"You can tell it was free."

America's Army

"I first saw this game on the TV a while ago, it looked awesome and I thought to myself, if only I had the connection and PC to play that, well I do now and lets just say it was a big let down".

Basics
You play the role of an American soldier who goes on a variety of missions all over the world. Sounds cool right? The thing which sets America's Army apart from all those other games is its totally FREE! Well, it did cost the American tax payer but other than that it's totally free and legal to download off the official site. To get started you create a "Jacket" (An account) complete some training missions and then boot up the online campaigns.

Gameplay
It starts off very well. You do some basic training, such as obstacle courses, target range and within 20 mins you can have the basic training levels complete and can undertake your first online missions. However, this is the downfall of the game.

The online missions consist of two teams, "Attack" and "Defence". Each team has a few goals that also must be complete. If you succeed your team members gain points, more points level your character up and your ranking increases. In the game it's known as "honor". The thing with the online mode is, it just is plain dull in my opinion. There's a good amount of levels but they all play pretty much the same.

The game is highly realistic so one well placed shot and your down and out of the game, this can mean a whole 10 minutes of watching the other people play. This is just plain boring. You can chat to other dead players though to pass the time.

Another problem with the online mode is the honor system is horrible. When you start off as a new player you have 10 honor which means when it comes to weapon selection you get stuck with the crappy, standard weapons while the other players roam around with grenade launchers and sniper rifles. You could probably argue that this is for the new players to learn but it's just not fun, you could be the first person out of a team of 10 to select the sniper rifle but because you have lower honor you don't get it.

Like I said, the games themselves are all the same. Team A defends point X from Team B. Snipers/Grenade launchers rule the game so the standard soldiers are left cowering behind rocks. The game complies of team work, otherwise your going to fail, however there is none. People just run off into any direction throwing grenades at anyone.

That's another point, one mis-placed bullet or grenade that kills a team mate and you get booted out of the game, even if you shout "GRENADE!" and they actually walk into the blast radius. You actually end up in the games "prison" for this. When it comes to killing the enemy this is another big problem, it's very hard to kill anyone. The guns are horrible at aiming. Take the M16 for example, I saw two players no more than a few meters away from each other and neither of them could hit each other and this was on single fire. When it comes to yourself hitting close to the target never mind actually killing the target is near impossible. I know the game is realistic but the aiming is awful, other games that take the realistic approach are still playable, however America's Army is not. Grenades are the most stupidest thing you've ever seen, the blast looks like a party popper going of yet you can be at the end of the corridor a good 15+ meters away yet you still die.

To get the best out of the online games you need to do all of the training. Easy? No way. Some of the training is incredibly dull and most of all rock solid. Oh, for those off you who hated tests at school stay away from this game. You actually have to sit a lesson (That goes on for ages), listen to a teacher and then finally take a test. Worst off all? If you fail the whole thing has to repeat, meaning another chore of a lesson that can't be skipped unless you leave the room.

As the game focuses as online play there are regular updates to the game. However they are so glitchy its unreal. Since I updated my copy halfway through the game you get the dreaded "Critical Error" and not only do you have to restart you game but your whole PC! I don't have the best PC or connection in the world, but even games with less than 15 players (Official Army servers average at 20 players) the game is incredibly laggy and generally slow. You don't feel like your playing a elite soldier, more like a couch potato.

Graphics
They're not that bad to be honest. Guns, characters and the locations themselves look pretty good. However, try telling if it's an enemy or friend on the mountain in the distance before uploading a few rounds at them is near impossible. Usually it's just pot luck, if it is a friend and it was a genuie mistake you still get voted out of the game.

Controls
Not much to say on the controls, just like a standard FPS on a PC. Fully customisable. The aiming off the guns is very slow though, but a neat touch is sometimes your gun jams and you need to hit "F" to fix it. Heart pounding when it happens in the middle of a gunfight.

Sound
The guns sound great, very realistic, the speak of the characters is good too and
depending on where you are in relation to them depends on which speaker the voice comes out off. The shouts of the online players are pretty bad though.

Re-Playability
Considering the game isn't that fun to begin with I wouldn't know why people would carry on playing it. Saying that, they do update the game ever now and then adding new levels/changes. The levels themselves aren't anything special though.

Should I get this game?
Well its free so I'd give it a try if I were you, however it's such a let down and you'll most likely feel ripped off for downloading it over 3 and a half hours (Even on a fast connection). The game itself is nothing special and there a hell of a lot better online/realistic army games out there. The game has got a 5/10 for the fact it was free, if I had brought this game I'd be more than unhappy and take it back immediately, and it would warrant a lower score. The bottom line, games are meant to be fun and enjoyable, not a chore.

"This proves that a lot of cash doesn't necessarily mean a good game"

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 06/29/04