Rate the first episode!

[NeuroFunker 11]

I've completed the first episode at day 1, and i must say, really nice work! Best campaign after ofp times for me!:cool:

How would you rate the first episode?

pros:

* quite interresting and dynamic missions. (escape from enemy lines, destroy damaged chopper, clean sweap the village, find the spotters, using drones - all that imo made campaign feel dynamic, since every mission was different.)

* not to hard, yet not to easy, good for newcomers, to get in to the game.

* nicely composed music, dialogues, voice acting. Gives a really nice depth for campaign, and adds nice athmosphere.

* quite liveable characters - i felt sad, for the guy who died on the minefield.

* quite polished and optimized (i know some people were reporting bugs, like medics not willing to leave crashsite etc. was not in my case)

cons:

* to short, completed it in like 3-4hrs all together, the missions seem to be quite short as well.

* some weirdness, like never shooting Mi-48's, some unkillable teammates (some other stuff can't remember)

(i'll add some more things, when they'll come to my mind, but in fact there were not much cons for me.)

I'll give it 8 of 10, but there is still lot's of room to improve. But i did really enjoy it, thank you BIS!;)

[ProfTournesol 956]

Pros :

• a good beginning, quite immersive
  
• good voice acting, i like those British voices (despite being an ugly frog, i like the Brits)
  
• very few bugs, no game breaking ones (such as trigger not triggering etc.)
  
• missions of this first episode designed for new players, that's a good idea
  
• missions are performance friendly for me (probably because they take place on Stratis)
  

Cons :

• the "camp Maxwel dynamic missions" is really unimmersive for me, even if it's quite enjoyable though
  
• some unpolished things (ie artillery strike against Towers in Radio silence)
  
• not enough cutscenes
  
• not enough variety in missions (not intel gathering, no civillians interactions etc.)
  

It's a 7/10 for me.

[Sgt.Spoetnik 10]

Yep i give it a 8, completed it in a half day, and its indeed not bad. played it on "regular" and had a good time. only last mission whas bit off a pain, had to do it a couple time but i made it, but all in all a good campain and hope to see more off it(like this one) when the rest come's out.

Con's in the first mission's yep that guys whas first like rambo style standing and shooting and then when he moves into the forrest (kabooom, mine) and the last one,i made it out beeing the only only one left off the team(those para's where a pain,while arty hitting around you). and i killed the mi-48 ;) that teaches him to trying to land and drop unit!

[Tyl3r99 41]

7/10 for me

i think it could have had longer missions personally but the missions are good!!

i like the ambient talking in the base.

i like the ambient effects in background (shame it isnt in editor yet)

[maffa 29]

considering it's a first mission, i'd give a 7/10

pros:

* it's ok for beginners

* very good voice acting

* some variety of vehicles and situations which are good from a beginner's point of view

cons:

* plans are ludicrous, half of them look like they have been laid down by a WH ork chieftain; missions are rail scripted, some vehicles are RPG resistant, other characters are immortal, and friendly squad waypoints expose your squad to avoidable fire

* experienced players can see all unpolished corners just fine and can get bored

* the only difficulty level you can enjoy the missions is regular; scaling to harder levels results in your squad being wiped out and in being headshotted by ACO sighted enemies from 500+ meters

* equipment is restricted, and also doesnt port from a mission to the other: in the second mission there is a sniper rifle that will not be available even in the thrid part which is only seconds after the ending of the second

* few annoying things like always-on IR laser designators in night missions, APER mines not really useful or meaningful, mortars are ininfluent: all this makes support roles look silly and a general waste of time

* The whole chapter cannot be replayed as a whole as in story mode, but only replayed by each submission.

[2nd ranger 282]

I voted 6/10. It could be a 7 with some fixes.

