Hi guys, prospective purchaser here.

[Langnasen 10]

I'm thinking of giving this one a whirl, but have some misgivings...

I had OFP way back in the day, remember it was laggy and buggy and never fully fixed. I seem to remember getting stuck in vehicles a lot.

Arma1, was buggy as hell and again, never fixed.

Now Arma2...is it going to be the same? I've read a few reviews which mention a number of bugs...how is the game now, are we talking playable? Not madly bothered about SP but MP does need to be a lot better than Arma1's MP.

TIA for any input.:)

[interox 10]

Browse this forum for all your answers. Pay particular attention to the troubleshooting section. Things are improving though.

[randir14 10]

I only play online and personally haven't encountered any game breaking bugs. It seems like most of the problems are with performance, which the next patch is supposed to work on.

[Thirdup 0]

Much improved. Graphics, join-in-progress, AI using cover.

Much the same. Bugs, some issues will likely never be fixed, herding AI can drive you nuts, lazer-accurate enemy AI. But mods, MP, and the editor still give this game limitless possibilites.

Overall, I find it to be a great addition to the series (I think of it as a series). Far from perfect, but if you enjoyed the previous titles then you'll enjoy this. And if you were a whiner in OPFP/ArmA1, then you'll find yourself unhappy with ArmA2.

[cole 0]

it's the same with all BIS games. In the start, you're wondering why the hell you even bought it, but as they release more and more patches and the modding scene gets really live, it's a game you'll happily stick to for the next several years.

If you like OFP, You'll definitely like ArmA2. Just don't give the playing up after seing a single bug. ;)

[kozzy420 21]

The game is very playable, anyone who says its not playable at all either has a crap computer or is just being silly imo.

The game is awesome, highly reccomended, but then again I LOVED Operation Flashpoint, and you seem to have hated it so I donno.

The game has awesome user made missions, great realistic gameplay, nice graphics, good sound, fun online and a decent campaign. Love the game personally.

[seba1976 98]

Much improved. Graphics, join-in-progress, AI using cover.

Much the same. Bugs, some issues will likely never be fixed, herding AI can drive you nuts, lazer-accurate enemy AI. But mods, MP, and the editor still give this game limitless possibilites.

Overall, I find it to be a great addition to the series (I think of it as a series). Far from perfect, but if you enjoyed the previous titles then you'll enjoy this. And if you were a whiner in OPFP/ArmA1, then you'll find yourself unhappy with ArmA2.

+1 My thoughts exactly. And it's a very time consuming game. It takes time to make it work, it takes time to learn how to survive the brutal gameplay, it takes time to learn and use the editor, etc. And if you want to follow other games in the meantime, well, it could be a problem ;). If you devote your time to do these things, on the other hand, it could be the only game you end up playing.

[Langnasen 10]

I did enjoy OFP, but I remember it being hard work (the bugs).

I've just downloaded the Arma2 demo, so I'll see how that goes. Thanks guys.:)

---------- Post added at 09:52 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:45 PM ----------

Well that was auspicious. I've just finished downloading the demo and I now have a 2.84gb file on my desktop that does nothing. Must have become corrupted or something. Any way to fix it by any chance?

[kozzy420 21]

I did enjoy OFP, but I remember it being hard work (the bugs).

I've just downloaded the Arma2 demo, so I'll see how that goes. Thanks guys.:)

---------- Post added at 09:52 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:45 PM ----------

Well that was auspicious. I've just finished downloading the demo and I now have a 2.84gb file on my desktop that does nothing. Must have become corrupted or something. Any way to fix it by any chance?

The download probably stopped before it was finished 100%.

I would just buy the game bud hehe, I wasnt a huge fan of hte demo but I cant get enough of the retail version of ARMA2 :)

[50.cal 10]

At the moment the game is very very bugged. Some users say they don't have any problems though.

The fact is that there's way too many posts in the troubleshooting section...you should definitely take a look there.

To say the true I don't know how they will fix all those bugs.

I didn't played OFP1 and discovered the series with Arma1...but patch 1.08 was already out at that time. I heard it took one year to have Arma1 running fine.

If I were you I would just wait few month until they release their new addon.

By the time the campaign should be playable the number of CTD should be reduced to an acceptable level and the price will probably drop too ;-)

[vasmkd 12]

The game is a little buggy but just playing it with the editor is very fun as is the armory and mulitplayer. Eventually BIS will get rid of things like tanks been killable with M249 machine guns etc and then its going to be great.

I don't think a game as open as this can be bug free until the community reports all the bugs as the possibilities are enormous on what can be done. Also performance will improve even thou i'm running fine FPS 95% of the time with my specs on medium 1680x1050 res in XP (see signature) Win 7 runs 1-3fps slower with same settings but its beta still. Only experience slight choppiness in heavy scenes the other 5% of times.

All the mods/addons will keep u entertained for a long long time and BIS are always going to be patching the game and fixing things.

The campaign iv'e hardly touched since it gave me a loading savegame error but i'll get into playing it when a few fixes come out. Honestly id'e prefer a Russian campaign to play but i like variety too. I personally believe ultimately they should have campaigns that represent all OPFOR, BLUFOR and Independant sides to play as and it will make the whole wider community happier.

Edited September 8, 2009 by vasmkd

[-DirTyDeeDs--Ziggy- 0]

ArmA2 multiplayer is far superior than ArmA1. animations allow faster control of character, and things like head bob ( screen bobbing up and down while running) and floating crosshair (crosshair adjustment for exact center of screen) are scalable for different players likes/dislikes.

performance remains the last huge (bug) to be fixed, but is largely dependent on your computer system components. I would suggest a dual core 3.0+ and a gtx series gfx card or equivalent.

as far as the demo not working...read the following

Troubleshooting

X3DAudio1_6.dll

If you receive the following error on launching the demo: "Demo failed to launch, X3DAudio1_6.dll was not found," you need to make sure you have the latest Directx 9 Redistributable installed. It can be downloaded HERE.

