Quick Look: Arma III Alpha

That was fucking great!

I wish they had left Ryan out of this QL. His constant dismissive whining is always annoying to listen to in QLs where he's not 100% interested in the game. Poking fun at the stupid placeholder alpha AI is all well and good but when it's just a constant stream of "mom I don't wanna be here anymore can we go home?" it starts to really grind my gears. Otherwise it was pretty fun.

Keep waiting buddy. There's enough people playing (read running around like retards team killing) random online matches that obviously came from DayZ/CoD and you're clearly one of those people. This game isn't for you, try WarZ or something.

It means his friend bought Arma 3 alpha and got three Arma 3 lite invites to give to his friends like everyone who bought Arma 3. Arma 3 Lite is what Patrick is trying to describe at the start when he says there some kind of free version of it. Pretty stupid and ignorant of you to just assume he pirated it.

You gotta be shitting me? Is something like this what you actually except of your pilots in Arma multiplayer? You'd think that Drew would at least know that you're not supposed to constantly try and roll the helicopter. It really isn't how those things work.

@drstrangepork: That's a great fucking nickname. Really fits Vinny.

Goddamn Vinny, you are cold as ice, popping that poor guy just for the hell of it. Keep up the good work.

Vinny the Bird is great!

I want to know what happened to vcaravella...

Jonathan Livingston Caravella -- a story.

"giantbomb was killed by vcaravella [Friendly fire]"

It's so cute that Drew thinks he's a normal person.

Vinny as the bird was legendary stuff. Would love to see some more adventures in ARMA3 from Vinny and Drew !

The best quick look in a while. Vinny you made my day.

And this means "I'm dumb and have no idea what I'm talking about".

Vinny needs to be in every quick look.

You were driving slow in the truck because when you touched off that bomb it blew out the tires. lol

Oh man that was great. Looking forward to more Arma3 shenenigans on upcoming TNTs and UFs (please).

He died by minigun fire and transformed into an invincible bird. Duh.

Awww... they shot Joe Satriani!

@xmrsunshine: Your name makes you sound like you should be more jolly than you are Mr Sunshine.

I respect Arma.

VINNY the BIRD!!

vinny makes the bst maps who needs water for your boats or helis that cat fly! fucking awesome couldn't stop laughing at the solider on the bike not having a scooby what to do. if only arma was like this 50% of the time then id be so fucking in.

Yeah, fuck, by the time they tried playing Vinny's map with all the people stuck manning vehicles that weren't moving I had trouble breathing.

Just keep calm and carry on.

Vinny the little bird in a lighthouse. Who watches over you.

How much hours of video has GB uploaded this week! So much content!

Hey Drew. Enjoyed the ArmA III quicklook. If you're interested in learning to play, we run regular sessions on our dedicated server. PM me if you're interested in joining up.

We play Iron Front on Saturdays, ArmA II on Sundays and Monday evenings, and currently run ad hoc ArmA III sessions on other nights. (Hell, even Vinny's welcome as long as he's you know, medicated and under adult supervision).

Here's a video of a pretty typical co-op mission. This one's from Iron Front with the Normandy DLC. We had 22 players comprising an understrength US Army platoon with one Sherman tank and one M3 half-track in support. The mission objective was to punch through a German held crossroads and knock out their supply depot. Things went pear shaped pretty quickly when the platoon leader and the senior NCO were cut down almost immediately. A junior NCO stepped up, tried to re-establish command control and carry the assault forward. Good times.

This is definitely in my top ten funniest quick looks. Vinny as the bird is comedic gold. Great job keeping it together Drew and also Ryan and Patrick for being in the peanut gallery.

@bishop113 said:

To be fair, Arma's AI really has never been good, especially when a player is controlling them, and that's coming from someone that has been playing Arma 2 since its release back in 2009. Granted Drew had no idea about most of the command menus and their applications, but generally speaking the AI don't maneuver in a realistic fashion or at least a fashion that you want them to most of the time. In regards to enemy AI, it's really up to mission makers to design around their limitations when selecting terrain/placement and write scripts that assist them in being more formidable opponents. Sadly this is something Bohemia is not very good at doing with their singleplayer and coop missions compared to the excellent modders and mission makers of the community.

