IMO, the players look fine, sure they're not Crysis 2 style detailed, but I like the simplicity.
1. Arma 2 is poorly optimized, you should know that mid end builds will not be able to run the game that well.
2. Visual exciting, blah blah blah, is everything about graphics these days? Sure the graphics are not super calibre, but the gameplay makes up for it, too bad you don't like the gameplay since you don't like slow paced gameply.
Basically all I'm saying is you should've researched carefully and well thought about it before going on a limb and buying Arma 2, I did that and Im loving it and having fun.