America's Army

"Patch 2.4 Review (A confused game)"

Disclaimer: This review is mainly for players who have played the game already, or are planning to download the game and try it for themselves. Therefore I won't bother with the usual exposition as there's plenty of reviews which go over this information on this web site.

This review is also aimed at gamers interested in games for their children and the competent adult gamer looking for a fun experience.

6/10 above average

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The Good

Ignoring the fact that America's Army is free to play, even if the game wasn't free, there's still a lot of nice things to say about it and the recent 2.4 patch.

The game plays very solidly and achieves most of it's aims. Players are encouraged to approach objectives cautiously, fire in short bursts, take careful aim, co-ordinate with team members, and not to rely on their accuracy since their character will flinch under sustained fire preventing long range sniper battles with assault rifles. With each new patch they bring team work more into their sights ...

The 2.4 patch has had it's complaints. The 203 grenade launcher has had it's ammo limited, grenades can't be thrown quite as far, and we now have awesome rag doll physics for people that like to watch big explosions and flying little men.

While for one player the inclusion of less ammunition for the grenade launchers is a bonus; for others this is a source of frustration. The same applies for most of the changes, which simply shows America's Army for what it is trying to be ... A simulation of armed infantry combat as opposed to anything else. Thus the game isn't supposed to be heavy on the artillery.

For the most part these improvements and changes are welcomed. However these lead to ...

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The Bad

A lot of the features in America's Army are simply not thought out to be used by players. The makers of the game have forgotten who rules an online multiplayer game; they've forgotten the players.

The vast majority of players don't have the time or inclination to learn to utilise the number of features that turn out to be pointless. Shouts/hand signals etc etc ... are not the sort of things a gamer will use. In fact, communication is a big issue in America's Army as in there is often none.

The makers of the game have often neglected the way a player might utilise their options and haven't given people who are running servers the necessary tools to deal with it.

Some examples:

- Often to vote kick a player a group will need 75% of the player's vote. In the situation of someone who is idle this is far too much. The opposing team is far too busy to boot a player on your team who may later turn out to be a free kill.

- On the flip side; servers are often hijacked by clan members who make their own rules. (More on this later) and if you don't play by them, you're kicked and will lose points because of this.

- Players often practice on empty servers with friends and 203 grenade launchers to practice aiming at parts of a map. The 203 on many maps can be launched for two or three or more kills in the first ten seconds. As of yet there is no resolution to this problem.

On the rules side of things ... The makers of the game are pushing to create a real army experience. Which leads to my next issue ...

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The Confusion

While there is a good game somewhere amidst the social politics, there's no way of playing this game without upsetting someone, and it usually results in an education in swearing. An example of contradictory behaviours that will cause these attacks:

- Spam fire. Cover fire with a large assault weapon (they have 400 rounds per game) will often result in bouts of swearing and on some servers, even official ones, a votekick depending on who is playing. While in essence doing this is essentially cover fire often macho players often attracted to one hit one kill style game play will disagree. In playing the game I've been rarely killed by this form of fire where it wasn't my fault. (These weapons fire big yellow tracers) And I've often found a good base of covering fire is needed to win each round, which leads to our next issue ...

- Camping. The game discourages the use of this terminology. They say that camping is allowed. However, when the entire assault team camps and the timer is at 15 minutes; you become well aware that this is 15 minutes of your game time (and life time) being wasted by players who are worried about superficial kill counts etc ... rather than playing the game as it was intended. These players will often have many points but be completely useless to be on the same team as. Most of these points are made via letting their team members die and hiding in a corner to ambush for kills. Complaining about camping can result in a boot. Depending on who you're playing with, hiding when on the defence team can also result in a boot. There's no real rule and it often depends heavily on which server you're (un)lucky enough to be on.

- Stop being a rambo! Picture the scene ... You're hiding at the bottom of a bridge with your rifle. A grenade goes off over the ledge in front of you. You know the enemy are near; and you know it's going to take a few seconds to take the pin out that second grenade ... So you rush over and shoot the bad guys in the face and look for cover. You're surrounded, and you know you can't get back so you throw a grenade over a wrecked car killing two more before being shot ... Sounds fun??? Unfortunately someone is going to whine about this behaviour, too. Don't be expecting any compliments on your shooting or aiming. Players don't like 'rushers' and again this is another confusing element thrust into the community by the very makers of the game. However, having played the tutorials within the game, clearly the American Army encourage this sort of behaviour in the situations described providing your team backs you up. More than likely your team will use you as a human shield unless you make that break through and keep going. Sometimes you might kill half or all of the opposing team ... You know you've done well when ...

