ArmA II

 PC
User Score
7.5

Generally favorable reviews- based on 639 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 427 out of 639
  2. Mixed: 103 out of 639
  3. Negative: 109 out of 639
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  1. Budget_Security
    Jan 4, 2014
    6
    If the CallofDuty & BattleField series leave you hungry for something much more realistic, try ARMA. However, it does have many flaws, including an overly complex difficult interface, advanced but very inconsistent and cheating AI, and a lot of serious bugs. The singleplayer is somewhat broken (if only they would do it like in the original Operation Flashpoint). Multiplayer was once theIf the CallofDuty & BattleField series leave you hungry for something much more realistic, try ARMA. However, it does have many flaws, including an overly complex difficult interface, advanced but very inconsistent and cheating AI, and a lot of serious bugs. The singleplayer is somewhat broken (if only they would do it like in the original Operation Flashpoint). Multiplayer was once the main appeal, but now few people play online, and it was always very vulnerable to hacking. But there is still nothing quite like ARMA. Graphics are excellent, but you need a very powerful PC for smooth gameplay.… Expand
  2. SittinginBasket
    Jan 1, 2013
    5
    Let's start off with controls. There is a difference between complex controls, and overly complicated and messy controls. If the controls were all organized logically, then a player's first impressions and ability to get into the game would be vastly improved. However, not only will you be forced to constantly check your control settings, but you will simply have to learn how to do everyLet's start off with controls. There is a difference between complex controls, and overly complicated and messy controls. If the controls were all organized logically, then a player's first impressions and ability to get into the game would be vastly improved. However, not only will you be forced to constantly check your control settings, but you will simply have to learn how to do every single thing in the game by yourself, as the tutorials are extremely sloppy, slow, and unclear. Controls that make sense are even more important when the movement in the game is sloppy and to be honest, just complete **** There is a difference between realism and sloppy movement. You will never feel in control of your character, and will be constantly reminded that you are controlling a game character who can't seem to move properly, as if it has physical disabilities.

    Also sadly, in a game that prides itself on realism, physics in the game also feel sloppy, vehicles are sloopy, graphics are sloppy (could be justified by scale of world), firearms and weapons sound like paintball guns, AI troops seem to be complete idiots, the list goes on.

