Experience the real world

ArmA Combat Operations allows you to fight in realistic conditions.

We haven't heard much from developer Bohemia Interactive since the 2002 release of Operation Flashpoint. That game featured open battlefields, control of all sorts of vehicles and weapons, and an extremely realistic simulation of modern warfare. It was also difficult to play.

ArmA (which stands for Armed Assault) Combat Operations has all the same advantages and flaws of Flashpoint, but to greater degrees.

The plots of the two are nearly identical. In Flashpoint, you were a lone US Army unit caught on a fictional island (that looked somewhat like Iceland) in the middle of a war; in ArmA you are a unit caught on the fictional, somewhat tropical island of Sahrani. Basically you are there to train the royal forces of the south how to fight and are the last unit to pull out. Before you can leave, however, the evil Warsaw Pact-backed northern forces attack and quickly overwhelm the royals. It's up to you to hold the line until help arrives.

Unlike most shooter games, ArmA features a real battlefield. Every shot you hear, even ones in the distance, are actual combatants (human or computer-controlled), not just background noise. You start to wonder whose ticket just got punched every time you hear a shot or explosion.
If the noise gets louder, the battle is approaching. Don't expect health packs and the like. If you get shot, you stand a good chance of dying on the spot.

In the first mission, during a surprise attack, I was standing with my squad when a hidden machine gun opened fire, and I took two bullets in the leg. Unable to stand, I had to crawl bleeding to my next objective, which was 300 meters away through a suburban war zone.

The controls for ArmA are almost as difficult as the game. Trying to remember the keys to control infantry, helicopters, boats, tanks and even issuing squad orders is the ultimate test of cerebral fitness and most gamers will probably grow frustrated quickly.

Graphically, ArmA is a mixed bag with good-looking vehicles and guns but lackluster terrain and doll-like people, especially up close.

Although difficult to play in single-player mode, ArmA is perfect for LAN parties, where as many as 100 people can link up and fight in realistic conditions.
Rating: Mature
Platfrom: PC Windows 2000/XP

REVIEWS

Justice League Heroes
Rating: Teen
Platform: PlayStation 2, Xbox
With the success of Activision's Marvel Ultimate Alliance, it was only a matter of time before Warner Bros. and DC Comics released a similar game with their biggest stars. Thus comes Justice League Heroes, which easily holds its own in the superhero gamer market.

In Heroes, you face Brainiac and an array of villains, who, of course, are trying to take over the world, because that's what super villains do, after all. At your disposal in the fight against evil are some of the DC universe's finest: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter and Zatanna.

Gameplay is eerily similar to that of Marvel Ultimate Alliance, but purposefully so, considering the success of that title and the genre.

You can play alone or with a second player, going up against various baddies, many of whom are gigantic robots waiting to be pounded in with super fists. Each character has unique abilities, which are enhanced the further you get in the game.

The overall look is smooth, with graphics that do the characters justice. The dialogue has an occasionally corny one-liner but overall is solid for the genre.

– David Betancourt, Los Angeles Times–Washington Post

Bullet Witch
Rating: Mature
Platform: Xbox 360
If hot, video-game babes with guns make your controller quiver, Bullet Witch certainly has its charms, including some fantastic spell animations and destructible environments. In the near future, a young witch with a machine gun shaped like a bizarre broom is tasked with saving a world beset by natural disasters, plague and armies of invading demons.

Unfortunately, the missions in this first-person spell shooter are as skimpy as the hero's outfit. Most will be able to finish the game in about six hours. Shooting and movement controls are straightforward, but the menu used to select spells is clunky and obscures the action.

But the spells in Bullet Witch are a blast, and two gained late in the adventure – tornado and meteor strike – create widespread devastation that must be witnessed. In the end, repetitive (and dullard) enemies, mediocre graphics and the lack of multiplayer or online play make this rental fodder.

MotorStorm
Rating: Teen
Platform: PlayStation 3
The latent horsepower of the PlayStation 3 is on full display in this wild racing romp that may be the best game available on Sony's new console. Eight off-road tracks, beautifully rendered desert canyons and mesa, offer lots of variety because the path to victory differs according to what vehicle is being driven.

Motorcycles and ATVs will scamper along ledges high above the canyon floor, while heavier cars and trucks slug it out in the mud below. The chaos, as fast and frantic as it gets, never stutters, while controls are simple and tight. The left stick turns, while two buttons are used for acceleration and boost. Forget brakes; those are for losers.
Crashes are plentiful and spectacularly displayed in slow motion.

Online play, which pits up to 12 suicidal racers against each other, is a riot as well. The absence of a split-screen multiplayer and the limited number of tracks are the only blemish on this gem.

– George Mathis, Los Angeles Times–Washington Post