Recent reviews by DanBannersBandanas

This game is nuts! It's my favourite of the series so far. The mayhem, the toys you get along the way!
That Bavarium powered wingsuit is so OP it's hilarious, and who wouldn't want to bimble around in an armoured mech just blowing the place up!
This game's tongue is very firmly stuck in it's cheek.
If you need to get away from IRL and fancy some madness, then I couldn't recommend it enough.
Wait for the sales and get all the DLC for maximum insanity.

So, like a lot of us Arma & DayZ players I was a little bit unsure when this came out in open Beta. And rightly so. How often has the gaming community been let down by developers? But I needn't have worried. Bohemia have been on their A Game with this. The updates are coming fast and furious, the mechanics are smooth and (mostly) perfect, the attention to model detail is mind boggling, and the improvements to visuals are just incredible ( look at the shiny water!!!). I'm running a 1070ti with a 1400F and I can promise you that ray tracing, based on the way they've got the light to work here, may well be a waste of time, effort, and ultimately our cash.
Hyperbole aside, this really is a great advert for the future of the Arma series, and the way DayZ 2 will look (I'm sure it's in the pipeline). if you don't want to pay full price wait for the Christmas sale, but go for it Arma Team!

This game was, let's be honest, dire when it first landed. It was an awful mess of unfinished promises and that should have been the end of it. But no! Like a Phoenix it rose from the ashes of it's own nest and has risen to great heights! On the thermals of sweat and tears it continues to rise! And one day it shall conquer ALL!!

Ahem. Sorry.

I should really say that this game has been transformed. From a pile of dreck cluttering up my hard drive to one where I now eagerly await each seasons Community Expedition, it continues to grow and develop in the way a well supported game should. Every time a new update lands the features just get richer, the content deeper, and the options on how you play, much better.

My only criticism is the damnable multiplayer feature that works for some, allowing them to find and play with friends, and absolutely refuses to work for others. That, dear reader, is my sad lot. I used to be able to hang out with my buds, but no more.

Apart from that, it's great, grab it when it's on offer and just enjoy the option of following the story lines, or sandbox your way to a new galaxy. :-)

Update.

It's now July 2024 and this is a totally different experience. Improved in almost every way. The seasons are great for gaining gear and experience, the built in story line quests are good fun, the village/settlement management isn't a drag on you, and the space exploration is really good fun.

The latest fidelity improvements are just gorgeous, and go to show you don't need ray tracing if you code properly!" Although, it is cool tbf. The creature models are much improved and the "new design your own spaceship" feature is a nice addition. I'd say that you should just go ahead and get it. You'll get your moneys worth at full price, or on sale.

Either way, get exploring.

*There is a follow up to the below post.*

Let's start with the positive. There's nothing inherently wrong with the game play or the story line. It's a good fun waste of time. The problem with it is the absolute mess that the devs have left. The main issue I, & many others have had, is the totally broken audio. I mean, totally broken.
I have had all the reported problems here, missing dialogue, clipping sounds in gun fights and even no sound at all. If you look at Bethesda's solution it basically says "Yeah, not my fault. Reinstall your drivers and stuff." Which would great if it was other programmes with this problem. It isn't.
I think the way I look at this is that Bethesda has known there is a problem for some time but either doesn't want to fix it or doesn't have the talent to fix it.
The reason this keeps happening with Bethesda games is, actually, out fault. We keep buying the dreck off them. We all need to stop doing so for about 1 year and they might get frightened enough to actually make an effort.
Right, I'm off my high horse. I'll probably reinstall the game and see again. I'm a fool that way.

* I solved the problem with the audio. I had to uninstall and reinstall ALL my audio drivers (NVidia, Realtek & Creative). This was the only way to get the game to get any audio. My overall review still stands but for crying out loud don't pay full price for the privilege of having the head ache of driver issues. Issues that ONLY affect this game and no other software! *

What's to say aboput this game that already hasn't bveen said? Not sure but I'll try.

Sure it has bugs, the cry of "BOHEEEMIAAA!!!" can often be heard in TS & Discord, the weird death poses are hilarious, the wheeled and tracked vehicles having major physics flip outs are both hilarious and frustrating but it does this few enough times to not matter. The thing with this game is the combination of the devs, modders and the community.

I don't know any other game where the devs have constantly updated the game (sure you have to pay for the DLCs) and at the same time have supported modders the way Bohemia have. The conversion from 32 to 64 bit was fantastic and improved everyone's game. The devs official Make Arma Not War competition has spawaned some brilliant mods and story modes.

The community is, overall, one of the best in PC gaming. You get the occaisional d*ckhead, but that's true of the average highstreet. However the community at large won't put up with them and really has a good attitude to noobs. They need it though, this game has a learning curve so steep it's like crawling off your mother's teet and going for your first walk on your own up a mountain. If you stick with it the reward is well worth it.

That's it really, it's a dev supported, community led, ever evolving war fest & I love it.

I bought this along with the controller as an early Christmas present to myself (I am worth it after all) and have set it up to my TV in the livingroom. I was a little unsure about it but it works far better than I imagined it would.

To game I'm currently using an xbox controller and mouse, a weird set up but it works. The Steam Controller is taking some getting used to, believe me. That's for another review.

I have the Steam Link linked to my router with an ethernet cable and my PC to my router through wifi, with my streaming settings at "Beautiful". It just flys. I have the occaisional graphics quality drop which is a result of the wifi connection but as this is never more than a minor texture issue it's something I am happy to live with. I'd recommend my set up as a minimum, don't connect all the way through wifi. That would introduce too many variables that can break the game experience.

The ease of use is a bonus, plug and play at its' best. It will allow you to remotely turn off your pc & link without getting up! Awesome!

My only bugbear is the UI in Big Picture Mode. Trying to browse or use You Tube can be difficult as the screen picture can move around. A more traditional fixed screen and widows approach would be better. Again though, it hasn't stopped me. It's just annoying and until it changes I would be unlikely to use Big Picture Mode on my PC. It's still too sucky.

In summary, Big Picture Mode aside, I'd recommend Steam Link if you have a PC that is not easily transported around your home and you want to game with others nearby. Or if your partner likes watching story driven game play like mine does.

Started the game
found the dog
got carried away exploring
lost sight of the story
realised I'd played over 300 hours!
started again
added mods
only ones that don't make life easy
follwed the storyline
realise I hate the Brotherhood
hatched a plan to mess 'em up
discover this has taken me another 120 hours!
Still haven't got anywhere near to finishing
10/10

Went for a walk.
ran from a bear
made a fire
drew some water
lit some candles
read some notes
rode a rail car
saved an old man
made a jigsaw
went to sleep
old man died
ran away from bad men
got a projector to work
was frustrated by the dark
was scared by dogs
had really weird dreams
got to Moscow
got to my flat
discovered the truth
cried real tears
thank you Sergei