Cops And Robbers: Arma 3 – Altis Life Mod

The Arma series has a history of ‘real life’ mods, the designation of which suggests that ARMA isn’t already a relatively accurate recreation of real life activities. Soldiers are not a fictional character class. The Life mods aim to drop players into a world where earning a wage and shopping for groceries is as important as firing a gun. Rather than being a first-person multiplayer interpretation of The Sims (which I would definitely play), Altis Life is cut from the same cloth as GTA V’s online mode. Players can be civilians or cops, and the former are likely to come into conflict with the latter when they realise that forming a criminal gang is more fun than picking berries.

Here’s a decent guide to the mod and the official site has the details for the official server and plenty of discussion about upcoming features and current possibilities.

Civilians can work legal jobs, drawing a wage to spend on equipment, but when that becomes tedious, it’s possible to risk conflict with the law by stealing and dealing. Police officers can pull over vehicles to search for illegal substances, trying to spot convoys of smugglers and engaging in high speed pursuits. It’s even possible to join rebel armies and attack settlements, overthrowing the powers that be.

Before playing, do read the quick guide and spend some time perusing the forums. There are rules, encouraging roleplay within a fairly loose framework, and it’d be a shame if a horde of newcomers disrupted Altis Life. Rounding up the RPS crowd to form a Keystone Cops division seems like a fairly sensible idea.