Army Game Proves U.S. Can't Lose

[MilesColtrane]

By Marty Graham|
02:00 AM Nov, 27, 2006

A new video game commissioned by the U.S. Army as a recruiting tool portrays the nation's military in 2015 as an invulnerable high-tech machine.

The new PC title, Future Force Company Commander, or F2C2, is a nifty God-game that puts players in the driver's seat of 18 systems at the heart of the military's new net-centric warfare approach. The Army added the game to its recruiting tool kit last month as a high-tech follow-up to its successful America's Army shooter.

It's an impressive game, simulating weaponry the military is actually using or building, gamers say. But the gameplay is designed so it's hard to lose: The equipment holds up awfully well and the enemy doesn't learn from experience.

----snip----

More than anything else, Nash is bothered by the fantasy the potential recruits may have that they'll end up the commander riding a joystick rather than understanding what military life means.

"You don't see the day-to-day boredom, you don't see broken legs and equipment failure," she says. "You don't see that the military is mostly grunts and only the grunts on the ground die."

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,72156-0.html?tw=rss.technology

[underpants]

1. Militarily that is probably right-it is right now anyway

the problem is that our military is going to have to learn to adapt to not only the military side of operations but the policing/peace keeping side of it. They have been very adaptable in the past there is no reason to think they can't do the same in the future.

[baldguy]

2. There are no cheat codes in real life.

[unpossibles]

3. yes there are, but your dad needs to be a powerful oilman/CIA agent

:)

well, technically that only got him out of one war though....

[Demeter]

4. You Look At Dubya and Cheney and Say That?

Of course there are cheat codes--the only thing that won't be cheated forever is death. Or history. But at that point, they won't care. May they get there sooner rather than later.

[ck4829]

10. There is one. You've got to press Start, hit the ~ key, and enter P-O-P-P-Y

It'll bail you out of any crisis.

[Crankie Avalon]

5. Does the player ever torture prisoners in accordance with...

...the sort of culture created from the top of the military hierarchy on down? Does the player and his partners ever rape and kill a 14 year old girl and kill her entire family, burning their corpses in an attempt to do away with the "evidence"? Do characters then enter the game to proclaim these were merely the actions of a few bad apples?

[ChairmanAgnostic]

6. no, but at the second highest level, you get to sit down with

a White House PR doctor and practice your "ad lib" comments to the president.

[zbdent]

9. Aw, come on, you only get that on the

Grand Theft Auto - Baghdad edition ...

[stepnw1f]

7. So When are the Freepers Gonna Put Their Asses on the Line?

Exactly... game? War aint a game for a soldier.

[Solo_in_MD]

8. Americas Army has been quite successful for them

and has a good following amongst the FPS gamers. The focus is realism and follows the Counter Strike model (short mission scenarios, when you die, you are dead until the next mission).

[maine_raptor]

11. "The equipment holds up awfully well and the enemy doesn't learn from experience"

Ohhh, that is soooooooooo life-like. :sarcasm:

Jesh, every war game I've played (and reviewed) had a "reality" setting or slider. And if you don't play "full real" then it just ain't no fun. There's nothing worse than playing a war game with AI that doesn't even try to win; for most gamers that just sucks.

Bet you can't hack the gore settings either.

What a waste. My recommendation: Wait until it goes on sale at Wally World's Bargain Bin. There are better FPS games out there this Holiday Season for your hard earned gaming money.