    This game truly is for the dedicated player who does not mind sinking hundreds of hours into the game, just to play a sloppy game with no real entertainment value other than as a bland and boring shooting gallery. If you aren't willing, stay away.    … Expand
  3. retep686
    Dec 7, 2013
    5
    The game itself is a great idea, had lots of potential, and for a simulation, pretty good. The game offers a variety of actions that make you feel like you have more control over the game. However, it is not well done. On top of choppy movement, the game has some optimization problems, and plenty of bugs. The game is DX10, but a DX11 gpu still has problems with it. After poking throughThe game itself is a great idea, had lots of potential, and for a simulation, pretty good. The game offers a variety of actions that make you feel like you have more control over the game. However, it is not well done. On top of choppy movement, the game has some optimization problems, and plenty of bugs. The game is DX10, but a DX11 gpu still has problems with it. After poking through other reviews, it seems that the game was released too early, which is a shame because it could have become so much better than it is and could have had so many problems fixed. Unfortunately, I would not recommend you buy this game.… Expand
  4. Osmium
    Jul 30, 2013
    5
    Still no major improvements to the good old Operation Flashpoint. AI is still abysmal, graphics are not really that great. Controls and interface are not good and haven't really been improved. The singleplayer campaign is unbelievable slow and tedious. Operation Flashpoint with some good mods is still almost as good as this game released some ten years later. Disappointing.
  5. Liquidlizard
    Jan 5, 2011
    7
    ARMA II is a game for people who are into real action. But the problem with this game is that there are too many controls. It is way to complicated compared to any other first person shooter out there. You have controls for flying a helicopter, plane, car, boat... anything. They need to separate all of the controls into separate columns. There are controls where you need to push 2-3ARMA II is a game for people who are into real action. But the problem with this game is that there are too many controls. It is way to complicated compared to any other first person shooter out there. You have controls for flying a helicopter, plane, car, boat... anything. They need to separate all of the controls into separate columns. There are controls where you need to push 2-3 buttons just to do one action. Another thing is, when you fire the weapon, it is not very realistic at all... I have no idea if it is just my PC or what, because all the gun does is barely nudge when you fire it... like a little jolt. Above that... I would say this game is pretty realistic and fun.… Expand
  6. JoshQ
    Jun 26, 2009
    6
    The weapons and ballistics are phenomenal, the scale of the map is great, the maneuvering is immersive, but it lacks the depth of most other games. It's exactly what it says, a simulator, there is no epic storyline or great atmosphere. This and the length time between action, the lack of gore animations, among a lot of smaller things is why this game isn't as fun as it could be.
  7. Jimmy
    Oct 27, 2009
    5
    Absolutely disgusting. How BIS actually thought this game was ready for release is way beyond me. By far the most unfinished, unpolished and all out unprofessional game I have ever played. Right now I am looking at Arma:Armed Assault and thinking how on earth its sequel was more buggy! After playing Dragon Rising this is just a total disappointment. The reason its not a 0 Is because I Absolutely disgusting. How BIS actually thought this game was ready for release is way beyond me. By far the most unfinished, unpolished and all out unprofessional game I have ever played. Right now I am looking at Arma:Armed Assault and thinking how on earth its sequel was more buggy! After playing Dragon Rising this is just a total disappointment. The reason its not a 0 Is because I know EVENTUALLY… Expand
  8. BriTisH
    Nov 15, 2011
    5
    this is for a hard core military nuts dream so much stuff so many key commands feels like a game from 98 runs like you are playing it on a pc from 98 sp runs fine but mp is a whole outer bag . if you dont work as a team you wont get any were in it need to play with a whole platoon of friends for fun. if you want a simulation this is it there's even a mod to make it more of a simulation butthis is for a hard core military nuts dream so much stuff so many key commands feels like a game from 98 runs like you are playing it on a pc from 98 sp runs fine but mp is a whole outer bag . if you dont work as a team you wont get any were in it need to play with a whole platoon of friends for fun. if you want a simulation this is it there's even a mod to make it more of a simulation but for me i spent most of my time running from grass plane to the woods and getting killed when i thought it was safe. it is free to play now so give it a go put the time in and you will sound like one of the guys on the mic graxs can be incredible but if you wanna play it you gota tone it down a notch. performance is all over the place kinda like the controls . die you might spawn as a bird i dont know wtf that is about lol… Expand
  9. SamB
    Jul 30, 2009
    5
    A beautiful and extremely realistic modern warfare game. The reason why it gets a 5 is because of the terrible learning curve. There are too many commands making the game absolutely impossible to manage for people who aren't familiar with the Arma games. This is more of a game suitible for hard core fans rather than the open public. Nothing wrong with that but a newbie might see the A beautiful and extremely realistic modern warfare game. The reason why it gets a 5 is because of the terrible learning curve. There are too many commands making the game absolutely impossible to manage for people who aren't familiar with the Arma games. This is more of a game suitible for hard core fans rather than the open public. Nothing wrong with that but a newbie might see the game and be fooled into purchasing it without understanding the complexity of it. 5 out of 10.… Expand
  10. RC
    Aug 3, 2009
    5
    Seriously I would give this game a 9, but I just can't because of the bugs. This game seems unfinished, the graphics are great...but you can't even run it because of the massive amounts of bugs. Just picture Crysis except ten time worse. But the massive bugs are only in the single player. The 5 goes to the multiplayer, there's a lot less bugs in the multiplayer. My only Seriously I would give this game a 9, but I just can't because of the bugs. This game seems unfinished, the graphics are great...but you can't even run it because of the massive amounts of bugs. Just picture Crysis except ten time worse. But the massive bugs are only in the single player. The 5 goes to the multiplayer, there's a lot less bugs in the multiplayer. My only other complaints are the bad voice acting, the huge amount of pointless controls (Why would I want to sit and salute?), and the fact that this game is too real. I haven't played the 1st ARMA so maybe that's why I'm not feeling it, but if you did play the 1st ARMA you'll love this, and If you you want extremely real warfare then, yea, get this. This game is a 5, I give the guys slack because it's a game running off a military engine and it's still good.… Expand
  11. jp.
    Sep 30, 2009
    6
    I want to like this game and I did give it a chance. My main issue with ArmA2 is that the net code is the worst I've ever seen in an online FPS. I see jerky stuttered movement of other players of the worst kind. It's hard to even hit opponents they jerk around so much. I'm playing on servers that show 20ms or 30ms ping. I don't know what the problem is. I have an I want to like this game and I did give it a chance. My main issue with ArmA2 is that the net code is the worst I've ever seen in an online FPS. I see jerky stuttered movement of other players of the worst kind. It's hard to even hit opponents they jerk around so much. I'm playing on servers that show 20ms or 30ms ping. I don't know what the problem is. I have an OC'd E8400 @4ghz w/1066mhz RAM and an ATI 4870/512 and have lowered my graphic settings a lot and am getting decent FPS (40~50fps). As far as I'm concerned ArmA2 is not playable online on a server with more than 25 people on it. Also the user interface is so very clunky. Also, your soldier insists on going into a kneel position when crouched which gives it a very jerky sloppy feel. You can't smoothly stop & start moving in this game except when your weapon is down. There needs to be a smooth way to keep it low when moving. Also, the game uses too many of the poor quality sounds from ArmA1 like the bigger explosions. There's a lot to like in ArmA2 but it's just not refined to a high degree. It's very rough. The game definitely sides on the realistic over fun factor. The game's setting gets redundant and boring. The urban settings pale in comparison to other PC FPS'. There just isn't much small scale detail in them. Blocky.. Also the game is a huge CPU hog, poorly optimized and you'll need a very expensive PC to enjoy the highest settings at a smooth framerate. The game just feels... cheap. What the game gets right is it's modability and flexibility. It truely is a hardcore PC exclusive FPS and I commend BiS for trying. They just didn't succeed on enough fronts for me to love this game, and it is a game.… Expand
  12. coldnerves
    Jun 30, 2009
    6
    VERY "buggy"; The AI can walk and see through walls. Also emeny AI marksmenship is far superior to your team AI. The Eotech Aiming redicule is off.

