ARMA 2 and/or Operation Arrowhead?

[goobernoodles]

I searched and didn't find any threads that looked like they had much info, so I figured I'd start a thread. ARMA 2 looked like it'd be a fun/realistic game to try out until I ran the demo, and it kicked my computer's ass... Now that I'm finally upgrading to Sandy bridge, and will upgrade my video card down the line here at some point, I figure I might give it a shot.

Does anyone play ARMA 2? I notice there's a standalone expansion pack called Operation Arrowhead. If I recall, they're exactly the same price. I'm wondering which one I should get. Is one clearly better than the other for multiplayer? Which game has the bigger community? Is there anything I should know about ARMA 2?

Edit: Should add that I'm upgrading the PC in my sig with a 2500K/8gb RAM. Hopefully I'll have enough horsepower for this game?

 

[KaOTiK]

From my understanding, the community pretty much all moved over to Operation Arrowhead, so I would go with that one out of the two, especially if you are wanting to do multiplayer.

 

[viperbri]

You can get Combined Assault that has content and missions from both. Watch for deals on Steam...they had a great deal a week or so ago.
This game has a great mod and add on community.
Check out these sites:
http://www.armaholic.com/index.php
http://www.armedassault.info/

 

[Anteaus]

Arrowhead. Don't worry about vanilla unless you can get combined ops. The only thing vanilla will gain you is the campaign and missions. The rest of the game was all updated through arrowhead.

 

[IcePickFreak]

+1 on the Arrowhead, or ideally Combined Ops (both of them).

Also, the demo hasn't been updated like the game has and is known to be quite a bit out of date compared to the full game. You should see noticeably better performance with the full game. I think you just missed out on a steam sale for $25 for both of them (ie. Combined Ops).

 

[Zargon]

i have combined ops and all the DLC from the holiday sale, but i havent played muhc, just a few hours of campaign

 

[brandonb]

I noticed that ArmA2 really wants high video memory. I ran it on a 512 meg 4850 and it sucked. I ran it on a 1 gig 4870, and it was just fine.

I know they have made patches (I bought the game and am running it fine on a 1 gig 5850) that addressed some performance issues and it seemed ok, provided you didn't really boost anti aliasing up.

The game is cool, but I didn't quite like the single player campaign in the original. A bit too cliche and some of the missions were just a bit too tedius for me. The one that made me quit was the mission where you have to go get revenge on the terrorists who kidnapped a squadmate and killed him. They drive around on a huge map trying to flee, and there's 3 of them somewhere on the map. You have to talk to villagers, and people, and get out the recon drones and then catch them before they escape. All the while dodging roaming bands of insurgents and getting attacked.

It had a bit of stealth, lots of driving, and not really any action, and it's all timed. The map in the game is huge. 100x100km or something, so when I mean lots of driving, I mean, lots of driving... 20 minutes of driving across the map checking something out, 20 minutes the other way... I played that mission for 4 hours (including reloads when dying from the bands) only to find out they got away on me and failing...

 

[goobernoodles]

Does anyone know if the mouse acceleration/mouse lag issue is fixed? In the ARMA:OA? From threads I've read, there seems to be a disconnect between people who "get" the problem, and people who don't and recommend tweaks that don't take care of the problem.

I'm used to precise aiming in FPS' and the feeling that my mouse is like a car on ice is a deal breaker for me for a game that's $40... If I wanted that type of feeling I'd buy an Xbox.