+

• Good overall presentation
  

• Very few bugs

  
  

• Instructor is a nice addition for new players

  
  

• Some cool functions, e.g. the ORBAT

  
  

• Atmosphere:
  

• NPC animations & conversations

  
  

• Lighting and weather

  
  

• Good soundtrack

  
  

• Voice acting and dialogue is the best in the series so far
  

-

• Quite short missions
  
• Mistakes in voice acting (lack of direction and apparently willingness to re-do)
  
• Frequently poor waypoints for friendly AI, disregarding tactics and their own lives. Player can either follow and get shot, or let them die and go it alone.
  
• Some questionable mission design decisions
  

[antoineflemming 14]

For the kind of story they're trying to tell, they really need to do full motion capture of the main NPC like other AAA studios do and they need to get a good writer to actually make some good scripts for the characters and to develop the story's presentation.

[ijozic 9]

*possible SPOILERS present*

I'd give it 6/10 as it's much more engaging from other ArmA campaigns, but looking back it's also disappointing in many respects. For instance, I get the impression that it copies story elements of the Cold War Crisis campaign too obviously.. It is also too scripted so doesn't offer much replayability (small number of enemy units always appearing at the same places pretty much). Obviously, some of the main issues are probably caused by potential external restrictions (e.g. balancing issues due to the game AI issues and time restrictions for sufficient playtesting; possible requirement that it is an introductory campaign for newcomers as opposed to the player being a squad leader which would allow for more flexible and larger scoped missions, etc.) - it's hard to find the right balance between scripted and flexible missions and to keep them "on the rails" as far as the engaging story development goes..

Positives:

- pretty good voice acting (though there seems to be some audio positioning issue, where depending on your angle towards the speaker the audio gets muted)

- pretty good atmosphere (voice acting, music, animations; finally an engaging campaign in the ArmA series)

- arming customization and ability to reuse captured weapons as in OFP Resistance (albeit limited by the amount of stock weapons)

Negatives:

- short and seemingly rather scripted missions (I'm not a fan of Arma2 campaigns' free roaming missions across large, but mostly empty areas, but some level of tactical flexibility as in OFP is clearly needed)

- the scope of the missions is too small (like one or two friendly 4 or 5-men squads against a similar number of enemies, even when e.g. attacking some major village; even then, the enemy doesn't defend, but attacks for some reason)

- somewhat short campaign with an abrupt and forced conclusion - camp maxwell is under strong bombardment after the mission where we failed to get supplies, but then somehow we still have enough ammo and men to make a push for the main city which is extremely lightly defended; then even worse, a huge helicopter counter-assault ensues although the helicopters are not firing, but just dropping troops or even parashooters!? (seems to be influenced particularly hard by the Cold War Crisis campaign); the island also seems to remain unused by a large part in the campaign - most of the missions seem to take place close on a roughly third of the map perhaps (not counting the first mission)

- very little replayability (short and overly scripted missions don't provide much challenge or options; higher difficulty levels currently almost unplayable due to the enemy AI sniping)

Edited November 4, 2013 by ijozic

[NeuroFunker 11]

pls, anyone who have a 10, could you write at least few words, why did you like it so much?

[EDcase 87]

I gave it 8

No bugs for me and enjoyed it. Only complaint would be: too short ;)

To be honest I'm not that interested in campaign missions because it gets played once or twice but the majority of gameplay is MP.

Anyone who plays SP only is missing 99/100 of ARMA potential.

I think BIS should spend some time developing a few good Co-Op & PvP scenarios.

Perhaps some editor modules so less scripting is necessary.

Edited November 4, 2013 by EDcase

[bonchie 39]

I gave it an 8.

Pros:

- Good voice acting

- Good character building (compared to most military themed games)

- Good storyline that pulls you in and the ending left me wanting more

- If played on regular, the gameplay flows nicely and the enemy and your teammates tend to have extended firefights (don't play it on veteran or they all die too quickly)

- Generally good immersion. The area feels like a war zone.

- The fog of war was done well

Cons:

- Missions are too short

- Last mission had some issues

[St. Jimmy 272]

7/10 for the first time. Mostly because the AI liked to rush and kill themselves especially in the last mission. But I still enjoyed the campaign.

[mistyronin 1181]

I gave it a 9.