    The envirement is almost sterile, meaning there's no distruction of static objects. If you shot one window in a bldg. which has many, all windows will break simulataniously the same way.
  13. dam1730
    Jul 17, 2013
    7
    ArmA II is a game that isn't for everyone. For some people, this will be the best game they have ever played, for others it will be the worst. If you want a game with constant action like Call of Duty, Battlefield, or Halo this probably isn't the game for you. If you want an ultra-realistic experience that requires strategy and tactics, this game will fit your needs. The game plays more asArmA II is a game that isn't for everyone. For some people, this will be the best game they have ever played, for others it will be the worst. If you want a game with constant action like Call of Duty, Battlefield, or Halo this probably isn't the game for you. If you want an ultra-realistic experience that requires strategy and tactics, this game will fit your needs. The game plays more as a simulation than a FPS. While there is a campaign mode that is non-linear, the story isn't anything special and the voice acting for the characters is laughable. For me, the best part of the game is the ability to create and play my own missions. The map is very large and you have quite a bit of flexibility with what you can do. Editing missions isn't difficult and you can learn how to use the most advanced features from some well made YouTube tutorials. This game became popular because of its mods, most notably DayZ, but the base game is fun as well.… Expand
  14. mikec
    Oct 8, 2009
    5
    Running i7@4ghz w/ 2 - gtx 260's and 6 gig ddr3 ram. i get frame rates that dip down to 20ish. playing flashpoint2 at the moment and getting 60fps MAXED out. arma2 could have been GREAT. but it wasn't. it lacks the polish that great games have. VOICES are completely ridiculous. For this reason alone i would stop playing the game, but there are other reasons... AI see's Running i7@4ghz w/ 2 - gtx 260's and 6 gig ddr3 ram. i get frame rates that dip down to 20ish. playing flashpoint2 at the moment and getting 60fps MAXED out. arma2 could have been GREAT. but it wasn't. it lacks the polish that great games have. VOICES are completely ridiculous. For this reason alone i would stop playing the game, but there are other reasons... AI see's through everything and knows ur there a mile away... campaign is so bugged out that missions have to be played multiple times to finish. i played multiplayer for a bit and it didn't seem bad, but could use a bit of structure. with the proper patches and NEW VOICEOVER this game could be the greatest game EVER, but unfortunately it falls so far from perfect. pickup flashpoint 2, it may not be uber-stupidly-realistic, but its fun!!… Expand
  15. JackS
    Jul 15, 2009
    6
    The graphics look quite nice sometimes, but this game is just such a mess! I like that it is quite a hardcore game. If you get shot by just ONE bullet, you fall to the ground bleeding. You then either die, need to reload a save game, or have to hope a squad mate can get to you and revive you. The AI is so terribly poor though, this is unlikely in offline play, and in offline play, usually The graphics look quite nice sometimes, but this game is just such a mess! I like that it is quite a hardcore game. If you get shot by just ONE bullet, you fall to the ground bleeding. You then either die, need to reload a save game, or have to hope a squad mate can get to you and revive you. The AI is so terribly poor though, this is unlikely in offline play, and in offline play, usually they don't even allow this option so you just die and then have to watch the rest of the battle without being able to play. If you thought CounterStrike was boring after you died, you aint seen nothing yet.. My main gripe though is that the campaign is just unplayable. I usually don't really care about bugs, but these bugs mean that you can't even play the game. You can't complete the missions... The controls are also really poor. I am a big flight sim fan so I'm no stranger to every key on the keyboard doing something, but this game is a joke. They clearly just have terrible designers because they use the same key for multiple things and there are different keys to do things that should be very simple. The terrible interface makes it really slow and ponderous to give very simple orders too. Your squad goes running towards an enemy, and you can't just tell them to "stop". You have to scroll through a bunch of menus to do that. The performance is also really terrible. I have a quad core which I have overclocked to 3.5ghz, and I have a GTX285. Most of the time I'm lucky to get over 25fps. It has a few quicker moments, but at times my frame rate goes to single digits. The villages are just so poorly made that the textures on all the buildings fail to load, and then they pop in far too late which looks ugly, and then the frame rate plummets. It's better if I lower all the settings to low and turn off all the effects but the game looks quite bad then and doing that on a high end PC is just terrible. Worst of all though, is the multiplayer. I have a 20mbit cable connection which is very fast... but most of the servers have terrible pings. The servers are hosted by average people not by the company, so they are really laggy. It really ruins the experience. Also you will be mid game and one time I was the only one to survive. I continued on the mission by myself and was doing well, but because the server host had to just watch, he decided to just shut his server down... I also find that people will ban you from their server if you are doing well. One time I was capping people really quite well in deathmatch and my score finally got higher than the server host. Suddenly I had been disconnected. I came back and I asked him why and he just permanently banned me without even saying anything. People will also ban you if your ping goes above 100, so if I try to play on a foreign server, I just get instantly banned. It's really a poor experience. The game has a lot of potential but I would save your money for something else. There are big games coming soon that will compete with this and do a far better job. At the very least, wait a few months and see if they can patch a lot of the problems. They already did two patches but it fixed very little and broke new things.… Expand
  16. RandallH
    Aug 8, 2009
    6
    I have only played the demo, but it seems to be an unfinished game. While i will admit it does have some hope, the game right now just has too many bugs. Also i had a hard time learning the controles, i changed a good number of them, and still had a hard time doing simple things like crawling, running aiming, and such. I will might reconsider getting the game once i see some updates/fixes I have only played the demo, but it seems to be an unfinished game. While i will admit it does have some hope, the game right now just has too many bugs. Also i had a hard time learning the controles, i changed a good number of them, and still had a hard time doing simple things like crawling, running aiming, and such. I will might reconsider getting the game once i see some updates/fixes come out.… Expand
  17. BaronM
    Jul 28, 2009
    5
    The game has a lot of fun parts to it, but there is just to much you can do. To much buttons to press, and to many bugs in the game. They just added to much. The game is to large as well. and the maps are way to big I am rarely in infantry combat because all people want to do is go in jeeps and tanks and planes and coppters. Also the voices of the side characters sound like 10 year olds. The game has a lot of fun parts to it, but there is just to much you can do. To much buttons to press, and to many bugs in the game. They just added to much. The game is to large as well. and the maps are way to big I am rarely in infantry combat because all people want to do is go in jeeps and tanks and planes and coppters. Also the voices of the side characters sound like 10 year olds. Why did you also use the in game battle com voice that BF2 uses. It sounds like they recorded one word seperately and added it together. I don't know which is worst arma 2 or AA3.… Expand
  18. [anonymous]
    Dec 25, 2009
    5
    The game was too graphically intense and shaders/objects did not load very quickly. My PC exceeded the recommended specs by two or three times. Game play was no different than ArmA 1.
  19. Illuminous
    Aug 29, 2011
    6
    I've been a great fan of Bohemia's simulatiors since they released Operation Flashpoint, but ArmA II just doesn't live up to it's predecessor. The graphics are great, almost to much for my PC to handle from time to time, and some missions gives you alot of open space to travel, but I've experienced just to many bugs within the game to continue, especially with the Co-oP campaing wereI've been a great fan of Bohemia's simulatiors since they released Operation Flashpoint, but ArmA II just doesn't live up to it's predecessor. The graphics are great, almost to much for my PC to handle from time to time, and some missions gives you alot of open space to travel, but I've experienced just to many bugs within the game to continue, especially with the Co-oP campaing were saving didn't work or missions were totally bugged. Hopefully ArmA III will put it all right, but this time I'll hold onto my money and not preorder it.… Expand
  20. Hudson633
    Aug 15, 2012
    7
    Mildly enjoyable, but annoyingly it's quite user-unfriendly and infested with awkward features and little bugs. I imagine what an older game could have been in the same genre, and this grew up from that genre and sprouted hideous defects. I'm being harsh because it really annoys me when a developer ruins a product by leaving it rough around the edges, but this is honesty and not spite. AtMildly enjoyable, but annoyingly it's quite user-unfriendly and infested with awkward features and little bugs. I imagine what an older game could have been in the same genre, and this grew up from that genre and sprouted hideous defects. I'm being harsh because it really annoys me when a developer ruins a product by leaving it rough around the edges, but this is honesty and not spite. At least I'm having fun on the popular DayZ mod with it, so all is forgiven.… Expand
  21. Opi
    Dec 2, 2012
    5
    First off I think most reviews on games are stupid, be it a major reviewer or ordinary people on Metacritic. People love to rate games in extremes, it's always the lowest or highest numbers. And most on this site rate and follow up with "stupid, dumb, overrated" but rarely go into brief detail on why they rated the game so.

