chase him down
>Eventually everyone else falls suite through the ♥♥♥♥♥torm
>tfw someone got the fubar medical 12 wheeler working
>Jon and some other guys make it to base and set up two mg's
>Me and one other jeep make it to the base
>♥♥♥♥ it we made it
>A red jeep and the somehow operating 12 wheeler pull into the base 2 minutes later.
>Bullets start coming from the trees
>"SET UP DEFENSIVE POSITIONS"
>They keep on shooting so I come up with a brilliant idea
>I yell "SHOOT AT THIS SMOKE"
>I throw a white smoke grenade into the woods to signify where the tangos are.
>"BRRR BLIP BANG BANG BANG DUDUDUDU"
>The entire ♥♥♥♥ing force is laying into those woods like fireworks until the smoke runs out
>No sign of enemy
>Dead silence
>"WOO AMERICA ♥♥♥♥ YEAH"
>t. Jon
>CO asks us if mission is complete and their is no sign of enemy.
>I report "Any form of life that wasn't American has been eviscerated"
>He responds shuddering "oh"
>~~MISSION COMPLETE~~

eviscerate/10 would shoot foreigners out of a jeep again
I won't forget you Jon

Kids play Call Of Duty
Boys play Battlefield
Men play Arma

After playing over 3500+ hours on Arma 3, it has its ups and downs but overall I believe this game is wonderful. I highly recommend it to anyone who doesn't own, it isn't like Call of Duty or Battlefield. It is a game where patience and tactical plans come into play.

very realistic pew pew

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Pros.
-Good story
-Detailed world
-Easy to learn mechanics, (for an ARMA game.)
-Tactical gameplay, smart A.I
-Large scale warfare

Cons.
-Arma 2's multiplayer was better, I can hardley find anyone that would even let me into a troop transport.
-No Chernarussians
-Not even any Russians
-WHERE ARE THE ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ RUSSIANS

This is a great game, although I thought Arma 2's setting was better, I'm not going to dock points for this personal preference of mine. I'm glad Bohemia is keeping their games fresh and new, unlike other companies I know, *Cough* Activision *Cough*.

8.5/10

Don't expect 60 FPS and get ready for the most amazing tactical (or not) sandbox ever.

it's Arma! you go now and buy that ♥♥♥♥.

I have spent 3 years playing this game, since the Alpha release. I have over 1500 hours on it.

ArmA 3 teaches you a lot of things, but the most important one is that... Anything over 10 FPS is considered playable. No matter how good GPU you have, Unless you have an Intel I7 SomethingX you will be darn lucky if you reach 60 FPS on MULTIPLAYER. Be aware that Singleplayer performance has a big, big difference from the Multiplayer one.

But still, aside that. I can't describe the amount of fun I had/having with this game. Especially tactical operations with 40+ people is just plain perfection.

If you are into military, war games I heavily suggest you to get ArmA 3. You will not be disappointed.