Because it was by far the best campaign since OFP.

[Dbmondo 10]

Love the game, very well done.

The only annoying thing is that the quad rotor is controlled like a helicopter. The entire point to fielding backpack drones both in Law Enforcement and military is that you don't need to be a helicopter pilot. They almost all use the xbox 360 controller. Right stick is move forward back side to side. Right stick controls which way the thing is "ponting" the one I used had a default "front" ad the right trigger is up and the left trigger was down. One of the colored buttons was hover and the others were for switching the controls to the camera.

I don't play arma as a flight sim, I along with most prefer it for the infantry combat. Portable drones and robots for scouting rooms and houses are obviously already being used. The key to them being effective is that any soldier / cop can pick up the controller and make it work.

Sorry for the rant, but having to stop the scenario and work on flying drones sucked.

[progamer 14]

6. Because a few choices like that attack heli at the end not blowing you up and instead landing right in front of you. Really killed immersion and made me laugh.

[Polygon 11]

5/10.

(-)

* no logic (not to mention proper military tactics or mindset) in most cases. this requires elaboration on all *crap* decisions:

• - attacking an AAF VIP in the middle of the day?
  
• - naive soldiers, doesn't present questions to Miller or anyone else high in command in this dire situation
  
• - Maxwell full of lights in the dark? next time don't be surprised why arty hits you hard later. (why not use metal military barracks for cover?)
  
• - AAF miraculously incapable of locating a group of survivors... on an abandoned MILITARY COMPOUND (lol) (even survivors doesn't put any effort into covering up their traces before danger closes...)
  
• - advancing through a valley? squad's leader should have his head chopped off.
  
• - Wet Work: terrible insertion with no recon info or any smart preparations. like, "let's gamble our lives guys!"
  
• - didn't notice any actual active patrols around Maxwell or going further to ensure safety of others. everybody relaxed.
  
• - AAF air harmless? jets flying over and disappearing, attack helis ignoring obvious threats... epic win.
  
• - no vehicles utilization while so many of them on the battlefield.
  
• - terrible waypoint placements in terms of tactics/safety/etc. by game designers. both sides take the most stupid approaches possible.
  
• - Tipping Point: remnants of survivors attack the main city (logically, it should be most defended!) of Stratis... then their evac boats ignore everything around (no covering fire, etc.).
  
• - with so many AAF helis/jets occupying the sphere, Miller decides to leave for Altis right now in boats, through plain sea (genius). equals to death sentence. nobody, perhaps aware of themselves, opposes dumb Miller's decisions.
  
• 
  

* no cutscenes

* storyline hooks on a massive cliffhanger

(+)

*even with player not in command, some situations are flexible and doesn't result in "MISSION FAILED" quick

*... probably similar to what others mentioned

CONCLUSION: if most of the issues / mistakes will be fixed, I'll gladly give an 8-9. it was enjoyable, but an experienced eye still spots stuff. :D

[Maxzy 12]

pls, anyone who have a 10, could you write at least few words, why did you like it so much?

Because "The first chunk of the campaign sets the stage and seeks to introduce some of Arma 3's gameplay basics without overwhelming new players or patronising veterans." © Jay Crowe

:)

In my opinion it is made exactly how it should be made - fluently, step by step, introdusing basic game features, wrapped in a very nice looking and sounding cover. Could it be better? Of course. But what couldn't. I don't know how it is in english, but in russian we have this saying, which could be translated as "There is no limit to perfection". So 10 out of 10. Oh and the music is just AWESOME!

But the main reason for 10 is, of course, because I'm a mindless fanboy

Edited November 6, 2013 by MAXZY

[EDcase 87]

...

Some valid points there.

- I did wonder why they were set up in camp Maxwell with all those lights so obvious. Stratis doesn't have a good sized cave to use as hidden camp which would have been ideal for this situation.

- Killing the VIP would have been better as a night op.

- Advancing though a valley seems logical if there is cover.

- AAF air not attacking you: Maybe they were assigned to seek & destroy hard targets only? (would have been impossible to complete if they did engage your team)

- Main town mission was a bit easy.