    This concept for this game is great. There are not too many    First off I think most reviews on games are stupid, be it a major reviewer or ordinary people on Metacritic. People love to rate games in extremes, it's always the lowest or highest numbers. And most on this site rate and follow up with "stupid, dumb, overrated" but rarely go into brief detail on why they rated the game so.

    This concept for this game is great. There are not too many simulators. Graphics look decent on everything (and I mean everything AA max etc.) but suffers from poor optimization. I get lag sometimes even when I lower AA and shadows. My rig is very powerful (i5 2500K 4.7, 7970 OC'd 1115/1500) but still suffers from lag. This game utilizes the CPU more than the GPU which I don't understand why some devs choose this route for their games, you'd think the GPU is much more efficient at running a game than a CPU. The AI, ohhhh, the AI. What AI? The AI is horrible, just horrible. Try commanding a tank and a convoy of Abrahms and Bradleys and you will have patches of hair gone from pulling it out. They run into building even though if they had moved 10 ft to the right they would of avoided it, but nooo, that would be too easy. You have to manually drive the vehicle until you are at the point you need to be or fire from and then switch to the gunner and shoot. Controls. Oh man. I understand completely that a simulator is very complex and is bound to have more actions than your run of the mill FPS like COD or BF but I really think if they would of spent a little more time on this they could of come up with a system that is alot more user friendly and simpler than what they have now. You are much better off spending half an hour or an hour configuring the controls so they are tolerable.

