But what's more important is how this translates into multiplayer. Like the original, the campaign in Arrowhead provides full co-op support - however this time, other players aren't just restricted to three other units directly under the host's command, and instead can take control of these other battlegroups. What this means is that during each of these missions, one player could be in charge of a column of tanks, while another can take command of flying close air support for the mission with a separate (though related) set of objectives. This works out fantastic, because now you and your friends will have the flexibility to either pursue the various objectives the game throws at you independently, or band together at a moment's notice to help each other out when you run into trouble.

This is a significant improvement over the original, where other players were essentially stuck in roles directly related to the host player and never the chance to command teams of their own. Watching a friend perform low passes down an urban alley in his AH-64D to cut down entrenched enemy positions looks amazingly cool, but the experience gets even better when he inevitably gets shot down and you have to put together a convoy to rush in and pull him out.

This is offset a bit however by the campaign's interesting respawn behavior; unlike the original, the whole mission doesn't end if a single player dies. Instead he'll simply respawn nearby with all of his original gear (and vehicles, if applicable), ready to go again. This ensures a significantly less frustrating experience, but it also taints the experience some because the number of respawns seems to be unlimited. What's the point of bothering to help your friends out if they can just endlessly respawn any time you die? Some additional measure of balance is needed.

Unfortunately, you'll find the campaign comes to a disappointing end all too quickly - the big focus on trying to win the civilian population over by completing optional side-objectives and having a central system for tracking their current "disposition" before each mission never seems to amount to anything, and there isn't much of an ending at all.

Of course, once that's over you'll then have an excuse to dive into the game's extensive customization options and legendary mission editor. The new units and content offered by the expansion add some cool touches and you'll see a bunch of new favorites including HMMV's equipped with the "CROWS" turret system, the appearance venerable Bradley IFV, and all sorts of new weapons and gear, including backpack kits which can let you remotely interface with UAVs while out in the field, or assault rifles which make use of new thermal imaging systems to make it much easier to identify targets. The team went all-out to try and add as much new military hardware as humanly possible to the game, and while I'm disappointed that the short campaign never really provided a proper chance to take advantage of this new gear, the heavy use it'll inevitably receive in custom single mission sets and online multiplayer gaming still makes it a nice addition.

And it might just be the fact that I haven't played the original Armed Assault II in several months, but it seems that things are running better than ever with the version of the engine used in Arrowhead. I had a much easier time maintaining a decent framerate after cranking up the graphics levels, and the gritty, realistic feel of the game looks better than ever (though some of the effects are still a bit overdone, such as the motion blur). The textures look fantastic close-up, with all the expected little details like badges, seams, buttons, and straps appearing exactly as they should on soldier's uniforms. The interiors of the new vehicles retain the game's legendary level of detail and even expand upon it; I was amazed when I flew an Apache helicopter for the first time and saw all the digital gauges come to life and animate so cleanly.

Sadly this level of detail doesn't apply to everything; soldiers still don't realistically grip the steering wheels of vehicles when driving them, so it looks weird when you see the steering wheel freely spin while their hands remain static. Weapon reload animations remain similarly limited, and for such an incredible amount of detail on the weapons themselves, it's continually disappointing to see how few animated parts they actually have. In addition, be warned that despite the performance improvements in the engine, you'll still see a fair amount of jittery detail texture "pop-in" when moving around quickly if you turn everything up to its absolute maximum unless you've got a really killer rig running under the hood - though in a certain sense this shouldn't be too surprising given the game's huge environments.

I also wish the developers had dedicated a bit more time towards fixing up the AI, which is still inconsistent as hell when sent over long distances and gets easily confused by trees, bridges, and... well, just about anything else. It's better than it used to be, but still needs work. Operation: Arrowhead has improved the original in many key areas – particularly in co-op. Let’s hope the next release address the AI and gives us a meatier campaign.