Both ARMA II (Armed Assault) and Operation Flashpoint II are developed by the same team: Code Masters. Code Masters started developing Operation Flashpoint II and the team split about half way into the project because of differences on how to develop a decent military simulation and the initial hard core team which produced the original Operation Flash Point moved to Bohemia Interactive and started to develop ARMA II. So when you play these two games, things feel eeerily similar, up to a certain point. Both engines are quite similar and they behave sort of similarly. But OPF II is watered down dramatically, because of their target audience: the console gamers. Had it been the hardcore military simulation it was destined to be, no console gamer would be able to play it. So they watered it down, trimmed the hardcode elements and made it playable with that stupid controller. The AI is quite dumbed down as well. And the engine is of course, revved down so that the console can run it properly.
I am a pretty hard core FPS player (over 20 years under my hood - ever since DOOM / Wolfenstein days) so here's my simple comparison of the two games:
Operation Flashpoint II: An imaginary island is under occupation by the red forces. You undertake missions in a campaign; at the end of which the island is liberated.
ARMA II: An imaginary country is under occupation by the red forces. You undertake missions in a campaign; at the end of which the country is liberated.
OPF II: You have a limited arsenal to choose from, and you can use all vehicles in the game. You can also pickup weapons from fallen soldiers, including enemies.
ARMA II: You have a limited arsenal to choose from, and | you can use all vehicles in the game. You can also pickup weapons from fallen soldiers, including enemies.
OPF II: The game is supposed to be unscripted, but it is. The missions have timings, you cannot jump from one area to another to join another firefight. Only single events occur in the campaign.
ARMA II: The game is unscripted. The missions have linearity, but you can actually jump them and there is constant battle going on in the country. Get on a jeep, go else where and help your infantryman.
OPF II: Your guns are horrible. Probably produced by the lowest bidder and outsourced to a Chinese company. They shoot stupid, aim stupid, lack the stopping power and your bullets do not penetrate a down pillow. Just pick up a Chinese soldier's gun at the beginning and you will be fine. Same goes for snipers. Just kill an enemy sniper and grab his rifle. Also, weapons have no characteristics at all.
ARMA II: As real as it gets. Each weapon, each accessory is what it is in real life.
OPF II: I finished the entire campain, all the missions, every single extra content and level, in Normal difficulty level in a week. I played about an hour to two hours a day.
ARMA II: It's been two months. I am stuck at the first village. I cannot survive that darn village for the life of me. I get ambushed, surronded, my team gets killed. It's frustratingly realistic. And I refuse to bring down my difficulty level from Normal to Easy. I'm not talking about the entire campaign, not even the first mission, I am talking about the first damn village here!
Finally, the US Army uses a version of ARMA II engine for tactical military simulations and training. Now, that says a lot.
Cheers. |