    In a nutshell the game has it's good and it's bad. It is very frustrating at times and very enjoyable and satisfying in others. This game is a slow paced SIMULATOR. If you are looking for a fast or semi face paced game like COD or BF then this is not for you. Even if you like simulators this game is frustrating as hell. Think of it like Americas Army with polished graphics and a billion more controls. You'd be well advised to download their demo on Steam before purchasing this game. There is one thing I forgot to mention about this game. There is a great modding community with some kickass mods out there. Such as Day Z. I read alot about Day Z which is the reason why I bought this game.    … Expand
  22. CallOfDuty
    Jan 3, 2013
    5
    I can say ARMA 2 is not that bad,i like its modding community,it's a beautiful game with beautiful maps (and the community maps),extremely huge map. it's not that terrible but i have to admit there are many bugs,i lagged,took me 3 hours to done a single objective,guess what? the game had glitch and i have to reset the mission again!
  23. WalterF.
    Nov 4, 2009
    7
    First of all the, if you are looking for a game with good graphics and you have a good computer, this is great. The graphics were stunning (ignore the people who say "I have an awesome computer but i have to run them on low," I ran them on the Ultra High graphics settings with a fast computer), the visuals blew me away like an RPG-7. It was so amazingly realistic and beautiful to see a First of all the, if you are looking for a game with good graphics and you have a good computer, this is great. The graphics were stunning (ignore the people who say "I have an awesome computer but i have to run them on low," I ran them on the Ultra High graphics settings with a fast computer), the visuals blew me away like an RPG-7. It was so amazingly realistic and beautiful to see a 225km free roaming landscape (thats right, a few levels are free roam across a gargantuan amount of land). Flying overhead in a helicopter and looking at the forest below is so amazing with these graphics its a great advancement in gaming. Anyway, a downer would have to be the voice acting. It seems to me like the got the people (or robots) to say each word used in the game scripts at different times. What I mean by this is that you will end up saying each word in a different tone of voice if you say each word separately rather than in one big sentence. This forms a horrible sounding sentence. Another negative is your field of view. If there are enemies about a few kilometers away, they will look like a tiny,tiny,microscopic speck to you. Then that speck screams "BOOM HEADSHOT!!" and you fall to the ground incapacitated. This would be fine by me since it is a tactical fps but they make it just far too hard to shoot at somebody a few kilometers away. Your red dot sight simply covers the speck and the area around it making you miss. I thought a great thing about ArmA 2 was the mission editor. It allows you to build up your own missions with objectives, placing any aimbotting npc you want onto the map. This is including vehicles and warfare buildings such as bunkers. This leads on to another great thing about ArmA 2. The insanely large quantity of vehicles and weapons. There are over 100 vehicles and 70 weapons in this game. I thought this was great. It gives the feeling of a tactical fps but with added in awesomeness. Whats better than to take a break from the tactical warfare of it all and maybe fly a jet across the whole country or maybe stay in the battle and transport some troops by helicopter. For gods sake they even added in boats! There were a lot of bugs to be honest that was a shame. Also, the instructions were awful. In the first level it hands you a pair of binoculars that somehow is a laser designator meaning it places coordinates for planes to bomb. Does it think of telling you how to set coordinates? No. The AI in this game was a bit retarded. I noticed how it said "advanced AI". My ass its advanced. Giving the order to your squad to get in the car is like telling them to set up a rocket to fly across our solar system. You end up smashing the monitor in and going GET IN THE ******* CAR *****!!!!!! And at that stage they all collapse incapacitated. Anyway i think I've typed enough here but aside those downers i think its a game worth getting if your into Tactical FPS games.… Expand
  24. HenryBukowski
    Sep 21, 2014
    5
    Arma 2 is an atmospheric and immersive - but ultimately unsuccessful - attempt to channel the soul of Operation Flashpoint. The game continues the tactic of taking fictional but plausible parts of the former soviet bloc, but unlike its spiritual predecessor, Arma 2 is modern and to-date; where Operation Flashpoint was in the spirit of the cold war, this game is more 'modern warfare'.Arma 2 is an atmospheric and immersive - but ultimately unsuccessful - attempt to channel the soul of Operation Flashpoint. The game continues the tactic of taking fictional but plausible parts of the former soviet bloc, but unlike its spiritual predecessor, Arma 2 is modern and to-date; where Operation Flashpoint was in the spirit of the cold war, this game is more 'modern warfare'.

    It's worth saying that if you don't have any experience with 'military simulation' type games, you are going to find the going tougher. They are a different beast to the likes of Call of Duty and Battlefield.
    Even for the Operation Flashpoint veteran, this game is very, very challenging, and therein lies one of its chief weaknesses.

    If you chose to buy and play this game I guarantee you will spend most of your time desperately trying to spot the enemy fair enough, in that this is part and parcel of warfare (I imagine!). However, whilst you struggle to spot any living creatures whatsoever, your fellow soldiers are robotic in their ability to spot and track enemy soldiers. The unfortunate result is that in many firefights, particular in the wilderness, you find yourself almost completely redundant. Whilst you have your face in a bush, your comrades kill all the enemy targets. In short, this realism would work if the other npc's really as human and fallible as you - but in fact they are not, and this makes the game markedly less fun as your character becomes unimportant. You will find yourself dying endlessly in a position where surely nobody could have spotted you. I even noticed an issue whereby when you spot certain enemies and radio in to HQ, this triggers your enemy spotting you (and killing you, usually)

    The story is involving, but loses its way; the world and background is complex and immersive, but arguably too complex for the length of the campaign (short). You lead your team for the duration of the campagin besides the first mission, and this gives important freedom, particularly with the huge and open world. However if you lose a team member the mission is failed, so you never have the flexibility you did in Flashpoint where you could lose your entire squad and still complete the mission.

