U.S. version
Introduction
When the German version of Armed Assault came out, I couldn’t wait! I bought it and reviewed it here on SimHQ.
It was then announced that Atari had picked up the rights to publish the U.S. version, known as Armed Assault: Combat Operations.
The U.S. version will be released tomorrow as a retail version in stores and as a downloadable version direct from Atari. I was lucky enough to get a copy of the U.S. version a few days earlier so here is my summary of what is new and different with the new version.
First off, the U.S. version is v1.06.5146. That supercedes the current version v1.05 that everyone is playing. The patch to bring v1.05 players to v1.06 will reportedly be released in the few days to bring everyone up to a common version level.
If you have the current version and get the U.S. version, you will have to uninstall v1.05. But don’t worry — your settings, add-ons, and missions are saved as long as you reinstall to the same directory.
Tip: Which by the way it does not do by default! The older versions installed into a BI Studios folder, while the U.S. version installs by default into an Atari folder. You can either install into the same folder, or copy paste your add-ons, MP missions, and/or SP missions from the old versions folders into the new location. You only need to worry about all this if you’re buying an updated version for whatever reason.
Besides the version number you get a bunch of fixes and corrections over v1.05. You get a new layout of the main menu, not too different, but slightly better organized.
The tutorial missions now have their own icon when you click on play, but can still be accessed through the single player menu.
There’s a new section in the play menu called “The Armory” which lets you inspect a number of the vehicles and equipment. They’re presented via a briefing, a cut scene, or you can jump right in and drive, fly, or shoot. A nice feature, but I’m not sure why half the items are locked. I assume you have to test all the other available items first to unlock new stuff and check-it-out?
