Arma 3

Arma 3 refines and masters the military simulation genre.

The next step in the ArmA franchise makes it slightly easier for newcomers to jump in and mods to create for it, without taking anything away from the hardcore.

Superbly strategic game for the shooter fan after a hardcore experience. [Dec 2013, p.63]

A significant step forward for the king of military simulation offset by inconsistent graphical performance.

If you like hiking through the mountains for hours, a high-powered rifle cradled in your arms, then watching your screen go crimson as a sniper arcs three rounds into your head from like four klicks away, then this is truly the ideal game for you.

There's something about Bohemia's world-building that inspires people. Importantly though, Arma 3's vanilla content now stands on equal footing with those third-party inspirations. It's still a little rough around the edges, but it's a darned impressive package nonetheless.

If the online performance issues can be fixed, Arma III will be the finest military simulation ever created. [Nov 2013, p.78]

Modernized, polished and friendlier, selling its strong points while remaining basically the same. The lack of a radical difference is not really a problem. [Issue#234]

My experience with Arma III contained equal doses of pleasant surprise, delight, feeling of emptiness after finishing single player missions, and longing for more. If you’re mainly interested in the single player campaign, I advise you to wait at least for the first DLC before buying this game. [CD-Action 11/2013, p.58]

While lacking a true single player component (at least for the moment) and with some bugs and glitches still to patch, the new war simulator by Bohemia Interactive will capture hardcore gamers with a massive, vast, complex and layered new episode.

Arma III has its flaw, but great ambitions and brilliant ideas more than compensate for any shortcomings. This is highly recommended for all military buffs out there.

The newest installment of Bohemia's military-game is a product with great potential, especially from the community’s side. Unfortunately Arma 3 is quite inaccessible and doesn't seem to grow along with modern game design on certain fronts. It's a game that lives through the community.

Arma 3 is equally a great military simulation, and finally a game. It has its flaws, but when you look at the game's enormous size, they are tolerable. You won't find a better "trooper simulation", nor a bigger sandbox playground anywhere.

ARMA III is a beast. It occasionally flails and moans, but once you learn how to balance yourself upon it, it gives you a marvelous, turbulent, and memorable ride.

Even though it is a step forward from the previous episode, there are still some AI-related issues that need to be fixed. Apart from that, the lack of campaign mode –so far, it'll be added as free DLCs later– makes it a platform where, at the moment, we can only enjoy the community creations.

Arma 3: The newest installment of Bohemia's military-game is more than ever an excellent platform and sandbox with great potential. Especially since the community has built much in-game content so far. Unfortunately the game-content, included by the developers, is not satisfying enough. The units and game-areas are great, but there are many bugs with AI, scripts and more and only a few multiplayer scenarios available.

By listening to its community, Bohemia Interactive is selling us the most well-polished ArmA yet to this day, with numerous options for in-game content creation. With an exceptional graphics engine allowing a superb rendering and well evolved physics ArmaA imposes itself as the reference of infantry sims. With a very demanding gameplay, ArmA 3 claims its elitism and raises it as a dogma to face the competition. Quite unfriendly to the newbies, Arma can disappoint by its obvious lack of initial content, which should be vastly improved by the community through the content creator toolbox. Unique for its tough challenges hence the feeling of deep satisfaction when you complete a mission, ArmA 3 sets itself as the playground of elite gamers.

Arma is a great series with a very specific public and we love it for it, but this entry would be better with a bit of evolution and lacks some important features. It is still a unique experience well worth your time if you want a very different FPS.