    Unfortunately, this game which makes you feel tension and involvement, is crippled by bugs. These are particularly noticeable when you have a 'free to roam' mission. You might be interrupted by a 'mission completed' pop up which says something completely false about what you have done. E.g 'you have sucessfully destroyed the enermy convoy etc etc ..." No I didn't! Or dialogue could be triggered at the wrong moments leaving you bewildered. This is compounded by poor AI - somehow, worse than in Flashpoint which came out 10 years ago or more, and a poor user interface.

    Worth a play if you loved flashpoint half as much as me, but prepare to feel frustrated to the extreme.    … Expand
  25. Wadeyboy
    Mar 30, 2012
    5
    This could potentially have been a classic as it has many great ideas. However, it's one of the buggiest games I've ever played in over 30 years of computer gaming. However they had the nerve to release expansions for this game is shocking! They should have cleared up the AI issues and fixed their broken game first. Just one example (I could write a long, long list); When you try to call aThis could potentially have been a classic as it has many great ideas. However, it's one of the buggiest games I've ever played in over 30 years of computer gaming. However they had the nerve to release expansions for this game is shocking! They should have cleared up the AI issues and fixed their broken game first. Just one example (I could write a long, long list); When you try to call a helicopter to transport you to another location, you would think it could land in a large, empty car park without continually crashing into surrounding tress or buildings. Then when you do finally get it to land safely, your squad gets fatally injured when you order them to board it! The ambition of the game is admiral and there are loads of good ideas, but that is all negated by the bugs that make it unplayable. I bought this in a sale and I still feel ripped off! The worst case of a game released in a wholly unfinished state I've ever seen! Ironically, if you are looking for a realistic squad based shooter, I would advise going for Operation Flashpoint Dragon Rising or Operation Flashpoint Red River. Ironically because this is done by the team that did the original Operation Flashpoint but couldn't keep the name of that franchise because of the change of publisher.… Expand
  26. ns0l
    Apr 27, 2014
    5
    Realistic shooting. That's how I like my game., but it's the only good thing in the game. The gameplay doesn't feel right and I think the game in overall needs 2 more years of development.
  27. Scottixboy
    Jul 24, 2012
    5
    Giving this game a 5 is fair, as this is a game with great potential, great realism; that's unfortunately let down by outdated graphics, physics, animations and detail in general. Textures are blurry and most of the time the game looks horrid, also to add injury to insult; this game requires a super-computer to run it.
    (IF I'M LUCKY) I can get a nice 54-60 FPS on low settings(For    Giving this game a 5 is fair, as this is a game with great potential, great realism; that's unfortunately let down by outdated graphics, physics, animations and detail in general. Textures are blurry and most of the time the game looks horrid, also to add injury to insult; this game requires a super-computer to run it.
    (IF I'M LUCKY) I can get a nice 54-60 FPS on low settings(For comparison purposes i run Crysis 2 on High-Maximum and it looks a TON better than arma 2; at 60 FPS)

    Object collisions are terrible, and the game is bug packed, This game is NOT worth even the £15 I paid for it, If the game costed £5, yes, it'd be worth it, but this is an outdated game which doesn't lack in content by any means-But does lack in modern technology-For example, Rag-doll technology in games was introduced with Half Life 2 in early 2004 along with detailed post processing effects and high resolution textures and has been used in A LOT of games since, Arma 2 is a 2009 game, and does not include any of these features. It also lacks steam achievements and friend integration in-fact, this game has NO built in friend system which is slightly flawed for a game that supposed to be an ultra realistic game that requires co-operation!

    But it's not all bad, the game can be a ton of fun with friends; Forget DayZ(as its crap) this game can be really fun just with mates doing some assassination missions or sweep missions and is really fun, and yet these flaws always let it down.

    IMO: it's obvious the engine was build in-house for this game, when there are plenty of engines open for use, they could have built this game on unreal or Cryengine and none of these problems would occour, also the poor optimisation would also be fixed and those 2 engines are VERY well refined

