DayZ Arma II Mod

Not sure if anyone else has seen this mod exploding over the past two weeks, but it looks amazing! In essence, it's an open world, zombie apocalypse MMO. Supplies are scant, rules are basically non-existent and you have to survive. That's it.


The game generates amazingly intense gaming moments, and seems to make RP basically unavoidable. On youtube there are videos rivaling The Walking Dead for betrayal, redemption, desperation, terror and sheer humanity.

For context, watch this video of a guy and his friends trekking across the 225 square km map. If you get bored, skip towards the end when they make for a hospital to try to raid some medical supplies and watch people's split second descent into self preservation mode when a zombie horde attacks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRpPIyJDSEQ

I. Want. This. Game.

Yeah I remember covering this on Game Front; if I had Arma 2, I'd definitely try it out. The setting feels like 28 Days later.

As Thomas Babington Macaulay once said,

Quote :

The measure of a man's real character is what he would do if zombies were trying to kill him.

Or something like that...

I caved and bought Arma II and the Operation Arrowhead expansion specifically to play this mod. Apparently a lot of people have been doing it cause Arma II is topping Steam right now.

Here's my experience,

*Strong Language Below*

My First Day in DayZ

I spawn, behind me is the sea, in front a thin strip of flat land with a road and a railway, then a thickly forested hill. I run hard into the forest, watching the chat I can see people getting killed already, raging out at snipers. I hit the trees and go prone, then open the menu to figure out what the controls are. Arma II's control system is exhaustive and exhausting, it's a little derpy on some counts, but it does allow you a LOT of freedom to duck, roll, lean, go third person, zoom, sight etc. There's about a million keys, some of which don't exist on my laptop keyboard, so my first half hour is spent lying in the forest looking at a tree while I figure out how to open inventory and such. This makes me a survivor, since the average lifespan of a player in DayZ right now is around 30 minutes.

I can see a city to my left, but I decide to avoid it, as the good loot isn't worth the risk from zombies and hostiles. Inventory check reveals that I have one water bottle, a couple of cans of beans, a shitty pistol called a Makarov and some clips. I also have bandages and morphine. Not sure what to do so I head eastwards, I think, skirting along the treeline parallel to the highway. I sneak down on my belly to a farmhouse and find a can of coke. As I exit, I decide it's safe enough to crouch and run. A zombie that looks like Jamie Hyneman from Mythbusters, complete with ridiculous hat rounds the little hut and starts wailing on me. I cap him in his stupid zombie brain and think HA, they aren't so bad.

Wait... I'm bleeding. I'm bleeding a lot. It's pouring out of me somewhere, I can see it. Switch to 3rd person, and flip out as my guy stands there with a fountain of red spewing from his gut. Then I see a zombie crouched down hopping over in my direction. I freak. I switch back into first person, but he's crabwalked out of my view, I wheel around and he's standing in front of me, a sickening thud. I squeeze off a precious round into his face and he drops dead. Finally I can bandage myself, my blood levels have gone down quite a way. Searching Mythbuster-zombie I find a clip for some rifle I don't have, but I take it anyway.

Wounded and chastened, I get down on my belly and crawl back into the trees where I belong. My thirst meter is getting high, so I drink my can of coke and try to justify my blunder. I scoff a can of beans too, and then head off eastwards.

By and bye I come to a large complex, I sneak down to it, bricking myself along the way. Zed is out in force. But wait, I hear gunshots. Wheeling around I search for the source, but I see nobody. I crawl away, agonizingly slow in an open field until I hit a clump of bushes. Looking back I can see a heavily armed player in the complex, which appears to be an airfield. I decide not to go near him, he looks pretty well equipped. Instead of sprint back up into the trees and keep running until I'm well away.

Suddenly I realise I'm lost as hell. I wander along, until I come to a dirt road leading to a farm. I skirt around the perimeter and see a few zombies, but nothing too freaky. I go prone and crawl through town, the zombies are deadly in numbers and can run fast as hell, but their eyesight and hearing are shitty. I find shed, more water and some miscellaneous supplies. Grab everything and head out. The dirt road leads back to a sealed one, and I head along it, keeping to the trees whenever possible. It leads down into a valley with a little town. My hunger meter is bright red, that's bad. I drink my extra water to stop the thirst. Town is filled with zombies, so I don't go in, I stick to the edge, entering on little shack to find a can of coke and sardines. I was glad to find those sardines, cause I was fresh out.

I spend over an hour creeping around the town, find a few useful looking items like matches and a watch. I figure the in game sun should be like ours, so I check the time. It's 1pm, which means shadows point east. I head west.

