America's Army

"Great game!!! And, it's free!!!"

This is one heck of a game. It is by far the best multiplayer first-person shooter out there, and I will tell you why.

This game was developed by the US Army to allow civilians to experience battles first hand. This game is VERY realistic, meaning teamwork, strategy, and skill play a large part in the game,

GAMEPLAY- 10/10
This game offers authentic army warfare. Two teams face off in a series of 7 rounds, to complete a series of objectives. Individual points are awarded/subtracted for kills, deaths, leadership, and rules of engagement (meaning not shooting teammates, or hurting neutrals).
This is authentic as it gets. Unlike games like Counter-Strike, the gameplay is slower, but because you die faster, the battles are fast, and intense. Grenades are more dangerous than in Counter-Strike, and snipers aren't as dangeous. But because of the severe strategic element, every role (each squad has a number of Riflemen, Grenadiers, Snipers, and Automatic Riflemen) is useful.
Another cool this is that when you are shot, sometimes you start bleeding, which hurts you until a medic patches you up. The more hurt you are, the slower, and less accurate you become.
Do not compare this game to Counter-Strike, because they are different in every way!

SOUND- 10/10
The sound is amazing. You here bullets whiz by you're head, bullets hit the ground near you, and bullets hit you (imaging bullets hitting flesh). Another cool thing the sound category would be if a grenade explodes near you, you become deaf to some degree. A flashband once went off near me, and it completly blinded and deafend me. I didn't even know I was dead until the blindness wore off!

CONTROLS- 10/10
Easy to learn. Pretty similar to most FPS games. Some things like peeking, and rolling have been added, but it's not hard to learn.

GRAPHICS- 10/10
Most realistic graphics out there. Most things look crisp and clear. Every player's face is different, and the best graphics are in the weapons. I love watching reloads, and jam fixes. They are sweet!

REPLAY- 10/10
It's an onling FPS. What can you say? It won't get boring anytime soon. You constantly want to improve you're skills.

SCORE- 40/40 100%

PROS-
Most realistic FPS out there.
Great sound
Easy controls to learn

CONS-
Can get frustrating at first because of difficulty
Counter-Strike players will have a hard time learning the game (trust me, I know!)

BUY/RENT- It's FREE! If you have DSL, it takes about 1-1.5 hours, so you can't download it on dial-up (you could, but it would take forever), but for dial-up users, you can order a disk for free (except for shipping, which is like $4.00).

Great game, especially since it is free!!! Get this game!!!

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 09/14/03