
I travel around the USA a lot for work. I stay in a location for 30-45 days, working 7 days a week, and then get about 14 days off before heading out again. Unfortunately, my last two assignments have had dial-up speed or less Internet. Which means that I've had basically no ability to play EVE for quite a while now. Luckily, I downloaded a few games before I left - one of which was ArmA 3. I've been wanting to write something for a while now, but having no access to EVE, I wasn't sure what to do. I came up with this idea, to write a review for a game geared towards the average EVE player (or at least, what I think the average EVE player is). Let me know what you think - if there's any benefit to this or not - in the comments.
For those unaware, the ArmA series has been around for about 13 years, counting the first game Operation Flashpoint (there's a bit of developer drama behind the name change, but I won't go into it). It is, without a doubt, the premier military simulator game on the market. The Operation Flashpoint namesake still exists, with two sequels released now, but doesn't compare in the slightest. EVE and ArmA 3 have a lot in common, when it comes to approaching the game, and I think a lot of people that enjoy EVE may enjoy ArmA.

ArmA 3 is set on two islands, one of which measures 270 squared kilometers, the other 20 squared kilometers, and are peppered with cities, towns, military installations, mountains, salt flats, airports, and more. Right now, there's no official campaign, but being released on Steam and having always been supported by a large modding community, there are a lot of mods already out. I've done a lot of multiplayer (back home where Internet lives!) for a few months now, and there's certainly nothing better than playing this game with friends. The AI isn't dumb, but it just doesn't compare to the things you can do with thinking, intelligent humans. Some of the most fun I've had with ArmA has been when I was leading a group of about 30 players, split into different groups. We had a recon team find an enemy base and report its position back to HQ. Then, we had two Jeep-like vehicles with grenade launchers move to an over-watch position, timed so that the majority of players would arrive in different locations scattered around the base via helicopter. After the mortar strikes landed, of course. That was just something that I made up off the top of my head, too. We could have attacked that base any way we wanted - and that's the beauty. You're completely free to do anything you like. Want to pound it into the ground with pure artillery? Sure. Want to load everyone up in a helicopter or jet and just shoot missiles at everything that moves? Why not? Pure ground assault? Absolutely.
It can be frustrating though, sometimes. This isn't an easy game, even after the learning curve is behind you. One or two bullets can be the end of you, and even though ArmA 3 has made healing a bit more powerful than it used to be, forgiving it is not. Most of the time, when I die it's because I've done something stupid - climbed a tower in front of a machine gun nest, for instance. Or sprinted across an open field under fire. Shooting isn't simply a point-and-click experience, and you'll need to get the hang of actually hitting targets before you have a chance of out shooting the enemy. And that's after you can even spot them. Combat happens over hundreds of meters in ArmA 3, and you'll have to get used to spotting the enemy who doesn't want to be seen. It's like trying to spot a Khanid ship in space visually sometimes!


Edited to reflect true square kilometer size of the islands thanks to Reddit user DmitryStrelnikov.