15 replies to this topic

[merlinski]

Does anyone else here play the game Americas Army? I think it has got to be one of the coolest multiplayer shooters for a long time. Mainly because, I don't know.... ITS FREE!!! And the graphics and map design completely kick ass.

For those of you that don't know about it, its a game developed by the Department of Defense, a fps, that is meant to recruit people into the army. But besides the fact that its a recruiting tool, its a remarkably well done and realistic game that is a helluva lot of fun to play. Its not for the rambo-style run-and-gun freaks that inhabit quite a few servers in other games. There are rounds that last up to 10 minutes (depending on the map), and the gameplay is balanced so that if you charge up, bunny hop, and fire wildly, you won't hit a damn thing but the other team will put rounds in you from pretty much every location. It really is a game for using tactics, although not that many servers have complete teams working together. I absolutely love the game, its my favorite online shooter right now.

The weapons are completely real-world army weapons, so you essentially have the M16, M16/M203, M249, M24 SWS (loser) and M82 (loser), along with the M4 on some maps. You can't just choose your weapon, there is a maximum number of each classes on each team, so if you select M82 loser as your class, there is a chance that someone else will get it. There are usually 1 of each loser and 2 of the other specialty weapons on each map. The rest are fireteam leaders or riflemen, with one squad leader.

The interesting thing about the game is that no matter which side you play on (assault/defense), the other team looks like terrorists. That means that you look like a terrorist to the guys on the other team, but your teammates look like army soldiers. The terrorists have different versions of each army gun, so you can pick up terrorist weapons and use them.

If you do play it, post your screen name. Mine is merlinski.

Oh, and I kick ass at it. Right now my fragrate (kills/deaths ratio) is 3.08. If I always got the loser rifle, it'd be more like 16.

[IronRhino]

That sounds hella cool. Where do you download it?

[Vassili]

Only Bridge and Insurgent Camp are any good, and there aren't that many good people on the servers anymore. The best gun though is the AK47 with the grenade launcher attachment, it's better than the M203 or the loser rifles.

[Frenzied fury]

I have to ask, what's the website to download the game, and what graphics card do I need?

[merlinski]

I personally prefer Mountain Pass and Radio Tower to bridge and insurgent camp. I think that both maps just take the gameplay of their smaller predecessor and improve it. If you haven't played since 1.6 came out Vassili, you really should. Saying that there aren't any good people on the servers is completely false, I think you've just been playing the wrong maps. There are a large number of extremely talented people still there, and most of them are now on Radio Tower.

My favorite gun is the fully automatic M4A1 with reflex sights. Its insanely accurate, superior to any other weapon in accuracy except the loser rifles, and fully automatic to boot. Its only available on the Ranger missions (weapons cache and radio tower).

You can download it at a bunch of sites, and all the links (and lots of information) can be found at http://www.americasarmy.com

Please read the manual before playing, as there are quite a few really stupid mistakes made by people who didn't read the manual. Before you play, you have to go through training missions, and there are further training missions that let you qualify for the loser rifle, the airborne missions, and the ranger missions. You also have to qualify expert at the basic marksmanship training to even be admitted to loser school, which is pretty damn hard to do.

Once again, no rambo-ing. This is much more realistic than almost any other game out there, and you have to be careful if you want to survive.

[Vassili]

Yeah I haven't played for a while but you convinced me to do so again, I'm leaving to do it right now.

[SkiMan]

I've been wondering about this game for awhile now, does anyone know what the system requirements are to play it with some decent FPS?

Just for reference, I'm on a 600mhz celeron with 128mb of ram using the integrated video on the motherboard, running Windows XP Pro. I can't run Unreal Tournament with decent enough FPS, but I can do Counter-Strike, although I only get around 30 FPS (barely playable). Yes, I know the computer sucks, but it's the one that was included with my dorm room, and I'm not buying a real one until I can build my dream Shuttle.

I really need a good FPS soon or I'm going to go crazy and attempt to find Quake II or something. (I may already be there, I found a copy of Hexen II that used to be distributed on old modem pools and tried playing that)

[merlinski]

600 Mhz is not nearly enough to play the game, sorry. I'm not sure what the system requirements are (you can find them on the website), but if your only running C-S at 30, your not going to be able to play this game. Its much more graphically advanced than C-S.

[superadaquabat]

I have hardly played it, but im really surprised how graphically advanced it is! My dad's year old laptop can't handle it! Mind you its got a 1.13 gig procescor. The video card is integrated though so a guess thats got a lot to do with it.

[merlinski]

Yeah, for those of you who are skeptical, this isn't some half-assed half-hearted attempt by the government to appeal to gamers, this is an extremely cool and well developed game, with a dedicated dev team working consistently (patches come out every 1 or 2 months). This has got to be one of the best uses of tax money that I've ever seen. Seriously, New York State spends thousands of times the money it took to make this on our annual budget, and not one part of NYS public spending seems to be nearly as cool or well done.

[Vassili]

I've played it a lot more now, merlinski you're right Radio Tower kicks ass. My name is "[vassili]", look for me.

[superadaquabat]

I've been playing to now. How do you get into loser school?

[merlinski]

I've been playing to now. How do you get into loser school?

When you qualified with the M16, did you qualify expert? That entails hitting 37 out of the 40 targets. You need to do that before your admitted to loser school.

[superadaquabat]

thats so hard!!! Any tricks to aiming? I can only get sharpshooter.

[That Bald Guy]

Play Hogan's Alley until your eyes bleed. That's how to improve your accuracy...

Seriously, though, this sounds like a good game. I may have to join a few games during the summer.

[merlinski]

thats so hard!!! Any tricks to aiming? I can only get sharpshooter.

Wait until you finish taking a breath before shooting. By that I mean only shoot when your at the top or the bottom of a breath.