    Overall: A good game with A LOT of flaws and bad Development choices, In-fact i missed a lot out but there is too much to explain, basically, if you want an ultra realistic game, this isn't it, because it looks like a PS2 game gone wrong with physics about as realistic as GTA 3. People may disagree, but the next best thing is Red Orchestra 2, which does everything right that arma 2 does wrong.    … Expand
  28. Aeryx
    Apr 7, 2016
    7
    If you like realistic Military Sims, this is the best one out there for infantry action. It does a great job on many things, especially realism. But I am giving it a 7 because it does feel like a step back from Bohemia's last masterpiece, which is Operation Flashpoint. ARMA 2 fails to live up to that in many aspects, first is the AI for the single player campaign. The AI is just horrible,If you like realistic Military Sims, this is the best one out there for infantry action. It does a great job on many things, especially realism. But I am giving it a 7 because it does feel like a step back from Bohemia's last masterpiece, which is Operation Flashpoint. ARMA 2 fails to live up to that in many aspects, first is the AI for the single player campaign. The AI is just horrible, and fails at being as perceptive and common sense as the original. They'll often just look at enemies 10 meters away and wait for your instructions to open fire at it before doing anything, they navigate horribly and AI driving and navigation is also very buggy. The story of the main campaign is also 'meh' at best. Gone is the dark and desperate theme of the original where you are faced with overwhelming odds. You also only have 3 companions that result in mission fail if any of them die, which is bad design. The original game allowed for your entire squad to die and would still allow you to finish the mission; you'd just have to deal with the consequences of fighting alone in future missions. It also has so many scripted elements compared to OF. You can't pull of wins anymore in missions where you are 'scripted' to lose or not escape. OF allowed for some really strange wins and this is one of the lost charms. The strength of ARMA 2 is in its multiplayer and modability and DayZ. All great things that meant lots of hours of fun. Overall, if you liked Operation Flashpoint, you will come out disappointed in the story and campaign, but this is still a game worth buying if you are into realistic military multiplayer shooters.… Expand
  29. TheHumbleCritic
    Sep 25, 2012
    7
    Arma 2 is an outstanding war simulator, but that is really all it is. It's not very immersive and there is no depth. Go here capture this, go there secure that, in a sense, it's a little bit too realistic.
  30. Killer_X
    Mar 18, 2013
    7
    First let me start off by saying that Arma 2 is the best military sim I have ever played. It feels very authentic in its atmosphere. The graphics are really good if you have the computer to handle it. My review is based solely on the single player campaign. I keep hearing that the mission editor is where its at, but I havent touched it.
    I just recently finished up the Red Harvest    First let me start off by saying that Arma 2 is the best military sim I have ever played. It feels very authentic in its atmosphere. The graphics are really good if you have the computer to handle it. My review is based solely on the single player campaign. I keep hearing that the mission editor is where its at, but I havent touched it.
    I just recently finished up the Red Harvest campaign and although I hear people saying how boring the campaign was, I really enjoyed it when it worked properly. I must warn anyone picking up this game that It really tested my patience due to the insane number of bugs. This game imho is the buggiest I have ever played. You need to constantly manual save because Arma 2 misssions will break or crash and there are bugs that won't allow the missions to end so you will have to restart mission from beginning if you don't save. You will need a lot of patience to see the campaign through to the end. Also the keyboard commands can be intimidating and does feel sluggish. Also targeting enemies feels sluggish.
    When it works it truly one of the best combat sim experiences ever. I give it a 7 which does not seem to match this review, but had this game had all the bugs fixed and better use of interface this could easily be a 9 or 10.    … Expand
  31. Wumlsag
    Feb 18, 2013
    7
    This game is truly the ultimate military sim. However, it has some flaws that hold it back fundamentally and prevent it from being even better. First, the campaign is brutally boring, and I cannot bring myself to finish it. Second, controls require lots of practice and are often akward and strangely laid out for a shooter. Third and finally, this game, while great, is nothing like anyThis game is truly the ultimate military sim. However, it has some flaws that hold it back fundamentally and prevent it from being even better. First, the campaign is brutally boring, and I cannot bring myself to finish it. Second, controls require lots of practice and are often akward and strangely laid out for a shooter. Third and finally, this game, while great, is nothing like any other shooter you have ever played. This almost stopped me at first, and many less open-minded gamers will hate this game due to its difference. However, with practice and understanding, this game opens up to those willing to put in the time. The multiplayer is great, the editor mode has lots of potential to make your own playable and sharable levels, and the DayZ mod is always an excellent diversion from the game's usual themes.… Expand
  32. WarriorPancake
    Oct 8, 2013
    7
    I have put many hours into this game, playing with friends and on public servers. Its really is a great simulator. I would never recommend this has a single player game. But as a fun community based game with loads of mod support excluding the DayZ mod. This game isn't really fun as a game. But the mods just make it a wondrous sandbox.
  33. nmdanny
    Sep 13, 2013
    5
    Good stuff:
    New island is gorgeous, new setting(NATO vs Iranians) is interesting and introduces new nice looking vehicles, weapons and units. Features such as attachments, PhysX and underwater exploration/combat are a new improvement since ArmA 2, plus improvement graphics and lightning.
    Bad stuff: Bad optimization and low FPS, horrible mid-range textures which totally undermine all of    Good stuff:
    New island is gorgeous, new setting(NATO vs Iranians) is interesting and introduces new nice looking vehicles, weapons and units. Features such as attachments, PhysX and underwater exploration/combat are a new improvement since ArmA 2, plus improvement graphics and lightning.
    Bad stuff:
    Bad optimization and low FPS, horrible mid-range textures which totally undermine all of the graphical progress, lack of content(no shotguns, not enough fixed-wing aircraft), laziness and oversights to vehicles(no interiors for armored vehicles, unrealistic armor, all vehicles share the same turrets, most vehicles of a side use the same hull), unrealistic mechanics. (tab locking, magical radar, vehicle cobmat in general), some highly wanted features not implemented (shooting from vehicles, weapon resting, an alternative to the action menu), no campaign on launch.    … Expand
  34. xtrmsnpr
    Dec 27, 2013
    7
    the buggiest game you will ever play.Although it is so good.Sounds are nice,you know where the bullets are coming from.Game physics is not as good as expected,but game mechanics are correct and responding to everything you are doing.
    You just need a good team to cooperate with
  35. DarrenMc
    Oct 6, 2014
    6
    Great game marred by horrendous controls which kills the game for me.
    The open world is amazing and the graphics are great but it lacks the polish and the voice acting which is amateur. The controls are designed exclusively for the "hardcore" set who like to walk 1 step back before they walk 2 steps forward so alot of management involved for simple tasks.
    If you can get through    Great game marred by horrendous controls which kills the game for me.
    The open world is amazing and the graphics are great but it lacks the polish and the voice acting which is amateur. The controls are designed exclusively for the "hardcore" set who like to walk 1 step back before they walk 2 steps forward so alot of management involved for simple tasks.
    If you can get through that,then the game will open up for you but expect to be frustrated in the short term.    … Expand
  36. Wise_Gamgee
    Jun 25, 2014
    5
    Good Gameplay and very deep simulation. And i would definitely recommend it, BUT:
    The problems ruin the whole game:

