Recent reviews by L.B.B.D.E [GER]

It's a good game. The ODST experience we never had. Full recommend.

This is a HUGE nostalgia comeback!
I is actually really fun to play both classic Battlefront titles today. Yes, you can still play the classic releases but they are not optimized for modern day PCs. This runs perfectly though.

TL:DR This is SnowRunner without cargo transportation, with fewer vehicles, with no or semi open-world only.

*Verschlimmbessert is a German term that literally means “the improvement made it worse”.

This game contains some content from SnowRunner but even less then the SR base-game without the DLC. It only has some scout vehicles and very few trucks. Since the game is solely focused on exploration rather than transportation it lacks almost all big truck. But it also lacks many expedition style vehicles. For example, the AZOV Antarctic (the real life Kamaz 6345 Arctic Exploration Vehicle), the Voron AE-4380 and Voron Grad (the real life Ural 4320 and Ural NEXT), or the famous TUZ Tatarin (the real life GAZ 5903). All of them are splendid expedition vehicles, but somehow none of them are in the game anymore.
Also, this game has fewer maps, but more on that later.

As said this game is no longer truly open world. In SnowRunner you had multiple regions with connected maps where you could drive around and select and complete the different tasks and missions.
Expeditions is different. While you can still drive around the map and also drive from one map to another via a connection point, you no longer select your tasks on the map. Expeditions has an approach like MudRunner. You have a “headquarters”-menu where you select the main missions. This means you select one expedition, select some trucks and equipment, and load the map. Then you complete that expedition and go back to the HQ to start over again. You can no longer complete multiple main tasks consecutively without reloading the map.
Also, you can only select your vehicles and upgrades in the headquarters. Not on the map itself. Meaning you have to either complete or abort an expedition to modify your vehicles.
The secondary tasks are still there and can be completed on the map, but they feel boring and very repetitive. In general, it feels like almost all tasks are just drive from A to B, and sometimes back from B to A. Delivery tasks are virtual only. If you must pick up or deliver some cargo, you no longer must actually pick up some cargo – they are virtual inventory items only. Sometimes you must tow a truck somewhere, but that’s the closest it gets to SnowRunner.

As said, there are fewer maps than in SnowRunner. Expeditions only has two regions with four maps each and a tutorial region with only one map. There are no more garages or watchtowers on the map. Points of interest, like climbs and fords, are now highlighted on the map. You can also still build some bridges here and there but, as far as I know, you no longer have to clear roads or build factories. This means you also no longer have to unlock garages to have recovery points, since there are no garages in the game.
Now you have campsites, which you can customize to a certain extend. You can build resupply or repair stations and storage units. These also contain items for your inventory.

Expeditions does have some new features. Now you have some equipment to use, like a drone and binoculars for scouting, a metal detector, a sonar, and a tire inflation system.
The sonar can show you how deep water is. This is nice but I rarely use it because it is pretty obvious which waterways are too deep and which are shallow enough to traverse.
The drone and binoculars can help you to find a way to approach your route. You can also find highlighted pathways (fords and climbs) with this. But again, it feels a bit unnecessary since it is again obvious which ways you can drive and which not. The drone is okay to get an overview over the area, but the controls are plain obnoxious and therefore I try to avoid the drone at all.
The metal detector is a nerfed version of the radar from SnowRunner. It is available as a roof addon and shows you the direction of upgrades, vehicles, and items. The Radar still exist as an addon, but it is unlocked later.
The tire inflation system lets you change the tire pressure to adjust the footprint (obviously). Yet, I do not consider this a new feature since Spintires – MudRunners true origin – had this feature for years already. To this day I am still surprised that this feature was not already available in SnowRunner since it is such a basic thing for offroad driving.
Some really good additions on the other hand are the car jack and the anker points for the winch. The car jack lets you flip the vehicle back on its wheels in case you toppled it. The anker point is exactly that: an anker point that can be placed almost anywhere as a cable attachment point for the winch. These two make it much easier.
The inventory style system for supplies is a good addition too. You no longer have supply addons that give you a predetermined amount of fuel, repair tools, or spare wheels, but you rather have racks than can be equipped with either of these supplies according to your needs. The same goes for your sideboard addons. If you have a truck with a cargo area you can fill it with said supplies – fuel, tools, wheels. I only wish they would give more supplies. Depending on the size of the sideboard you have four to eight slots. Each slot can be filled with either 50 L of fuel, 100 points of tools, or 1 wheel. This feels a bit limited if you do the math. A standard NATO fuel canister has 20 L, a fuel barrel has roughly 200 L. But it is okay for the game.

