What remains constant in Armed Assault is the tactical approach it demands. You never start in the thick of things: you’re always the invading force, approaching your target from a huge distance away. The direct approach is never viable. Every situation calls for careful recon, analysis, co-ordination and sometimes lying in a bush until the sun goes down to make use of your night-vision advantage (using the game’s time-acceleration feature, naturally). Or lying in a bush until the sun comes up, to make use of the fact that it’s behind you and will dazzle anyone looking in your direction (an element that affects the AI as much as human opponents). Bush-lurking itself probably doesn’t sound terribly appealing, but it’s really about the degree of planning and lateral thinking that ArmA’s huge, brutal world demands of you.
