ARMA III

[Jackobi]

The ARMA III Alpha was released last week and I joined the alpha testing.

I've had a couple of hours gameplay so far and am very impressed, particularly after the very clunky ARMA II. The community is already producing mods and missions so I expect it will have huge amounts of content available by the time it is at beta stage.

I paid £20 to join the Alpha testing which includes three Alpha Lite keys, Beta testing and the final game release, a bit of a bargain I'd say. Multiplayer is up and running with plenty of servers and community made custom missions already available. Currently, only basic equipment is available and a couple of trucks and choppers, but the environment is immense, and apparently only a small map compared to what will be released eventually.

http://www.arma3.com

I have three Alpha Lite keys to give away, which were released today. The Alpha Lite version is basically a sandbox, with no multiplayer or modding capabilities, although the editor can be used, custom missions cannot be saved (an 'evaluation copy' is available which I tested before purchase that has more functionality). But if you want a key, I have some.

 

[Serotonin]

Really enjoying this - played all the other versions and this seems like it could be the bets by far. It even runs better than Arma2 does for me and thats in alpha!

 

[Crispy]

But if you want a key, I have some.

Yeah alright

 

[Shippou-Sensei]

i also have alpha keys


must say it looks awesome with everything turned up to max (which i can just about handle) but of course it plays like ... well arma.. you kinda need to be into it. i'm sorta not.

 

[Radar]

I wouldn't mind a key please. My exposure is mainly via dayz but I'd like to check out the new engine.

 

[Shippou-Sensei]

I'll need your email or to add you on steam... PM?

 

[Jackobi]

Yeah alright

I'll need steam ID or an e-mail address to send it to, as it is sent from my steam account.

Unless Shippou has sorted you and Radar out, in which case I still have three keys.

 

[Jackobi]

Really enjoying this - played all the other versions and this seems like it could be the bets by far. It even runs better than Arma2 does for me and thats in alpha!

I think so too, it has huge potential and it's almost impossible to lonewolf any missions, teamwork is needed. Runs very well on my rig too (better than Arma II) although I've realised I need a new graphics card to push it to high or ultra settings in multiplayer. Not bad for an old HD 4890, though.

 

[Crispy]

I'll need steam ID or an e-mail address to send it to, as it is sent from my steam account.

Unless Shippou has sorted you and Radar out, in which case I still have three keys.

75crispy on steam

 

[Jackobi]

75crispy on steam

Added as friend so I can send you the key.

 

[Citizen66]

This is released tomorrow?

 

[fishfinger]

Released on the 12th

 

[Citizen66]

It looks mint!

 

[Citizen66]

Bought this last night. Graphics look mint on highest settings. Tried out a wasteland server which was pretty good. It's a sandbox like DayZ but without the zombies. Think I'll give DayZ a whirl tonight.

 

[Citizen66]

Someone get excited ffs!

 

[mauvais]

Is there a singleplayer campaign(available yet)? The previous titles since OFP have promised the same quality as that but kind of failed to deliver, or done so then stopped in an abrupt and unsatisfying way.

 

[Citizen66]

Is there a singleplayer campaign(available yet)? The previous titles since OFP have promised the same quality as that but kind of failed to deliver, or done so then stopped in an abrupt and unsatisfying way.

Haven't really checked out any of the single player stuff concentrating my efforts in getting my arse handed to me on wasteland servers; but there is quite a bit of single player stuff on there. The only one I've tried was the first training course which was quite fun. Will have a look tonight.

 

[Artaxerxes]

I'll be grabbing this before the 12th I think, theres a lot of good games out this year and I've held off buying this for to long.

Operation Flashpoint: Resistance was still the best of the series for me.

 

[Artaxerxes]

Holy shit this game is gorgeous and it runs like a dream

 

[Citizen66]

Holy shit this game is gorgeous and it runs like a dream

The graphics are lush aren't they? I've been hanging about on the wasteland servers; have yet to have a kill yet. On some of them I can be hidden and someone just finds me and kills me. That's got to be some mod they're running. Which is irritating if so.

 

[mauvais]

Bought the beta yesterday. I think this and GTA might be the only games that I've bought every instalment of. Only had a quick go but looks good; the beta is quite limited in vehicles etc, no tanks or planes. I guess it'll update tonight and we'll see what it's like for real then - campaign in a month after that.

 

[Citizen66]

Has this been released stateside already? There's loads of people crying on facebook about lack of planes etc.

 

[Citizen66]

Stunning launch video with bonus crying:

https://www.facebook.com/arma3official/posts/588975554482512

 

[mauvais]

So, up to date, and I'm not particularly impressed so far. The campaign is missing (I knew this), there aren't as many vehicles etc as I'd hoped, and my limited multiplayer experiences were poor. Mostly it was DayZ-esque fruitless running about, but also it was mostly 1fps. Not good.

 

[Radar]

Yeah, major wailing and gnashing of teeth over in the arma III steam forum. Crap performance and missing content seem to be the major bugbears, with the published PC requirements bearing little or no resemblance to what's actually needed to get double digit fps.

 

[mauvais]

I haven't looked at the requirements. I get a decent framerate in single player, or on certain servers.

On a positive note, air units (the one plane) work properly this time. I built a little scenario with a AI tank vs an enemy AI CAS plane on approach. The tank sees the plane and pops smoke, but the plane fires a missile and destroys it. That never worked in ARMA 2. I then took an empty tank and fired a missile back at said plane, and it dropped countermeasures, evading the attack.

And another, someone who lives on the real island has commented on it.

 

[Citizen66]

I just lie in wait in a tactical position until someone finds me without me seeing them and executes me. Rinse and repeat.

 

[Citizen66]

You got nothing to say on this yet, Pingu ?

 

[Pingu]

You got nothing to say on this yet, Pingu ?

not played it yet. i need to upgrade some bits of MY PC first to get the most from it

loved arma II though

 

[Jackobi]

I was disappointed with performance of the release after smooth running of the alpha. I considered that my PC was not up to spec because Altis is so much bigger than Stratis, but after an update today which included graphic optimisations, the difference in performance is huge. Gameplay is so much smoother than pre-patch, I think this will quell a lot of the criticism that the game has received on Bohemia's forums, which has mostly been lackluster performance even on high spec machines.

There have been some great multiplayer games running with good communication and teamwork, I keep going back to the Invade & Annex mission on ahoyworld EU servers, they seem to have a good crowd and good admin.