From guerrilla warfare and roleplay missions to zombie apocalypse and jungle survival… Arma III is a military tactical shooter-, open-world- and realism-based video game, which got it all covered! This sandbox game, as it is often called, can really be any game you want it to be. And although this PC-game has been around since 2013, it still can show off due to the constant updates and good relationship between developers and community.
The game Arma III takes place in the 2030s and is set on two main islands in the Aegean Sea: Altis, which would be a relatively big island covering about 270 square kilometers and Stratis, the smaller island that expands over 20 square kilometers. If you got the Apex Patrol DLC (additional downloadable content), you also get the photorealistic South Pacific island of Tanoa.
Even though this video game is primarily known for its multiplayer aspects, you are also able to play in a single-player mode campaign, where you take control of soldier Corporal Ben Kerry.
The background story of the single-player campaign called The East Wind seemed very interesting to me: After a civil war in 2026, followed by a breakdown of the mutual truce in 2034 caused by an incident between AAF (Altis Armed Forces) and FIA (Freedom and Independence Army), the situation escalated into open warfare. As the NATO peacekeeping forces were sent out to intervene, they instead got reduced to the island of Stratis, because of the progressively worsening relations with AAF. At that point, the NATO does not contemplate to give up, but instead they prepare their next steps…
As I already mentioned, Arma III really got popular because of its multiplayer features. In addition, you can easily download mods through Steam and dive in DayZ-zombie-, Exile, chernarus- and second world war inspired worlds. Basically, there is a huge variety regarding player freedom and the endless stories. Therefore, you can create your own path throughout the gameplay and the game types, like King of the Hill, Survival or the Role Playing Game, which by the way are my three favorite ones.
But on the other hand, many people complain about the poor performance and bugging when playing with a ton of mods. And I have to say that sometimes I can relate to that. It gets very frustrating when you’re in the middle of a combat and the whole thing begins to bug or even crash down. But from my experience, it has only happened a few times.
Regardless, I find the game still exiting, because of the visually stunning locations and the hyper-realistic combat experience with weapons and vehicles that are based on real army equipment, acting and sounding exactly like the real-life things.
You can get Arma III on Steam for about 25 to 30 Euros, but if I were you, I would wait until Steam sale. Then you can get it for almost half the original price! And to be honest, this game is definitely worth your time and money, if you really want to exploit that tactical shooter experience to the fullest. But you also get much freedom as a player, a big variety regarding gameplay scenarios and the strong community sense you often build with other players in the same unit.
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All pictures used are screenshots made by the author of this article.
Publisher: Bohemia Interactive
Developer: Bohemia Interactive
Platforms: Microsoft Windows & Linux
Release date: September 12, 2013
Genres: Tactical shooter
PEGI: 16
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