Post by Eorl @ 10:16am 06/03/13 | 11 Comments
The Arma 3 Alpha, which was officially announced one week ago, provides players with the opportunity to try out and provide feedback on the game’s military sandbox gameplay. The content in the Arma 3 Alpha is limited, and includes four showcase missions (Infantry, Vehicles, SCUBA and Helicopter), a subset of weapons and vehicles, two multiplayer scenarios, the scenario editor and modding support. Whereas the final game will also feature the 270 km² Mediterrean island of Altis, the Alpha is positioned on Stratis – which hosts 20 km² of rugged terrain, expansive forests and a man-made airbase.Bohemia will also be utilising the previous payment model seen in Minecraft, where the early Alpha purchases will be much cheaper then the final product price, said to be roughly $60.
Celebrating the release of the Alpha Bohemia has also revealed a new sneak preview trailer for those still on the fence, offering a look at the playable and sandbox content in the Alpha and what is to come throughout the year. Check it out below and also leave us a comment on your thoughts of the Alpha so far.
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Posted 10:22am 06/3/13
Posted 10:52am 06/3/13
Posted 12:00pm 06/3/13
Animations are a HUGE improvement over the other arma games and even the Operation Flashpoint games.... however they still don't feel "right" when compared to other games with much more fluid movement such as BF3. The sprint for example, just looks weird.
Loving it so far though, cant wait for the final release!
Posted 03:18pm 06/3/13
It's shaping up to be a great game. Animations are fluid, lighting is nice and over all graphics are good too. Pretty much what Chang said. There's a few niggles but I'm sure they will get sorted out. BI listens to the players.
Reports of Wasteland mission being ported over almost instantly is heartening. Once the modders sort out the bugs with the porting over, it'll be dandy.
Cherno map has already been ported over. There's a video on YT somewhere. Won't be long until DayZ is ported over in full.
Posted 05:44pm 06/3/13
Posted 06:47pm 06/3/13
I am really liking it so far. The amount of content in the alpha is very low, probably less than 5% of the total content in ARMA 2, but from what's there you can tell everything has a good solid feel about it. The helicopter physics aren't as good as I hoped they would be after hearing they were implementing the Take On flying model. When flying in Take On you can really feel the effects of the helicopter being buffeted by the wind and the torque created by the rotors. So far the helicopters still feel like they are flying in a bit of a physics devoid vacuum. I am hoping the flight model is improved as updates are released. That is probably the greatest complaint I have about the alpha so far.
What's great though is how optimised the game is. I have a decent system and the game runs almost perfectly with everything on ultra, medium high view distance and a few select things turned down to normal or low which I actually prefer to when they are set to high. Using the editor I created a ridiculously large battle that would never happen and it crippled the fps. However I also created some large scale battles that could actually occur and the fps remained stable. This is extremely good news because one of the hallmarks of the ARMA series has been its ability to grind even high-end systems in to the dirt.
Along with the optimisation comes some damn fine visuals. Gun models look sharp, player models sport incredible detail and game world objects such as vehicles and buildings are all textured and modelled nicely. I especially love the Mediterranean look of the buildings in the villages you walk through. There is some weird pop-in and distortion with the trees and grass which is kind of a bummer, but only a minor distraction. When they are behaving correctly, they look very nice as they sway in the breeze. Weapon effects are gorgeous. Using the editor to create a squadron of helicopters in a battle against some ground vehicles is an incredibly satisfying experience. At night it looks even better, as the chopper's rockets turn night into day. The map itself is also very conducive to warfare despite its small size of only 20sqkm. The full map will be 270sqkm... I can't wait for that!
Probably my favourite aspect of this game and of all ARMA games is the sound. Guns just sound powerful and have a real kick especially with a decent sound setup (I use headphones). My favourite sound effect is when you are under fire and you can hear the bullets cracking as they pass you. When you hear that it usually means you're seconds away from death. Other sounds such as vehicles, helicopters, explosions and the rest are also of top quality.
I mainly love playing with the editor, so the only showcase I have played with so far is the infantry one, and it is f*****g hard. I can't even get past the first objective without my squad and myself dying. I think I'll try again with the skill turned down a notch. I also haven't tried multiplayer yet. I'd rather play with some people from QGL so if you have the game and just want to test stuff together or do a co-op mission then add me on Steam - fpotyay is my username.
BI are really kick arse developers and it was a masterstroke on their part to release an alpha in lieu of just accepting money for pre-orders. This way you actually get something for your money, and they have a neat little feedback page where you can post bugs you have encountered or suggestions. It's nice to see some of those issues being tackled by the developers and resolved quickly. Even nicer is the calm rational way people are reporting issues. Compared to say, how the Diablo 3 community conducted themselves it's a refreshing change to see a large group of gamers behaving like grown-ups.
Warning though - don't buy this game unless you have a bit of patience and prefer a slower paced military-sim. I think everyone knows this game isn't COD but it is also pretty unique compared to everyone FPS out there. You win battles through attrition rather than brute force, and you pretty much always have to be thinking not just about your moves, but what the enemies moves are as well. Luckily for me, it's a game pretty much tailor-made to my tastes. It's just too bad that I really suck at it and die a lot.
Posted 07:43pm 06/3/13
Just bear in mind that it's a bare-bones port atm though, but the servers are all solid and have 50+ people playing.
Posted 08:00pm 06/3/13
Posted 08:33pm 06/3/13
Anyone here used ACE/ACRE? Love those mods, hope they get ported to Arma 3.
Posted 08:36pm 06/3/13
Posted 08:38pm 06/3/13