New ArmA2 video with TrackIR

[Alan8325]

Here is a new video of Armed Assault 2 with TrackIr 5 in use and I must say it looks pretty cool. I've never played Operation Flashpoint or Armed Assault, but I heard they are among the more realistic shooters. I am leaning towards getting either ArmA2 or the new Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising, or both, but the vehicles in both titles look like they might be a little gamey as far as simulation is concerned. I'm not sure about OFP: DR, but I know ArmA2 vehicles use a (IMO outdated) hitpoint system where even small repeated hits to non-vital areas on a vehicle will eventually bring down the global health and make it blow up. It would be nice to see an armor vs. penetration system similar to CMx2's in games like these.

[MeatEtr]

First thing I did with my new rig was re-install ArmA on it. It looks great with settings and the view distance maxed out. If I were you I'd pick up ArmA: Gold Edition, saw it over at Amazon for like $10.

Best place to grab missions/campaigns/skins/mods is http://www.armaholic.com/

About the vehicles, I'm not expecting any real damage physics being modeled in ArmA2 or OFPDR. Probably will be the same old green life bar. But these games really aren't about AFV or aircraft simulation gameplay. It delivers on the overall combined arms battlefield experience.

But seriously, grab the gold edition now, the wait for the new versions won't exist for you then.

[MeatEtr]

Well, surprisingly, they pushed the release date up one week. So the next ArmA will be here in about a month, details here.

[Dietrich]

I am leaning towards getting either ArmA2 or the new Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising, or both, but the vehicles in both titles look like they might be a little gamey as far as simulation is concerned. I'm not sure about OFP: DR, but I know ArmA2 vehicles use a (IMO outdated) hitpoint system where even small repeated hits to non-vital areas on a vehicle will eventually bring down the global health and make it blow up. It would be nice to see an armor vs. penetration system similar to CMx2's in games like these.

With what I've read about OFP 2 and ArmA 2, I figure I'll end up getting both, since each one has features I've been looking forward to. (Then again, almost all the FPS games I've played have been of the MoH or CoD franchises.)

I suppose the non-very-realistic modelling of vehicles in games like OFP 2 and ArmA 2 is because such games are shooters first and foremost, where the lion's share of the work in modelling with a view to realism has been invested in the infantry side of it, which represents the bulk of the gameplay.

Also, I'm inclined to suspect that most gamers, being more knowledgeable about the infantry side of things, might cry foul if when manning a tank they got knocked out by a single round from an enemy tank at 1600 meters. The prevalence of health bars and such have ignorantized people with regards to the true vulnerabilities of even state-of-the-art MBTs.

Were a game to have such realistic infantry modelling as OFP or ArmA and vehicle modelling on par with, say, tank simulators... that would be a game long in development.