ArmA 3 has more updated Vehicles, Physics(not the best however), and the AI IS infact different not in a good way.. Let me elaborate..
As for the AI, ArmA 2 takes the cake here. Because, Lets take the Takistani Militia for example, They run around with shit guns, and are comparable to your average guerilla fighter.. In ArmA 2, They act as such.. If you shoot at them from a distance for long enough, They will find you, and shoot back, with minimal to no accuracy(Range dependant), But that is, as I can make of it, the summary of all the AI in ArmA 2.. However, in ArmA 3, If you were to place an enemy group 900m away(this is all tested btw), Then shoot at them with a sniper rifle, You will probably miss first shot, They wont.. In ArmA 3, Not only do they pinpoint your exact location... They return fire with devastating accuracy(Like... 2 or 3 shots kill you), Even if they have their little 6.5mm Katiba Rifles(Relatable to FAMAS or Styer) vs your 12.7mm Lynx(AS50 kinda looking things), They win if you dont kill them all 1 shot.. And, to add to thatt, Vanilla ArmA 3 has just as stupid AI as ArmA 2 does.
Immersion can be found, Not with vanilla. The sounds for ArmA 3 do a no better job than whatt ArmA 2 did, They do not really add a *wow* factor.. All it is, is just *bang*.. nothing to it. Also the game is set in a futuristic time, Where most of the stuff they have IS related to real life things, but not like it was with ArmA 2. ArmA 2 had a level of immersion because they had real life guns and vehicles with the same characteristics as their real life counterparts. The landscape was realistic on Takistan, You could relate that to some real war zones like Afghanistan, or Syria.. They even had the right type of enemy units for Takistan and Chernarus.. Everything fitted into a standard of realism. When I look at ArmA 3, I see an Apple Tree with no Apples.
It has all the goods to deliver an awesome experience, But it is kinda like.. BIS just took the awesome out and replaced it with a 'Future' theme, Some like it, some don't. I see the 'Make ArmA not War' contest going on, And all I see is Bohemia admitting they wiped their asses with ArmA 3... They want something to bring it back to fame, Just like what DayZ did for them.
Physics.. They are great, But could be improved.. In example, If you are driving a car, and you bump into a Stop sign... You will enjoy a nice walk. The water physics are quite amazing however, with the Swells and the boats acting semi-realistically to them.. Land physics arent to great though..
All in all, I know I havent covered a lot here, But I kinda hit on a couple key features, In a conclusion, I would definitely recommend the game to anyone only if they will mod the shit out of it though, ArmA 3 is not a game to play Vanilla.. Offline or online.
/rant
---------- Post added at 07:22 ---------- Previous post was at 07:20 ----------
Not at all.
I reckon Bohemia just dont care for ArmA anymore, They dont let us have the good shit like Virtual Battlespace 1,2 or 3. They want to sell that to Military orginisations for tens of thousands of dollars.. Fuck, dat. unfair