Queen's Gambit is the expansion pack for the popular combat simulator ArmA: Armed Assault. The game offers more of the ultra-realistic combat experience already seen in the first game produced by Bohemia Interactive Studios.

BI Studios helped to produce the classic game Operation Flashpoint and this definitely shows in both the ArmA titles. At a glance ArmA appears to be exactly the same, with a graphics overhaul. Fans of Op Flashpoint will immediately recognise the mouse scroll action menu, and the incredibly minimal HUD. There have been many improvements however, such as 3d kicksights that shift as you move, and buildings that now can now be dynamically destroyed instead of folding like a cardboard box back in Op Flashpoint.

Graphically ArmA is a stunning game, with great texture detail and post-process effects. The game options can be scaled back for lower range PC's that cannot handle the higher quality textures making this available on a wide range of systems. In addition, the player can set their view distance anywhere between 500m and 10km - it can be quite humbling sitting atop a massive hill gazing down at the surrounding landscape. There are a vast range of environments on the main island of Sahrani that covers over 400 sq km. These include dense pine forests, rolling sand dunes and even urban cities. Instead of being segmented into separate levels, the entire map is available at once giving a great sandbox style of gaming and allowing the player to visit all these locations without having to switch between maps. The range of environments however is seldom utilized in the single player mode, with most missions taking place in only one setting.

The single player of Queen's Gambit features two new campaigns. The first of these is Rahmadi Conflict, which takes place on a small neighbouring island to the mainland of Sahrani, where the player assumes the role of a US Spec Ops squad helping the main force to capture the island and defeat the remaining Royal ArmA Corps of Sahrani (RACS) communist forces. This takes place over three massive missions involving an epic battle between the RACS and US forces where the player's actions are the pivotal point in deciding the outcome. The campaign starts out with a five man team being inserted by Zodiac onto the beach that US units are standing by to attack. The task is to sneak past an entire platoon of men, a squad of T72 tanks, and plant satchel charges next to Shilkas that pose a threat to the US main forces boats.

One of the great features about the campaigns in ArmA: Armed Assault was that you played a small role in most missions, being part of the overall battle instead of some incarnation of Rambo who could wipe out the entire opposing force single handed. In addition to this, there were two side missions for every major mission that would give the player Spec Op assignments to eliminate strategic targets, making the overall major missions less challenging. This catered for all players, no matter their gaming style.

The abandoning of these multiple paths in the same mission for the Spec Op only style of missions in Queen's Gambit was a major disappointment. As a combat simulator, this game accurately depicts the precision and difficulty of modern combat and for this reason having difficult stealth missions at the start of a campaign seems a poor choice, as the player is instantly thrown into an incredibly difficult situation. This makes the game quite uninviting for players who are new to the game and I can't see how anyone could be expected to complete this mission without extensive ArmA experience, or some sort of military training.

Ignoring that, there are some noticeable improvements in the mission design in Rahmadi Conflict. There is now the option to swap between group members during a mission. Having this new feature is essential because giving commands to AI squad members is more a matter of tricking them into doing the player's bidding than actually giving them a direct command. The odds always seem skewed against friendly AI as well, with them charging headlong into enemies, who themselves will run a few circles before gunning the player's squad down like lambs to the slaughter.

Commanding each squad member individually, I set about planting all the necessary satchel charges around the Shilkas positioned right in the middle of large groups of troops. It became quickly obvious that unless I crawled around on my belly I would be quickly spotted and this target Shilka would start driving around erratically like a panicky sheep, making them totally impossible to blow up with an immobile satchel charge. Thankfully however, the game has the option to increase speed to x2 and x4 using the plus and minus keys. Despite this it still takes exceedingly long to sneak past the patrols, plant the satchels and sneak back into a bush out of the explosion range. With only one save point available in mission it takes a considerably long time to plant the satchels for two Shilkas and one of the T72's. To my horror I also discovered that the single in-game save point for each mission disappears whenever you exit the mission to take a break.

Having passed through the eye of the needle I sent in the radio command to commence the attack and patiently waited for the attack boats to arrive. During this time for seemingly no reason one of my AI decided to detonate his satchel. This always happened with one of the squad members regardless of where the charge is planted, making keeping a low profile while awaiting the main attack force incredibly difficult. Speedily ordering the other squad members to detonate their charges, hell erupted. My cover blown, the enemy AI instantly started swarming down on my location, except for the soldiers positioned roughly 500m away that seemed completely oblivious to my existence until I moved closer to them.

The AI in ArmA is the most challenging that I have ever encountered in a game. You have roughly one to two seconds after having your position discovered to shoot the enemy or get behind cover; otherwise they will certainly kill you. ArmA offers no health system either, instead you can take somewhere between one and five shots depending on hit location and gun type. If hit in the arms you have your accuracy reduced, with noticeable wobble increase in your aim. When shot in the legs you may lose function of them and be forced to crawl around. These wounds can be healed by a medic, but if shot in the head or chest it is game over. This certainly offers the realistic experience that ArmA aims to deliver, but can be incredibly frustrating when you are shot in the leg and then forced to crawl around at snail's pace for the rest of a mission.

After several attempts ended, being gunned down by the enemy platoon located on this beach, I finally survived long enough for the main attack force to arrive! This however reminded me of some of the dreadful pathing issues that plague ArmA. Around 15 US boats filled with squads of men approached, toting machine guns that laid waste to many of the enemy infantry on the beach lighting up the night's sky. To my horror however, they had no way of combating the remaining T72 tanks. Then making matters worse, when the boats reached about 5m from the shore they started spinning in circles and seemed unable to offload their squads containing AT soldiers to combat the tanks. Somewhat dumbstruck I tried this part of the mission several times only to have the same result.

Finally in a bid to save my comrades, I moved across the beach and found an RPG on one of the dead RACS soldiers. In ArmA the player can pick up any piece of equipment from dead soldiers or ammo crates. Each player has limited inventory space with provisions for a main weapon, an explosive weapon, ammo and a side arm. This is one of the game's great strengths, as if offers the player complete control in how they go about accomplishing objectives and makes the play very open ended.