ArmA: Queen's Gambit

ArmA: Combat Operation was a game based in a huge world, with somewhat difficult vehicle control schemes, but a solid military first-person combat experience. Bohemian Interactive and Atari were behind the PC title (http://pc.gamezone.com/gzreviews/r30966.htm), which featured both single-player missions and a campaign mode. The latter was clearly the star of the game.

Enter ArmA: Queen’s Gambit, an expansion to the former title that features more of the same in many regards, but in a good way. Since the campaign was the best part of the original title, Bohemian has added two new campaigns to the expansion.

The Rahmadi Conflict is, more or less, the “true conclusion” to the Combat Operation story arc, taking place along the fortifications of Rahmadi Island as well as introducing a new bit of terrain in Porto Island. There are three full-scale battles associated with this campaign, and even hard-core fans of the original title (and yes, you will need the original to play this game) will find this a challenge.

Royal Flush takes place 18 months after the events of Combat Operation and tracks a group of mercenaries employed by the government to handle a sensitive operation that the army can’t control. However, everything is not exactly as it seems, and without giving out any spoilers, players should be prepared for some interesting twists and turns along the way. The missions are varied and include ambushes, the liberation of death camps and even defense of key structures (like a broadcast station).

The expansion approaches the missions a little differently in that you have the opportunity to do a full load-out before the missions, employing the new arms dealer. The arms dealer is just one of the additional new features that also includes weapons and vehicles. While slightly more than cosmetic, the new features work well, but there is not truly enough here to sell the expansion on its own.

Queen’s Gambit also packs in new cooperative multiplayer scenarios, with up to 40 players able to participate online.

Graphically the game is still solid, but Bohemian did not really address the long load times that were part of the original title. The voice acting is hit and miss, but really – do you play an intense FPS for the voice acting or the action?

Where Queen’s Gambit scores is in the combat. Sure the vehicles are still a bit awkward to control, but the overall package should give fans of the original ArmA something to look forward to playing when the expansion becomes available at the start of February.