Game Review: America's Army

[Anticrombie0909]

Game Review: America's Army
Publisher: US Army
Developer: US Army
ESRB Rating: T

Pros:
Intelligent, paced, Squad based combat
Realistic weapons and gunplay
Innovative enemy recognition system
Good graphics
Excellent level design
Very affordable price

Cons:
No botmatch, purely online
Small variety of weapons
Somewhat steep learning curve
Very serious, not a fragfest

Review:
Boy, did this game suprise me. Completely funded, developed and published by none other than the US Army (that's right, our army), I expected this to be an arab-bashing piss-poor graphic athon. Boy, was I suprised. The US Army, while not fooling anybody about their intentions of the title, has actually produced a decent, hell, an even fun title that's great to pick up and play.

Again, suprisingly enough, the graphics are passable to the point of looking good. Low end PCs worry not, my 3000+ with a Radeon 9600 128 was able to run it at 1280x1024 with settings maxed and hardly skip a frame. And it really does look pretty good.

Screenshot:


Characters, while somewhat low poly, are nice and detailed, and character animations are smooth and fluid, hitting no less than 40 fps. Coupled with crisp, detailed environments this turns into quite a nice looking title.

Realism is emphasized here to a fault. Running absolutely kills your accuracy. Crouching improves it, and lying prone improves it all the more (as well as quiets your footsteps). Environments are interactable- you can shoot through doors or thin walls to kill an enemy waiting on the other side. Reloading procedures are realistic and lengthy, and don't be suprised if your gun jams in the middle of a firefight because you were unloading clips like a madman. Head or body shots are fatal, a few shots anywhere else will kill you as well. You will also bleed to death if hit in a vial area, unless you lay prone for prolonged periods to stop the bleeding or find a medic. And grenades...are...DEATH. If a grenade explodes anywhere near you, you're dead. Again, this is all part of the realism factor.

Matches are played out in a fashion reminiscent of Counter-Strike. One team are the terrorists, one are the US Army. Each has their own set of objectives to complete. These objectives are difficult and sometimes confusing, but after a few rounds of stumbling it isn't hard to catch on. Level design is effective and excellent, with multiple ways through a stage. Combat is sparse and furious- it's 99% sneaking and 1% firing madly. Tension is very strong in this game, as you'll peek around corners only to look into the barrel of a terrorist's Kalishnikov AK-47. But however sparse the combat is, it's always fun, since matches usually never last more than 5 minutes. And while you're waiting you can follow players on your team on fly by cam, a-la Counter Strike.

One of the most interesting features of the game is the enemy recognition system. You are always on USArmy, the other team is always Opfor. They always appear to wield AK-47s and the like, and wear terrorist camo garb. Yet, you appear as the terrorists to them, wielding AK-47s, and being the bad guys. The game has a unique enemy recognition system that allows you to always be the US Army and always fight the Terrorists. It's an interesting and entertaining twist.

Probably the best part about this game is the price. It's absolutely FREE. You heard it. And I'm not talking about pirating it, either. The game is available for free download, publicly distributed by the developers themselves. The game is kind of like one big propaganda ad. It's supposed to show people the reality of war (although detractors claim the lack of blood is supposed to show that war is fun, yadda yadda). So just know you're being a government tool every time you load up the game (as if I cared). The one issue I have is with the lack of botmatches- the game is purely online, excepting the educational training courses (you can literally take classes and tests to become a medic, sniper, or green beret). While this isn't bad, since 9 games out of 10 I'd play online anyway, it does become annoying if I can't find a good server for that one map or my internet is down. A small complaint, but an issue nonetheless.

Really, there's no reason you shouldn't pick up this game. Fun, addicting, and best of all, free, there's no excuse for not taking the time to download it and give it a try. You may be a tool of the US Government, but at least you're having fun while doing it.

Final Score:
88%