I have been playing this series of games for a long time. The first release was called Operation Flashpoint (OFP). Somehow the game's publisher owns the name but not the developer of the game. So when the same developer made an updated game, it changed name to Armed Assault (ArmA).
The game had such a realistic model that it was sold as a training system to the Australian army and other military users. The military version cost about US$2k to start. The consumer version ~HK$250.
I have spent hundreds of hours on these two series of games. The in game missions are fun. But the main draw of the game was in the modelling of the world, and that I can script a mission. Not just simply place a team here and there, but can given them a plan, and put logics to control the AI's decision. I have spent hours writting little scripts so my teams can do heli dop assaults, etc.
In short, this is a game for geeks.
Simply to play is not too difficult although already too realistic for some gamers, but using the game engine to full extend requires a very steep learning curve. In addition, this game offers lots of control of video angles. Thus many fans used the game engine to make their own "was movies".
Anyway while waiting for the English release of ArmA2 (supposed to be today), I found these videos on Youtube. The 1st one was made with OFP, the 2nd one with ArmA, and the last with ArmA2. These videos are all sort of themed after Black Hawk Down, and one can see the flexibility of the game engine, and the great leaps from OFP to ArmA to ArmA2.
[OFP]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6PAutTYMj8[ArmA]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnQDvlqlsjg[ArmA2]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePrwLMi1fyQSpeak of Black Hawk Down, I read the book long before the movie release. And just like in most cases where a movie follows a book, the movie does not do justice to the book. I bought the DVD before seeing the movie because I liked the book, and had high hopes because of the director Ridley Scott, who also directed one of my all time flavorite movie Blade Runner.
The original book was a matter of fact documentation of the event. Many of the rangers were just teenagers who have problem fitting in, cannot finish high schools or committed minor crimes and wanted a new start in life by joining the US Army. On the other hand the movie is just another self righteous Hollywood movie of American heroism and values.
The book's author Mark Bowden wrote another interesting book Killing Pable. It was also an interesting book to read.