As said, this game is more or less just a copy and paste of SnowRunner.
What really bothers me is the severe lack of content and features and the number of errors, mistakes, and bugs.
Coop-Mode is not yet available, even though it was available in SnowRunner. How is it possible that a game does not have a basic feature that was present in its predecessor?
The game has less maps and vehicles than SnowRunner had at release.
At release it was not possible to rebind the key binding for the tire inflation system but there was a key binding option for the vehicle options (V in SnowRunner) even though these vehicle options no longer exist in Expeditions. This shows that the key binding menu was simply copied from SnowRunner without adjusting it to Expeditions. This was fixed in the first patch, but it feels unacceptable that something like this happens for a game like this.
There are also numerous gameplay and UI bugs. Hints either not showing or not disappearing, missions not progressing, addons disappearing or not functioning correctly.

In my opinion this game is not worth the money. This would have been a marvellous addon for SnowRunner. It would have been perfect – adding the new features like tire inflation, anker points, car jacks, vehicle inventory, and basic base building to SnowRunner. All this would have made SnowRunner heaps better. Also, it would have given you way more bang for the buck if you had all the new features in all of SnowRunner. Vice versa you could utelize all of SnowRunners existing vehicles AND MODS to explore the new regions and maps of Expeditions. Especially since Expeditions finally adds a desert setting to the franchise – something that I wanted for SnowRunner for a long time.
But no. This is a 40 € standalone copy of SnowRunner. This lacks all the good stuff and content from SnowRunner and at the same time deprives SnowRunner from the new features.
If this was an addon for SnowRunner the price would feel totally justified.
Additionally, I cannot explain why I feel so, but this game feels less intuitive than SnowRunner.

I do enjoy the new setting and the new features but I already know that this game will not nearly keep me occupied as long as MudRunner and SnowRunner did.

In my first review for this CDLC I stated that the custom UI is incompatible with other CDLC, like Prairie Fire. I was wrong. You can disable the custom UI in the main menu. You just have to start the game with only Spearhead enabled, switch to the vanilla UI design and restart the game. Then it will work with other CDLC too (as of July 2023, may not work with possible future CDLC).

About the Content itself. Everything is nicely done, detailed, so far bug free, and a more or less realistic depiction of the equipment. Some people stated that it has not enough content, but I personally find the value for money acceptable. While the number of vehicles is limited at the moment, all the content is clearly communicated on the store page. If you do not like the amount of content, I recommend waiting for an Update. In my opinion it is still a great addition to the ArmA3 Sandbox – especially for scenario makers.
The map is very good and will be appealing to player who already liked Livonia from the Contact DLC and Weferlingen from the Global Mobilisation CDLC. It offers a combination of fields with many treelines and a few forests. While it has no shoreline you should keep in mind that only the landing of the Allied Forces at the coast of France was a beach operation while most of the Normandy Campaign took place on the inland. In my opinion, again, the Map is also a nice addition to ArmA3s content selection.

The most simple games gives the most fun and replayability

Wait, what did I just say ?! More on that later.

Contents

1. Introduction
   
2. Weapons
   
3. Equipment
   
4. Vehicles
   
5. Factions
   
6. Gameplay
   
7. Map
   
8. Conclusion

1. Introduction:
I don't think I need to explain again what the difference is between a DLC and a CDLC for Arma 3. Of all previous CDLCs, however, this is the closest to a regular DLC.
What do you get?

2. Weapons:
First of all, you get several new weapons. A full set of a new assault rifle modeled after the XM1, plus a few FAL and Galil variants. Nothing really special, but still cool.

3. Equipment:
There are a few new camo variants for uniforms, vests, backpacks etc. and a few uniforms and civilian clothes that fit into a dry or desert setting. So desert camouflage, sand goggles, light clothing.
The digital camera is interesting for the binocular slot. This should be useful if you want to include a press team.
The portable ballistic shield is really nice. This can be carried like a rucksack and is a portable cover to set up.

4. Vehicles:
Personally, I like the new armed drone best. That brings completely new possibilities to the gameplay.
There are also a few interesting new variants of existing vehicles here. New versions of the Off-roader with armor and add-ons like a snorkel, or some new Zamak versions.
The AMV Marshal is very cool in ATGM, mortar and MG versions. This brings significantly more diversity to the fleet of light armored vehicles for BLUFOR.
For the OPFOR and INDEP factions there is a ZU-23 AA, which can also be found on the zamak, as well as an armored Orca helicopter.
In addition, there are new desert camouflages for some vehicles, such as the A-164 or MI-48 and many more.

