Realism Theater: watch a 93-man attack in Arma
And now, a public service announcement: Arma 2 isn't just the chassis you buy in order to play Day Z . Hardcore Arma community ShackTac has been running realistic and ridiculous operations for years. Their latest is 93-player infantry raid on Sahrani, a map ported from Arma 1.
Short of EVE, WoW, and probably PlanetSide, this might be the largest group you'll see working together in real-time to achieve a shared goal. The spontaneous photography of seeing that many bodies running like war ants , gunning, radioing and reacting to threats is a gritty showcase of the teamwork and player-made experiences that're possible on PC. Grab your canteen and come watch.
The first five minutes are briefing footage. Skip ahead to 5:12 to see the battle .
Dslyecxi, famed Arma player and cameraman for the op, describes the operation: "The mission was to pick a town to assault, hit it, then hit a nearby town. We chose an airfield first, then a nearby town for the second objective. That particular mission allows us to choose almost any town on Sahrani (ported from ArmA1) to attack, and lets us keep going to new objectives if we want to, so long as we have the strength to hit them."
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Evan's a hardcore FPS enthusiast who joined PC Gamer in 2008. After an era spent publishing reviews, news, and cover features, he now oversees editorial operations for PC Gamer worldwide, including setting policy, training, and editing stories written by the wider team. His most-played FPSes are CS:GO, Team Fortress 2, Team Fortress Classic, Rainbow Six Siege, and Arma 2. His first multiplayer FPS was Quake 2, played on serial LAN in his uncle's basement, the ideal conditions for instilling a lifelong fondness for fragging. Evan also leads production of the PC Gaming Show, the annual E3 showcase event dedicated to PC gaming.