    1. Controls are pretty complicated (could easily made simpler)
    2. BIGGEST PROBLEM: The one big problem that keeps me from playing is the random global ban i got from battle eye!
    3. Various Bugs and Glitches
    4. Multiplayer synchronizing is just bad
  37. EricDean
    Oct 14, 2014
    6
    So I see two sides here on Metacritic, the ubers who love this game and people who hate it for the uberness. Before you buy the game ask yourself what kind of shooter you want. If you just want to play DayZ I recommend Arma 3, if you want to play a tactical (and I mean tactical) shooter and wanna learn as much as possible from the game then by all means read the rest of the review.

    I'm    So I see two sides here on Metacritic, the ubers who love this game and people who hate it for the uberness. Before you buy the game ask yourself what kind of shooter you want. If you just want to play DayZ I recommend Arma 3, if you want to play a tactical (and I mean tactical) shooter and wanna learn as much as possible from the game then by all means read the rest of the review.

    I'm going to start off with setting straight the "bugs" in this game. People say bugs but I found very few bugs in my playing of the game. On a laggy server with lots of blown-up stuff the odd fire texture glitch will occur setting the sky on fire on when you crash the wheels will slightly sink into the thing to crashed into. Albeit there is one annoying bug that is rocks. Rocks will stop tanks and most cars and if your going to fast ruin your entire vehicle. Another thing is people complaining about the campaign. This game was not meant for a campaign. It's immensely hard to fit in the ability to talk to other people and be extremely tactical. AI are a bit cheating and sometimes dumb but if you install a 70kb download (ASR_AI) then it works fine. Also this game was made in the Czech Republic so complaining about the Voice-Acting isn't an amazing argument to give this game a 0.

    Multiplayer is where the true nature of this game is. An amazingly in-depth editor that is easy for starters to use but even more fun for the people willing to learn it. I play 300 hours of this game with just the editor and multiplayer and I have now reached over 1000 Hours with the hundreds of easy to install mods.

    I'm going to conclude however that this game is a 6 because like I said ultiplayer is the number one asset to this game and in recent times the servers have emptied and steam has ruined the conntection for most of them.    … Expand
  38. gamerz4life
    Sep 27, 2020
    5
    Unless you’re playing for the multiplayer, the AI in all Arma games are horrendous, at best they will get stuck for unknown reasons and stop following you, at worst there on the other side of the map doing who knows what, not listening, all while every AI is just running around with no tactical sense. Is best used in editor mode with mods just trying things out like Gary's mod, 1,000 hoursUnless you’re playing for the multiplayer, the AI in all Arma games are horrendous, at best they will get stuck for unknown reasons and stop following you, at worst there on the other side of the map doing who knows what, not listening, all while every AI is just running around with no tactical sense. Is best used in editor mode with mods just trying things out like Gary's mod, 1,000 hours can't be wrong!

    I just can't find the realism that people talk of when you run past a AI tank that has driven up a rock and flipped itself. Then take all this that this game is almost 10 years old and still runs poorly due to being badly optimized which is no surprise to the Arma community.    … Expand
  39. Tilt1k
    Feb 5, 2019
    7
    Probably the weakest game from the trio Operation Flashpoint, Arma 2 and Arma 3. Still a decent game, but i have encountered most bugs and flaws in this one.
  40. saplign
    Feb 2, 2023
    5
    meh‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎

Awards & Rankings

61
#61 Best PC Game of 2009
14
#14 Most Discussed PC Game of 2009
45
#45 Most Shared PC Game of 2009

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
77

Generally favorable reviews - based on 38 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 23 out of 38
  2. Mixed: 15 out of 38
  3. Negative: 0 out of 38
  1. Gamers.at
    72
    It's a shame the developers obviously didn't have enough time to finish ArmA II properly before they shipped it: There are many bugs in the game and the AI's actions mostly just don't make sense at all. One piece of advice: Get patch 1.01 – with it the game is at least moderate fun. Still, we hope that some further patches will follow and fix ArmA II's major flaws so that it will finally become the great game it could be – next time, however, we'd like to see the game finished by the time of its release!
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  2. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    70
    The vast and open world of ArmA II offers an incomparable army experience. You only need to accept its slow pace and batch of unpleasant bugs. Still ArmA is the only matchless war toy.
  3. GameStar
    66
    ARMA 2 doesn't seem to be a finished game. The AI is cheating, physics and controls are out of date and the game is full of annoying bugs. That the game manages to look great from time to time doesn't help much. Hopefully Bohemia Interactive will release some patches soon. The game still has a lot of potential.
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