ArmA II Arrives on June 19
Touted as the preview of Virtual Battlespace 3, and purportedly used to field test the new engine, Bohemia Interactive, as the developer, and 505 Games, as publisher, are announcing that the release date for ArmA II has been set for June 19, which is one week earlier than the initial projected launch window. The game should arrive exclusively for the PC and aims to offer players the best military simulator, building on the wealth of experience that Bohemia Interactive has in this genre. Many of the smaller tactical scenario developers have been using ArmA (Armed Assault) as a poor-man’s VBS for companies and civilian groups that don’t have the deeper pockets of the larger military organizations. Some of the key features in the game include a dynamic AI that utilizes unscripted and undefined paths to bring the realism of the commercial simulation to the public. Some of these features should bring Bohemis Interactive back into the forefront of the combat simulation market.
Key features:
- Player-driven story: Players will have the opportunity to command members of Force Recon Team Razor through a branching campaign full of twists and surprises. ARMA II integrates a combination of preset conversations with dynamic queries about the game environment: the revolutionary “dynamic conversation system” which brings to the player a unique gaming experience in a movie-like style. Players can talk to soldiers in the field and civilians caught up during fights to gather the Intel they need to further advance in the game. As a pure military simulator, there are linguistic difficulties while speaking to native citizens if you don’t know their native tongue. Chernarussian’s NPC’s speak Czech, US NPC’s speak English and Russian NPC’s speak Russian, etc.
- Reality check: Bohemia Interactive’s standard 225 square kilometers (over 10,000 sq km in VBS) of highly detailed sandbox landscape, modeled with stunning detail and precision and using real-world geographical data, covered by 235 megapixel of accurate aerial map (15.3602 pixels) and more than 1 million objects. This game is a true environment master piece, never seen before in first person shooter type games with 81 weapons and 136 vehicle models created to an exacting real-world schematics with extreme precision, including 350 kilometers of roads, 50 cities and villages full of life.
- Authentic military simulation: ARMA II simulates various aspects of combat and environment effects form bullet ballistics and deflection to material penetration, tracers, varying ammunition types and stopping power, to supersonic bullet crack and weather conditions. ARMA II benefits from the 3rd generation Real Virtuality engine featuring advanced and semi-autonomous AI. Players will compete with the ultimate next-gen AI: no scripts, no predefined pathways, and no repetitive gameplay. All units react to actual game situations and use the open environment to their advantage. Soldiers shout and use hand gestures based on real world military doctrine, actively seeking and using cover and also taking advantage of suppressive fire techniques. The ARMA II system is so complex and effective that the same simulation technology is used to train real soldiers in numerous countries around the world.
- Live war: the campaign missions can be experienced in cooperative mode, or players can join for duty in the massive multiplayer battles with up to 50 players. Among standard MP modes is Warfare, introduced in ArmA: Armed Assault, a unique combination of RTS and tactical FPS which allows players to choose whether to control the combat with detailed base management or instead to operate guerilla hit-and-run tactics focusing on attack rather than defense.
- Unlimited Creativity: An intuitive and easy-to-use built in mission editor, together with powerful modding tools, infinitely extends the gameplay of ARMA II and moves it far above the standard gaming experience. More than 200 character models, 81 weapons, 136 vehicles are ready to be used in an enormous 225 square kilometers sandbox map. Players can use default models or create completely new models and mods can be shared with other players all around the world.
For more information on ARMA II visit www.arma2.com.
