Fancy joining the army? Neither does Mark Hill, but that won't stop him playing this game
Since the dubious morality of a US Army produced game distributed free as a recruiting tool is examined elsewhere this issue, I'm just going to review this as a normal piece of software. One that thousands of people are playing every day. Before you can go off and start shooting other upright civilians pretending to be soldiers though, you need to complete a series of simple training missions to get used to how the weapons work. If, for example, you don't pass the sniper rifle test, you won't be able to use that weapon in game. The results are uploaded into the game's database (and presumably the US Army's too), before you can complete training by joining an online mission where all the guns are loaded with blanks, and getting shot results in you having to sit out a round.
LISTEN UP SOLDIER
Since this is the third stage of AAO's almost episodic release method, there are only a handful of maps available, although the army has promised to keep releasing packages for the forseeable future. The few maps that are on offer for now though, are pure class, and range from a very 'Counter-Strikey' house infiltration level, to a heart-racing war sim set across a snowy bridge. The gameplay is a cross between CS and Ghost Recon - not as arcadey as the first or as movement-constricted as the second though. Carefully planned incursions and team-play are the order of the day, and hitting targets requires a steady hand. The recent release of the Airborne and Ranger schools varies the gameplay, with the first having a team jump out of a plane in a parachute, while trying to execute a good landing, or face broken bones, and the second focusing more on woodland areas.
THE MONEY PIT
Getting shot slows you down and, more often than not, makes you stay down, because this is a tough game. It's also a gorgeous one, as it's using the latest Unreal engine. With more maps and the elimination of a few bugs and glitches this could be the title to finally retire Counter-Strike. Although we doubt the army will let the mod and mapping community work on it freely. Whether in the long run America's Army turns out to be a repulsive piece of military propaganda remains to be seen. In the meantime though, it's just a great multiplayer game, and they're giving it away for free.