- You rambo hacker! Yes, being accused of a hacker is unfortunately very common. Especially not to your face. If you're playing some good rounds expect everyone to be quiet towards you. Expect at a later time someone to try to kick you. Also expect your team mates to try to back you up when the going is good ... as soon as you're pinned though ...

- Give me that gun! The race for guns has been helped along a little by making the players rechoose their weapons now and then. However, people will still complain about which weapon they have and don't have. If you pick up a sniper rifle be wary ... Often players who take the sniper or assault guns tend to sit back from ridiculous distances. Often their team either wins and they kill nothing, or their team loses and they kill three or four from their distant hiding hole. Either way they score points. This goes completely against the team nature of the game and is further disturbing after the gun is taken away from them after ten rounds only for them to complain about it. Don't expect the guns on your team to be used properly.

- Ranks! What are they for? The abilities of the commanding officers are simply not used. As the leader of your team you can't kick anyone ... You can't take a weapon off anyone ... In fact you can't do much that any other player can't do.

- We're not camping! Due to the contrived points system within the game (AAOtracker and honor) it leads to some incredibly silly game play rewards. Despite the push for the game to be played as a team, expect to see the entire assault regiment of a bridge crossing mission saying ... 'we're not camping; you keep assaulting us because you get bored' ... While this is passed off as a tactic by these players, don't be fooled. They're simply amassing points the best way they can.

- I caught your nade! Expect this to be quite common. Throwing a grenade into a group of soldiers, killing two opposing force members and injuring one of your own on an official server will produce ridiculous numbers of exclamation marks, swearing, and probably a booting; even if your team mate chased your grenade in an effort to steal your sure kills. In fact as a friendly gamer expect to be flash banged, shot, maimed, and grenaded by your friends ... It won't matter how nice you are about these events, if one of your friends runs through your tracer fire expect them to be angry. Calm these gamers aren't.

This is a large part of where all the confusion comes from; the makers of the game themselves produce very conflicting notions of what the play should be about.

If the game isn't about covering (spam) fire; then why have you got so much ammo?

If assaulting means crawling slowly towards your objective and not 'ramboing'; why in the tutorials are you hurling flash bangs through doors and rushing through their defences?

If blind 203 grenades aren't supposed to be used; why haven't the makers of the game done something about this long term complaint?

The games admin seem reluctant to properly answer these questions and players are eager to offer their own explanations and run their own games and rules without warning. Play a game in a way another player doesn't approve of and you will be abused. In fact, even in games where I've killed five or more enemy in a quick assault or clever move, players are often miserable and agro to the point where their idea of a joke is name calling.

For a younger gamer I certainly wouldn't recommend America's Army. The came is simply too confused in what it's trying to be and populated by players who seem to have missed out on some part of their growing up process. Whilst many games have abusive attitudes and strict guidelines, America's Army is a game where these guide lines are never black and white and will simply be confusing to the younger gamer.

For a female gamer I would strongly recommend two things:

1>. Use a gender neutral/masculine name. The less attention the better.
2>. Ignore everyone. This is not a social game despite what it says on the web site.

The end result is something I can only describe as a shame.

The solid game play and design is unfortunately over shadowed by a few poor or uncertain design decisions and a lot of upset players who must drink undiluted cordial in between rounds of play. The game is unwelcoming to all players, not just new ones, and often sees players coming and going. Most players will get sick of the game after a brief amount of time and take many months to come back to playing.

And the confusion isn't relaxed any by reading any of the game's many forums. The admin and makers of the game won't provide many answers as to the intended game play and will quite happily let an argument about spam fire and rambo tactics rage on without ever pushing their opinion forward.

Having a high kill count is seen as evidence of either rambo, camping, or hacking tactics and won't really receive yourself as a player much respect.

The clans and help staff aren't exactly social either leading me to the belief that most are tired of the issues within the game. Don't expect answers to technical questions you might have and don't expect a good reputation for being a helpful gamer.

America's Army is a team based game where a player simply cannot trust their team mates. You may load up the game with the idea of bonding with a team of gamers to reach a common goal and have some light fun; but you will come away playing your own style and pace and simply ignoring 90% of your fellow gamers.

Perhaps in a few years and several patches later America's Army will have some idea as to what the game is supposed to be and be less reliant on kill based game play. As it stands today, the players of the game are so confused that they sometimes mistake new features for bugs or suspicious hacks.

However, until then the game is a an hour or twos worth of light gaming for the adult player who wants to do their own thing for a little while, and is certainly not a starting point for a younger gamer looking for clean fun.

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An unfortunate 6/10

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 06/12/05