5. Faction:
Most of you will be happy that the ION PMC from ArmA2 is finally back. There is also a peacekeeping faction modeled on the UN.
As already mentioned there is a NATO and CSAT faction, as well as the usual insurgents and civilians for the desert.
By the way, all other factions (Vanilla and DLC) are equipped with the new content. You can use these very easily and do not have to put it together yourself.
You can find all new vehicles at the FIA, Nato-Pacific, CSAT, AAF etc.

6. Gameplay:
Unfortunately, I can hardly say anything here because I haven't played the new extraction mode much. So far, however, it's been fun.

7. Map:
Okay, why do I have it in the title that the map is the greatest Arma3 map of all time? The description says only 10x10 km.
That's correct. The actual map is only 10 by 10 kilometers. You will find a small oasis with a few villages, an airfield, a quarry and a road through the desert. What you just expect.
BUT there is more! This map makes very clever use of an Arma mechanism that is almost never really taken into account.
All maps in Arma essentially consist of the area that you can see on the map. But in contrast to almost all other games, there are no invisible walls at the edges to hold you back, but the map just goes on and on as it is on the edge of the map. Almost all maps are islands, so there is usually only the sea, but here the map consists only of desert.
What are deserts? Right, endless expanses in which nothing but sand can be found. Since the edges of this map are just desert, the dunes just keep going. Virtually infinite. I flew with a jet about 150km from the edge in all directions and was not stopped, even if the plane became unstable after this distance.
So this map is in reality about 300x300km !!!
Of course, this is actually nothing but sand, without mountains, trees, houses, only with the small oasis in the middle that represents the actual map, but that's what real deserts look like!

8. Conclusion:
I give a clear buy recommendation! The price of 7 € (in GER) is more than justified. Like all previous vanilla DLCs, this CDLC expands the available content in a very nice way. There are interesting new vehicles, equipment and factions that make the game feel even more complete. In particular, the ION and UNA groups have so far been painfully absent from Arma3, in my opinion.
I especially like that this CDLC is not a conversion like SOG PF and therefore does not cause any problems with the vanilla game or any mods at all.
The highlight for me is the map. Actually, it doesn't look that much, but I think it's extremely cool that you can actually play in an absolutely empty sandy desert.
The price-performance ratio is great and for the price you can't complain about the content.

This is Halo.
This is all Halo.
This is all Halo from Reach, over 1 & 2, over 3 & ODST, till 4.
You can play all the Halo Games on your PC, with Mouse and Keyboard or classic Controller, in 60+ FPS, in 4K (Keep in Mind: Textures are still the same), in widescreen, with all your Friends.
It even supports Crossplay with XBox so you can also play with your console Friends, so no divided Playerbase.

This is all good? Always has been!

Are you thinking about buying this DLC? I can tell you whether you should buy it or not. I will try to give you the best possible impression of this DLC.

First a little digression on DLC policy for ArmA3: with ArmA3 all basic DLC are always installed so that all players can always play with all other players, regardless of whether they have the DLCs or not. If you haven't bought DLCs, you just can't access the content (so don't play on the DLC maps, use DLC weapons / control vehicles) BUT you can ride in DLC vehicles as a passenger (so one of your friends buys the helicopter DLC and you can still fly as a passenger if you don't have it (you just can't be a pilot or gunner).

However, this DLC is a so-called Creator DLC. This means that a private team applied to the developers to make a DLC. This must meet high quality standards so that it stands out from mods, because you want to get something for your money. The installation of Creator DLCs (cDLCs) is optional. If a server has installed the cDLC, you can only join if you either bought the cDLC or installed the compatibility data from the Steam Workshop (the developers provided the DLC data in the workshop, so that people who do not have the DLC also can play with those who have the DLC (with the same restrictions as for normal DLCs)). The cDLC must also be activated in the ArmA Launcher to play it.

