The Army wants you ... to play computer games.
Hence, "America's Army: Operations," a shooter developed and distributed by the U.S. Army. This is a full-featured game, as pretty as anything on the market and, best of all, it's free.
That's also the problem. Though the Army won't make you fork over $49.95, it didn't spend a reported $7.5 million on this game for nothing.
On its Web site, the Army bills the game as a way to "gain experience as a soldier in the U.S. Army, without ever leaving your desk."
But make no mistake. "America's Army" exists so kids will think doing Army stuff on a computer (like killing bad guys) is so fun, they'll want to do it for real when they get old enough.
That puts the Army in a place it probably would rather not be: smack in the middle of the debate over violence in computer games. Some parents say games teach and even encourage kids to kill. With this propaganda-tinged title, that's the whole point.
Moral ambiguities aside, "America's Army" is another entrant in the genre that's all the rage these days: ultrarealism. One shot kills. Boom, you're dead before you inched a finger to the mouse to duck for cover. The Army set that trend long before computer games did, so it can't be accused of jumping on the bandwagon.
After several training levels, players must go online for "us vs. them" multiplayer scenarios that include taking a bridge and defending a prison camp. There is no plot and no single-player format.
Since this is the Army, of course, you never get to fight for the bad guys. No matter which side you're on, you and your teammates are American soldiers and, in a move that seems a little heavy-handed, the enemies either have distinctly Arab features and wear turbans, or look like they're from the Balkans.
Like most games in the genre - and in the Army - developing a good strategy is far more important than simply charging the bad guys.
Just don't expect to get online and start ordering other players around. One overeager fellow tried that a few times in a scenario I played, and he ended up getting killed - by his own annoyed teammates.
The game's big flaw is that once you've been tagged, you have to wait for everyone else to finish. Since there is usually a "camper" who just hides out in the back, waiting can be infuriating.
To its credit, "America's Army" gets the details right. Mosquitos dance in the lamplight of a prison camp, fog shrouds a bridge, and soldiers move fluidly.
But the game left me wondering if it serves any purpose beyond propaganda, and whether it's even effective at that.
The Army is apparently trying to muscle into an entertainment medium that consumes kids these days, but there are plenty of other designers doing the U.S. military game far better, and Uncle Sam even gets tax revenue for their efforts.
All the high technology demands a 1.4 gigahertz processor and 256 megabytes of memory as well as a high-speed Internet connection.
You can download the entire game - all 300 megabytes - or request it by mail.
It's also available, naturally, at your local recruiter's office.
On the Net:
http://www.americasarmy.com
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