I have had both ArmA and ArmA2, but have never been able to really get sucked in. My schedule precludes much MP, so I stick with single player on everything I play for the most part. I've found the AI, both friendly and enemy, a bit awkward and the control system cumbersome. OFP:DR, on the other hand was pretty straight forward and I enjoyed the SP campaign immensely. I'm not trying to start any heated discussion on the differences between the two, quite the opposite. I'm trying to enjoy ArmA2, and looking for suggestions on SP campaigns. Is Operation Arrowhead a worthwhile addition?

Yes, OA is a worthwhile addition. The SP campaign is better with a sensible amount of objectives in each mission and it also feels much more believable than the original ArmA2 campaign. Alas, it's also rather short. You might also want to check oout the British Armed Forces addon (requires OA). The campaign is yet shorter but it comes with a nice bunch of single missions.

Operation Arrowhead is much better in terms of the campaign.

Default ArmA 2's campaign is simply awful. It tries to be an RPG rather than a tactical shooter with rather silly objectives. It also happens to be so buggy that I doubt you can finish it. This issue with OA is that it is rather short.

There are some single missions under "Scenarios", however half of them are some odd blend of an RTS game and shooter which is boring and corny as hell. With OA, there are roughly 5-6 normal missions which are worth a try.

As for the AI, it is rather dumb. Triggers and whatnot fail to work very frequently, so don't bother doing anything advanced in the editor.

Try the 3rd party campaigns. Some of them are pretty fun and intense.

My favourite addon campaigns are Sick1's Seal Team Six. The guy obviously spent a lot of time designing the missions and recording original voice acting and did a great job IMO. It does sound and look a bit cheesy at times (in an awesome 1980s TV Movie badass SOCOM kind of way) and feels like some Call Of Duty touch has been added to the game, but the gameplay is still ArmA, and if you can look past the little oddities, they are great campaigns.

The required mods list is quite long, about a Gb in total, but they are really worth it. I'd suggest you start with ST6 4, which is the best so far, and then play the others if you liked this one. Also check out the Delta Force campaign by the same author.

Everything you'll need is available from Armaholic.com

Cheers

Nico

Yes, I agree with Flogger23m and Orangutan the original ArmA2 campaign is awfull, crappy, buggy and clumsy - IMO the only good thing that ArmA2 original campaign had was the that you could call the helicopter to insert and extract wherever and whenever you wanted.

If your talking about the original ArmA2, then I advise you (in order to get the best single player experience) to try 3rd party campaigns. Here are 2 campaigns that I liked very much (and that are co-op playable):

http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=10435
(in this one you play as Russian infantry soldier)

http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=7599
(in this one you play as US Marine infantry soldier)


But like it was said I really advise you "seriouly" to buy Op. Arrowhead, besides the great improvements (IMO) like termal vision and flare countermeasures for aircraft it bring a much better stock campaign where you can play as infantry soldier, spec op operative, tank commander and helicopter pilot and where what you do in previous missions affects the next ones (for example if you kill civilians the resistence forces will be hostile towards you - if you treat the civilians nicelly the local resistance forces will be friendly towards you and will help you in some situations). This campaign is co-op playable. I agree that the only downside of this campaign is it's short duration (few missions --> 6 to 7 missions).
Also if you get the BAF DLC/addon you will get a nicelly done single player campaign. This one has the downside also being short (shorter than Op. Arrowhead stock campaign --> 4 mission long) and it isn't co-op playable which is a petty. But with BAF addon you have this awesome (IMO) campaign:
http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=11946
This one have an interesting story with a good number of mission and can be playable in co-op with up to 8 players!

I thoroughly enjoyed the 'Eagle Wing' campaign that came with Arma 2. Not your typical Arma campaign by any means; more of a survival-horror type game. Nerve wracking (in a good way) and definitely the best single player experience I've had in this game...

Once patched, I found the Arma2 Red Harvest campaign to be great aside from the warfare missions.

Manhattan was brilliant when it actually works right. The freedom of having objectives to complete on your own time, in your own way, marking your own LZs, calling for extraction when your done, doing real recon work...it's just cool.

Yeap, I forgot the "EW" campaign! The second part/mission of this campaign was absolutelly briliant and it was also and perhaps my best single player experience in this series after the OFP:CWC and Resistance campaigns. For me the downside of this campaign was that the first part/mission was IMO an absolute garbage/trash/"stupidity" and this from someone that enjoys very much to play as an helicopter pilot in ArmA!

The campaign in ArmA II has that as well.



+1

Have to say though that I gave up on ArmA II and the hope for a gripping single player experience. In my opinion, it simply isn't the game for that.

Sure, it has loads of potential and one can do the most impressive things with it. But that isn't really the point. ArmA II is a sandbox game, a simulation, a tactical shooter- whatever you like to call it. But it simply isn't the game to deliver a well directed, film-like gaming experience that grips the player, glues him to the screen and make him crave for more.

And if it isn't the too independent but still unrealistic (and stupid) acting AI, the flaws (and bugs – patches included) of the program will always bring you back to reality, making very sure that you understand that this is only a computer program.

I've been playing with the latest 1.59 RC (now official) and the AI has definitely improved IMO. They use cover/concealment, lean from cornters, not get stuck *as much*, and overall seem a lot 'smarter'. I never really got into SP with Arma2 because of the AI; but now it's a whole new experience. Also, I'm sure a lot of how they act is dependent on settings, hardware, and the mission makers. Just IMO