ArmA 3 is the next generation Military Simulation from Bohemia Interactive Studio. On March 5th this year they released an Alpha of the game to their pre-purchase customers to assist in the testing phase. The plan is to incrementally release the different capabilities ArmA is known for, starting with Infantry, then progressing to wheeled and tracked vehicles and then finally air vehicles. This approach allows fans of the series to keep a close eye on the development of the product and while Infantry is the primary focus right now, some vehicles are already available.
New Feature - Clouds!
Well, not a new feature, they've suddenly become interesting. On the whole the graphics aren't too different from what ArmA 2 is capable of with a few config tweaks here and there, having said that they have overhauled the cloud system, no longer are they 2D objects rolling through the sky in the same direction, they actually look quite real as the video below shows. In addition they appear to have tweaked the atmospheric lighting to work with the clouds quite well.
New Feature - Infantry Stance
The single biggest enhancement at this stage is the stance system, no longer are you limited to prone, crouched and standing (yes CoD warriors, real people have more than two choices here!), in fact you can go all the way from prone to a seated static position, different levels of crouched and kneeling all the way up to a high stance to peek over stuff, and that's just scratching the surface. For a more detailed look, see this comprehensive video (content from: YouTube: Dyslexci):
At this stage it appears mods for the game will have a strong future as there is already a lot of work going on in this space with some users porting islands from ArmA2 and previous games. As for the scripting, the SQF language survives and it's quite possible the native code extensions will make a return to support the backend features seen in mod turned standalone game DayZ, there is also suggestion from the devs that they intend to support object-oriented scripting through Java.
If you haven't seen ArmA II, you can pick up a copy by clicking the image above, the game has recently seen a surge in popularity thanks to the hugely popular zombie survival mod, DayZ. As mentioned before it has now become a standalone developed by BI.
The Only Mod Worth Buying - DayZ
Normally I'm an excessively keen pure first person shooter player, have been since the original Counter-Strike days. The Walking Dead
has probably contributed a little to the success of DayZ, as in my personal circumstances I started playing the mod after watching an episode of the show as there was something appealing about attempting to survive a zombie apocalypse in a massive open world with other live people. Whether you team up with others or go it alone the game experience has been quite rewarding and if anything I wish I had more time to play it. Fortunately, if you already own a copy of ArmA 2, you can currently get the mod for free via Play withSIX, which allows you to easily manage mods and other custom content, as well as browsing for servers.
has probably contributed a little to the success of DayZ, as in my personal circumstances I started playing the mod after watching an episode of the show as there was something appealing about attempting to survive a zombie apocalypse in a massive open world with other live people. Whether you team up with others or go it alone the game experience has been quite rewarding and if anything I wish I had more time to play it. Fortunately, if you already own a copy of ArmA 2, you can currently get the mod for free via Play withSIX, which allows you to easily manage mods and other custom content, as well as browsing for servers.
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