I guess I feel differently than "everyone" else because I also come here to hear informative opinions and be educated about games that I may not have been interested prior and not just for a cheap laugh. When Giant Bomb is at their best is when they are very familiar and educated about the games that they are playing while mixing a good dose of humor to keep it interesting and fun to watch. However, they are at their worst when they are completely ignorant of the game they're playing, making baseless criticisms of the game, making cheap jokes about parts they don't understand, and generally making themselves look like idiots.

So while I might not be the target for this particular quick look, there might be someone out there that actually might have been interested in an infantry based military simulator, but was completely turned off to the game due to the quick look.

I'm playing a bit devil's advocate here because this isn't that bad, but generally I feel this way about a lot of the quick looks of games that they themselves aren't truly interested in and are doing just to produce content for the site.

Just a note, the helicopter flight models are just placeholders and not final. You can literally fly upside down with these things -_-

@xmrsunshine: Can you give your input on a couple more comments, please?

I come to Giantbomb for 'goofy' coverage and laughs, and I have no problem watching them mess around with games I love since I don't have a massive gaming stick up my ass. (:

If I want "proper, in-depth coverage" I'd probably go elsewhere, and it's always been like that. I rarely do however since I generally get the gist of whether or not I'll try out the game from their coverage.

Oh and this QL was awesome!

Yes, I am all about this. Yes.

Haha! Best QL in a while! Thanks guys!

Bird Simulator 2014

Vinny would probably do ok in an "end of days every man for himself" scenario.

I think every team in Arma needs a Vinny to enrich the experience. Personally I just wanna play as a bird that supports the team by crapping on enemies and distracting them.

One of the best QLs in a long time. And I'm pretty sure Vinny made Purgatory at the end.

@bishop113 @rod5rig: Also to be fair even in games that they do know how to play and I'm talking about Vinny and Drew in particular, they would tend to do the crazy, funny stuff for the heck of it (e.g. Euro Truck Simulator, Roller Coaster Rampage, Sleeping Dogs, the Flight Club games, etc.). I see your criticisms about them not having much knowledge with certain games and coming off as ignorant but then people like myself who come to just watch the videos for fun and the humor from the staff usually just come for that. Most of the time especially when there are sim games I expect to have them take a humorous spin on the game but I do see that when they make some what shallow statements especially on games that they only know very little about and are just basing it purely on what they see at that moment that it can get pretty upsetting but then I would just ignore that since they are not claiming to be experts. I'd be more upset if they said those same statements and then also claim to be an expert in that particular genre of games since that would just be dumb but I know them well enough that they won't do that.

I doubt that the people who might be interested in these types of games (not the ones who are already invested in it) from the GB community would come here and get turned off by it just because it wasn't played properly in the quick look. If I were really into Arma, I'd be watching dedicated video streams either on Youtube or probably on Twitch, where I actually do watch games being played seriously particularly fighting games. I sometimes find it hard when they had Quick Looks of certain fighting games since it wasn't really played properly but then I'd be more disappointed if there weren't any funny moments in the video and I more often than not come to GB for their humor.

Hopefully, I was able to convey my points well enough though since I sometimes tend to just go into these long explanations without any proper edits and it would come off as confusing.

Drew slowly backs away from Vinny, the BAM.

Vinny is a monster.

This is beyond a mere quick look...this is some serious high level art. Vinny as a bird. Mind blown...

I wanted to hear vinny growl just like the truck simulator quicklook "IAMAGODDAMNBIRD"

You guys should watch some of Shack Tactical's videos.

That bird mechanic is pretty genius for dead players, just need a poop abilitie.

The controls are still just as clunky as Arma 2. But, regardless of that, it is still an incredible game.

OK, I know I'm going against the tide here, and I say this with respect to fans... this game looks extra boring.

2:43, the Caravella Kiss.