It's possible that extracting the demo with winzip can cause a CRC or corruption error to be reported, we recommend you use 7zip to extract the demo from the archive.

[fabrizio_t 58]

I'm thinking of giving this one a whirl, but have some misgivings...

I had OFP way back in the day, remember it was laggy and buggy and never fully fixed. I seem to remember getting stuck in vehicles a lot.

Arma1, was buggy as hell and again, never fixed.

Now Arma2...is it going to be the same? I've read a few reviews which mention a number of bugs...how is the game now, are we talking playable? Not madly bothered about SP but MP does need to be a lot better than Arma1's MP.

TIA for any input.:)

My advice is to still wait a bit before buying.

The game has big potential, but still is partly flawed in some key features. We definitely need patches addressing some major issues.

Just take a look to the most voted bugtracker tickets to understand what i mean.

Edited September 9, 2009 by fabrizio_T

[sic-disaster 311]

I have not encountered any bugs so far at all tbh.

Must be the Chosen One or something, for not experiencing any problems whatsoever.

Note though i havent played through the entire campaign because of my pc not being able to handle the sheer size of the missions, just got to the Manhattan mission.

Awaiting enough money for an upgrade specifically for ArmA 2 though.

[Herbal Influence 10]

I'm thinking of giving this one a whirl, but have some misgivings...

I had OFP way back in the day, remember it was laggy and buggy and never fully fixed. I seem to remember getting stuck in vehicles a lot.

Arma1, was buggy as hell and again, never fixed.

Now Arma2...is it going to be the same? I've read a few reviews which mention a number of bugs...how is the game now, are we talking playable? Not madly bothered about SP but MP does need to be a lot better than Arma1's MP.

TIA for any input.:)

Well try out OFP and AA1 today.

They run smooth and that bugfree as software can be.

Debugging takes its time.

Think about how long it took Microsoft to fix "Word" (not to mention Windows) though Billy Boy has always about a few Billions of dollars of spare money in his pocket.

In BIs games it's such an enormous, complex scenery you will find nowhere else.

[-RIP- Luhgnut 10]

Well try out OFP and AA1 today.

They run smooth and that bugfree as software can be.

Debugging takes its time.

Think about how long it took Microsoft to fix "Word" (not to mention Windows) though Billy Boy has always about a few Billions of dollars of spare money in his pocket.

In BIs games it's such an enormous, complex scenery you will find nowhere else.

Look how long it took them to fix DOS!

[Flash Thunder 10]

Very playable if you're not running into preformance issues, the only thing that bugs me is the game crashing to the desktop when theres alot of explosions on my screen.

[Blake 0]

Everything is so much better than in ArmA 1. I must honestly say BIS exceeded my expectations in every field.

[InFireBaptize 0]

Get the game and download user missions or even use the editor to create your own missions on ArmA 1 or ArmA2 maps. The fun about this game is the endless possibilities and scenarios you can create and spoil yourself with, i have never seen a game with such huge mods/add-on, you'll be happy until ArmAIII comes out. I forgot one important thing, find an online community where you can play with them online, i used to play ArmA 1 every sunday and the fun can't be described, we bonded and played so well, it felt like a real war! Good luck.

[ta.maximus 10]

If you decide on getting the game please don't get the Steam version... having to download the 4GB patch from Steam was never resolved and I have not been able to play the game since the last patch was released over a month ago. At least the retail version have got small patches. :P

[Maddmatt 1]

With the latest patch the game isn't really buggy IMO. It was quite bad at 1.00 but it's much better now.

AI is much better than ArmA. Still dumb at times but overall very good, they know how to fight properly in urban areas, finally. Combat is much more fun than the previous BIS games. There are a lot more bullets flying by and hitting the scenery thanks to AI using suppression.

[ffur2007slx2_5 11]

Expecting the coming of "Operation Arrowhead"!

BIS need profits, so it's impossible for them to release patches to fixing these tiny annoying bugs endlessly without profits.

I think we should be appreciate and gratitude. Never pursuit perfect with blindness!

It's impossible to satisfied all the players, as it's impossible to fix all the bugs.

Edited September 11, 2009 by ffur2007slx2_5

[Oh_Heck 10]

Do your research before you buy. Read reviews, check the forums as suggested. The game has issues for many, and seemingly none for others.

I for one am a little disappointed with the game. I enjoyed it initially, but once 1.03 hit, my fps was hurt considerably and made playing in coop missions impossible when full grass was forced on, as well as certain trees, bringing my fps down to 10 to 15.

Also, living on the east coast, I am just not seeing a decent population of players on servers pinging under 100. Maybe two or 3 servers will have over 10 players. The rest are maybe 2 players here or there, often times afk. I think the bugs and system requirements have taken a big hit on the player population.

[Langnasen 10]

Thanks guys, I think I'll leave it until it's in the bargain-bin. By then it should have been patched and working as good as it ever will, and if it's not I won't be too badly out of pocket. :)

[-RIP- Luhgnut 10]

Expecting the coming of "Operation Arrowhead"!

BIS need profits, so it's impossible for them to release patches to fixing these tiny annoying bugs endlessly without profits.

I think we should be appreciate and gratitude. Never pursuit perfect with blindness!

It's impossible to satisfied all the players, as it's impossible to fix all the bugs.

uh...excuse me but.... bug hunting and killing of same is worked into the business model and development cycles.

So what you're saying is that Microsoft doesn't make any money while patching Windows.