Now we come to the actual review:
First, you have to note that the team behind this DLC is just two people, nothing more.
As the name suggests, the DLC is set in Germany during the Cold War. The goal of the developers is to create the most precise experience of the 80s. For this purpose, the Weferlingen region was reproduced exactly and true to the original using real map material. The map is available in two versions, a summer and a winter version and is the largest map in ArmA3 (except for mods). You can also enter all the buildings and the bridges can be destroyed.
In addition to western and eastern Germany, Denmark and Poland are available factions. From the description and the DLC website you can find a list with all vehicles (70+) and equipment (30+). It should be noted that the team deliberately added unique vehicles and equipment. In the last update, helicopters like the Mi-2 or Bo-105 were added instead of the much better known UH-1 or Mi-8, because these models are already included in CUP, for example. In combination with CUP, you get a much wider range of vehicles than if the developers had added their own versions of these vehicles.
The vehicles themselves are very detailed and offer significantly more customization options than the standard vehicles.
There is also a campaign with ten missions and 17 multiplayer scenarios on top.

In addition, the developers themselves published two mods in the workshop that are based on this DLC and fit into the armaverse (AAF and Takistan).

I would also like to address a few of the most common criticisms (of which I cannot support a single one) of the DLC.
1. There are no airports on the map. This is simply because the map is a real place that was replicated one to one, and there are simply no airports there.
2. There is no American or Russian faction. The DLC is set explicitly in Germany and there are also more than enough mods that contain US and RU fractions.
3. There should be more XY content. As I said, the team consists of only two people who have to think very carefully about what to add. Therefore, the developers mainly decided to add things that do not yet exist because you can get everything else through mods.
4. Mods do better than this DLC. Then please play with the mod instead of complaining about the DLC ffs.

Should you buy the DLC now or not?
Due to the very specific subject area, the DLC is of course mainly aimed at people who are interested in Germany in the Cold War and the East-West conflict, but it is still suitable for a wide audience because a lot of german and soviet defense technology has been exported all over the world. That's why you can create many more groups from the vehicles and equipment from the DLC. This is particularly interesting for content creators.
Ultimately, the DLC is of very high quality and actually offers something new for every ArmA fan. So, I highly recommend the DLC.

However, if the setting doesn't appeal to you or one of the criticisms is a knockout criterion, then save the money and please continue using mods.
In any case, it is not fair to the developers to buy the DLC, even though you don't like it, and then write a bad review about it, as so many do here. I would like to emphasize again that the COMPLETE DLC was made by only TWO people. Bohemia Interactive is only the publisher.

Why do not I recommend buying this game? Because it's just not worth the money.
To put it bluntly: the game is actually really cool, BUT it just does not feel complete. There are a decent number of dinosaurs and buildings that you can use to make your park, but not enough.
To weigh the content and potential against each other:
There are some dinosaurs but no flying or water dinosaurs. (Edit: the Return to Jurassic Park DLC added flying dinosaurs but it costs 20€)
It follows that there are only normal open enclosures, but no aviaries or aquariums.
There are several different islands, but some of them are very small.
There is a separate sandbox island, but it is not really bigger than the others (just easier to build, flat and in a single area).
There is now a sandbox mode for all islands, but the islands are still quite small.
(To make that clear again, you can already build beautiful enclosures, but unfortunately it is not (yet) possible to build really HUGE parks of superlatives).
There are always new dinos added, but you always have to pay for it (that's just right), but five euros for three dinos, or 15 for an island and maybe a few dinos and missions, is just too expensive for me.
There are terrain tools, but they are very clunky to handle (It often happens to me that I can not build buildings because the terrain is too steep / too rough).

Actually, I think the game is really cool and has a lot of potential, but as long as this potential is not exhausted, it's not fun to play long. All new things that have come up to now, in my opinion, were only quantitative rather than qualitative (eg, new land dinosaurs instead of aviation / water dinosaurs).

Conclusion: If you enjoy Dinos and Jurassic Park/World, the game will certainly be fun, but as long as you do not get the game and all DLC for a maximum of €/£/$ 25, it's just too expensive.

Pros:
+many Weapons
+Armor customizations
+PvP(domination TvT, DM, TDM)
+PvE (survival)
+Battle Royal
+bloody combat
+horse combat
+complex but easily understandable and manageable combat system
+the Devs keep adding content to the game

Cons:
-there are no cons, you get what this is.

To explain this a little bit: this game is about medieval combat. You have a descent set of maps, a lot of weapons and armors and slay each other. You will die often (in the first hours). You will die regular because of your teammates. You will kill your teammates from time to time because team damage is part of the game.
Balancing is an important thing, like for every other game and there are regular updates.

All in all it is a very good game, especially for this price and in my opinion it is totally worth to buy.