There could have been more random enemy patrols.

Yes, it could have been better but still fun ;)

Edited November 6, 2013 by EDcase

[Nikoteen 24]

5/10.

Reading your review, I felt somewhat the same playing "Survive". The feeling of something was wrong with missions design, a bit part of it is related I think to the rigid construction and bug free policies. Often behind the magic of a mission that looks and feels natural, there's ton of programming work, difficult to control with VR4 engine.

I agree with all of your points, I hope next episode will be more immersive and realistic. In fact, "Survive" made me kind of think to Armed Assault campaign with its mission selector interface and "freedom" to choose mission order of play.

I voted 7/10, because this is good overall but I would let a margin of progression.

Edited November 6, 2013 by NikoTeen

[funnyguy1 0]

Imo the only good thing about the campaign so far is the fact that there is one... I'm a big ofp/arma fan(boy), and to be honest it's kinda sad the first episode sucks so much. I'm surprised it's that bad, especially after ArmA 2, which had a really engaging story.

What's wrong so far:

- poor mission design from the gameplay and military logic/common sense perspective

- lack of realism

- lack of variety

- regurgitated SP showcase ideas

- lack of cutscenes

- not enough voice acting, no interaction between characters

- no real bond between the characters

- the camp thing serves no purpose, and gets boring after the second mission

- wasted potential (not even close to Resistance)

- some of the missions seem to be les thought through than the showcases

What would be cool in the future/should be in the first episode already:

- gathering supplies from the civilians, sneaking into the villages for meds etc.

- recon missions

- ambushes

- hunting animals?

- more interaction with the resistance and civilians

- tough choices that force us to find workaround solutions, collateral damage vs mission objectives

- sneaking, spying, dressing up as enemies

Edited November 6, 2013 by funnyguy1

[NeuroFunker 11]

tbh, hunting animals, sounds like far cry to me, but some recon ideas, stealing enemy uniforms are interresting. If you remember, at 2011 arma 3 pressentaion, BIS were showing episode with boats, where the player, kills csat soldier, takes his clothes, sneaks inside the base and puts satchels on the boats. I bet, there will be missions like that in the future, it would be a shame, not to use newest implemented feature like clothing, to its potential.

[funnyguy1 0]

It's not about hunting for hunting's sake. However, since it's a survival thing, hunting might just be another excuse to start a mission. You leave the camp with a couple of guys, in the first part of the mission you track an animal, you even kill it if you're lucky, but then something happens, blahblahblah. Sure, it would require more work: animations, voice acting, cutscenes and so on, but that's just one idea.

[kilroy the nerd 14]

Pro-

Fun

Human-ish characters

Tense gameplay

Con-

Terrible mortar aim when you need to call it in (Charlie got drunk trying to deal with the situation they were in?)

And two that are somewhat excused by not being the whole thing yet...

Very short

Ends on a cliffhangar, leaves a lot of questions.

Overall, I still enjoyed the campaign a lot, and it seemed to go by so fast it left me hungry for more, like when you eat a sweet treat too fast instead of savouring it.

[Mirek 166]

Tried, wasnt impressed, didnt even finnish the campaign, went back to play ARMA 2.

-short missions

-lack of logic

-recycled showcase mission

0/10

[Wiki 1558]

6/10

Pro:

-nice atmosphere

-nice intro (1st mission)

-nice intro for some mission (submarine insertion was cool - looked like CoD mission)

-not the leader at all during the missions

-movie atmosphere

-story driven campaign

-no warfare mod

-no mission like Manhattan nor Razor 2 (like "search the entire map with 2 guys")

Cons:

-missions are too short

-not enough missions

-all happen in 1 day

-some wrong traduction in French

-strange thing like Mi-28 not firing

-Was supposed to be released during the moth of October and was release the very last day of this month...

-Seems like we'll have some missions with guerilla - I hope not too much... I don't like this kind of missions...

Edited March 14, 2014 by Wiki