America's Army

"A FREE, FUN and TACTICAL Online FPS."

This review is for the Recon version.

Graphics: (9.5/10) Visually, this game is impressive. The environments that you play in are all realistic looking. When you are in a middle-east operations base, everything that should belong in the base are there. Computers, furniture, doors, trucks, camps, all of the basics. If a bullet hits the ground, dirt will fly up. This adds to the experience that the army wants you to deal with.

All the weapons are based off of real weapons that the Army uses and were made to look and sound like the real thing.

Your teammates have an army uniform and camoflauge on, while the opposing forces (usually terrorists) are equipped with an outfit that fits the terrorists situation or origin. The character models are decent looking and come in different colors of skins, for not everyone in the army shares one skin color.

Gameplay: (10/10) This game is awesome when it comes down to its gameplay. It's your basic FPS game put requires tacticful planning and teamwork. You don't believe that the army wants you to go ''rambo'' inside a terrorist base and succeed, do you? Communication is the key to winning. It's realistic in the way that 2-3 shots can kill you, so you better have a partner watch your back. The game has built-in messages of what most people would say to carry out a plan, ranging from ''Cover me'' to ''Enemy spotted West''. This way you just have to press one button instead of stopping and typing out a full sentence (by then your whole team would either have gone without you or have been ambushed by the opposing forces).

Each side only has a certain number of weapons that the players can use. Most players get the standard automatic rifle, some get the heavy firepower of a mountable machine gun, others have the deadly grenade launcher, and only one person on the team gets ''the silent killer'', the sniper rifle. Your team can organize which weapons each player starts with, so players can get which weapon they are the best with. You have the ability to pick up another person's gun, so if they have a better weapon or more ammo, you can use it. Each person also gets a set of grenades, which by the way are incredibly powerful.

Everyone has to go through basic training in order to play online, so you don't have as many ''newbies'' foolishly goofing off. Heh, when I first got my gun, I shot my instructor and was sent to prison. They won't let you have any fun in the army. :) You have to qualify for the sniper rifle, because there is only one sniper per team and sniping off opponents could change the outcome of the game. Now you won't have ''newbies'' failing to use the full potential of this silent, lethal weapon.

Another much need feature is ROE (rules of engagement). Like in the real army, you aren't allowed to go around shooting at your fellow teammates without expecting to be punished. As you hurt your teammates, your ROE count gets higher, and if you push it over the limits, you are sent to army prison. It just boots you out of the game and places you in a jail cell. According to the army's website, if you continue to be a traitor to your team, you will be temporarily or permanently banned from the servers. I don't know if this is true though.

Each level has its objectives that are to be carried out for a successful victory, ranging from escorting your team leader to certain locations to hacking into terrorist computers. This is what the army wants you to know about what they are doing and trained to do. These missions let you ''pretend'' that you are in the army fighting for your life and for your country.

However, you can't interact with your surroundings. If you throw a grenade at a car, the car won't blow up in an earth shattering explosion. Even if you throw a grenade at a door, the door won't blow off its hinges or burn.

Sound: (9/10) The sound is pretty realistic, kind of like the Medal of Honor series. You can hear bullets pass by your ear and explosions sound pretty well too. If you fall off from a high platform, you will hear your bones crack. However, soldiers don't scream, which is good because that would be very, very annoying.

Overall (10/10) This game is truly excellent in the FPS genre. It has a couple of bugs and glitches, some which can be annoying, but for something that is free, what do you expect?

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 09/03/02, Updated 09/03/02