Arma 3 (https://store.steampowered.com/app/107410/Arma_3/) is a Fist Person and 3rd person shooter that focuses immensely on realism as military simulation. The game is developed by Bohemia Interactive, the developers of the previous Arma games as well as Military Simulation products such as VGS Blue, which is not available to the public.

Single Player:  Arma 3 has a decently long 25-hour campaign. On top of that, in their paid DLC there is an additional 6 hours with Arma 3 apex, and even more content with the Laws of War, Jets, Helicopters, Tanks, Marksmen, Karts, Tac-ops and Helicopters DLC. However, this comes in at a huge price: $59.99 (Arma 3 Apex Edition) + $24.99 (DLC Bundle 1) + $24.99 (DLC Bundle 2) which equals out to approximately $110. After playing with these DLC, I can say that some are more fun/needed than others. This link provides a complete run down on all the DLC: https://www.wargamer.com/articles/arma-3-dlc-buying-guide/. However, this huge amount of DLC is not very good for new players as some online servers require specific DLC, therefore, meaning that the game is a greater investment than some people initially think.

Zeus: Zeus is probably one of If not the biggest part of Arma 3. I have spent much more time creating missions for myself to play than in the single player. This is where a lot of your DLC content will come into play. The map Tanoa from Apex is really fun to play on as it provides a much livelier island than both Altis and Stratis (In the base game). Zeus is a mix both FPS and RTS elements into the game as well as acting as a are mission maker. It works great when used in tandem with the mission editor – the Eden editor as you can make very in-depth missions. This is probably one of the best parts about this game and what makes it infinity repayable. Some GUI elements in the editor are a bit flawed but these, while frustrating at times, doesn’t detract from the gameplay.

Multiplayer: Arma 3’s multiplayer is another key pillar of its gameplay, as there is a variety of servers and communities to join. Servers can range from Arma 3 Life (one of the fan made game modes) to more casual karting servers to apex servers (because apex is also multiplayer) to more serious servers. However, in my opinion, the Units are the primary focus in Arma 3; Units are communities, some with 100s of members, that have a singular interest. Majority of Arma 3 communities are realism Units which take advantage of Arma 3’s depth. These realism units are a lot more serious and generally require you to download and install many mods to obtain this realism. These units generally expect you to master the controls and know how to use the mods, for example, in ace medical you may have to know normal blood pressure, heart rate, etc. Furthermore, there isn’t as much combat in some missions made by realism units, as there is a greater emphasis on completing the mission, and the actions leading up to combat. However, despite this, I believe that realism units are very fun as it opens you up to a community and makes the game an overall more hardcore experience.

Mods: One of the main pillars of Arma 3 is the insane number of mods, ranging for jetpacks to realism mods to giant death robots. Some of these mods negate the need for the DLC as they sometimes just outright replace some of the objects in the DLC. Furthermore, there is most probably a mod for every need, a lot aren’t on the steam workshop, but at the same time, there is still an insane amount of mods.

Art and Optimization: The games art isn’t the best, but it still looks pretty good, the environments, therefore, depending on the map, Altis looks bland while Tanoa looks really good. However, I still wish there was some sort of ultra HD-Texture pack for the game to make it look better. However, even if this did exist, it would make the game run even worse than it normally does; the optimization of Arma 3 is terrible in my opinion, as it is inconsistent and there are huge frame drops at times, no matter the machine. This is a very irritating, game-breaking factor at times to an otherwise really good game, I’ve probably spent 20 hours (not exaggerated) trying to optimize the game to run better on my PC, this is primarily because of the engine being used, and hopefully, in Arma 4, they’ll change this.

In conclusion, Arma 3 isn’t for everybody as it has a high learning curve and requires some amount of dedication. The game’s price is quite high, but it is a triple A game developed by a great studio. The gameplay might be stale for some people, or incredibly exhilarating for others. I would give this game an 8/10, however with optimization issues and high price, I have to give it a 6.5/10 or a 7/10. It is still defiantly worth a buy when on sale or you are craving a really realistic game.

Plays way too many games and should probably sleep more

Aditya Rao

Author