It's a long walk, and I go down to no food again. A few more run ins with zombies leave me bloodied and apparently in shock. My screen is shaking, and my guy is breathing heavily. I stick myself with some delicious morphine and the pain goes away. I keep finding little shacks, with nothing but empty cans and ammo for guns I've never seen. I finally come across another town and creep in. I'm being as careful as I can, trying not to get noticed... but I do.

I am lying on my belly inside a barn, looting some ammo in the corner when the voice chat crackles to life. "Caulfield" a voice says (my ingame name is Caulfield, cause I happened to be reading The Catcher in the Rye that day). I freeze. Did someone just talk to me? I try to find the push to talk button, but I'm in the wrong channel, I'm freaking. Again I hear it, "Caulfield", the voice is getting a little more urgent. Finally I get to Direct Chat, the channel that lets you speak to people in your immediate vicinity in game and say "Firendly, Friendly, Friendly!"

"I'm not gonna shoot you." he says. I turn around, he's pointing an AK at my face, but immediately lowers it. "Thanks man, you scared the shit out of me." I say. He asks me if I need anything and I admit I'm out of food. He drops a few cans of stuff and tells me he's on his way to help a friend out. I agree to go with.

It's a long way away, but along the way, my new buddy helps me find a better pack, some more ammo and meds, and teaches me a few tips for playing the game. We get rushed by zombies at one point, but manage to shoot them down, even though I still get swiped by one. My blood is pretty low, but my friend has an AK and we're pretty high on food.

He stops occasionally to talk on Teamspeak with his friend. Apparently the guy is stuck in a church, no ammo and low on food. We run over hills, through forests and even stop in to raid a farm. Then we come to a field like any other and begin to run across it. I lag for a second, then I hear a zombie alert sound. As the lag ends, he's right there, in front of me. My friend has desynced, and I'm desperately shooting this zombie in the chest and arms. It drops, but two more run in and suddenly my guy falls over. A timer pops up. I'm unconscious, unable to signal in chat or otherwise for help. I hear the other guy on chat for a second saying "Where are you?" I can't reply. Three zombies are around me, nomming away when I regain consciousness momentarily. My character stands up, shoots one of the zombies in the head and then falls down unconscious. My blood counter is now plummeting towards zero, and I bleed out on the ground staring into the sky in that field. As the screen goes black, my friend finds my body. I hear him on chat saying "Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!" Now dead I can chat again, I tell him what happened and he apologises. I say no worries, I was just a noobie anyhow, and survived well over 5 hours, so I was happy.

It was brutal, but I enjoyed the hell out of it. Wanted to keep playing even though it was 2.30am, but the servers were all being updated or something.

TL;DR - Great game, but not for the faint of heart/impatient.

If zombie apocalypse ever happens, my first stop will be at Canadian Tire, get myself a hunting crossbow, a baseball bat, a good backpack and a couple of hunting knives.

Ophrys wrote:

If zombie apocalypse ever happens, my first stop will be at Canadian Tire, get myself a hunting crossbow, a baseball bat, a good backpack and a couple of hunting knives.

You and everyone else my friend. WHEN the zombie apocalypse happens, my first stop will be my local public library. Books aren't just good for entertainment they also contain valuable knowledge on plants and medicine and other such useful knowledge in a survival situation. The library also has maps. Not just maps of the streets, but sewer maps as well, maps of the electric grid, maps of the plumbing etc. These will be invaluable. THEN once the Sports Chalet has been completely looted to hell, I will go in and grab the things that will be left. I will then go to my local game store and grab all of the dice and table top games I can carry and run like mad

If DayZ has taught me anything it's that you get a weapon first, wait for a guy to sort through all the books in the library, then kill him and keep the books yourself.

Of course you could think ahead and buy the weapons beforehand and not have to deal with everyone and their uncle trying to get those weapons. You saw The Hunger Games, yes? It's like in the beginning when everyone is trying to get the stuff from the Cornucopia. Most of the people who went in didn't get out with much, if they got out at all. Same thing will happen with the weapons from whatever store you'll be looting. You have no idea how many hours I've wasted researching and planning this improbable event, you don't want to get me started.

Autobrot wrote:

If DayZ has taught me anything it's that you get a weapon first, wait for a guy to sort through all the books in the library, then kill him and keep the books yourself.

Like a pro

An update for anyone who cares.

I've been alive three days now, pretty proud of myself. Made my way north and found a Winchester Rifle, as well as a hunting knife. Haven't seen anyone for two days, but I know they're out there, I've seen bodies and fortifications around some towns. I keep the forests mostly, Lone Wolf style, creeping into towns only for precious ammo and food. I've convinced some friends to buy it, and after a little frustration, they've been hooked as well.

... the zombie apocalypse has started, arm yourselves mates, it's war!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTcpQ0JWUGM