America’s Army is now ready for Mac OS X, and can be downloaded from the official Web site. A product of the U.S. Army itself, America’s Army is a 3D virtual simulation of what it’s like to train and combat as part of America’s military.
The game is based on the same underpinnings as MacSoft’s recently released Unreal Tournament 2003, and, in fact, the Mac developer is the same Ryan Gordon who worked on MacSoft’s title. The version ready for release to OS X users is v1.7.
In America’s Army, players go through progressive basic training events that introduce them to the weapons and techniques employed by America’s own military. Successfully completing individual and collective basic training enables players to advance to small unit multiplayer operations like parachuting onto and seizing an airfield, defeating terrorist organizations, protecting the Alaskan pipeline, rescuing POWs and raiding command posts — the same sorts of exercises that you’ve been reading about in newspapers and seeing on the evening news.
This release lays the groundwork for what’s to come this fall: America’s Army — Special Forces, a new release that adds roles like Medical Sergeant, Weapons Sergeant, Engineer Sergeant, Communications Sergeant and Intelligence Sergeant. And when Special Forces is “fully deployed” this coming winter, players will be able to participate in missions that simulate what it’s like to work in a Special Forces Operation Detachment Alpha (ODA) to include combat search and rescue (CSAR), direct action, surveillance and reconnaissance, and more.
Although the game is free and may be found for free download from other Web sites, America’s Army is a US$5.95 download through its Akamai network download from the official Web site.
Minimum specs for v1.7 call for a G4/700MHz, Mac OS X 10.2.6, 256MB RAM, 1GB hard disk space and GeForce2 MX or Radeon 7500 graphics. Recommended specs call for a G4/1.25GHz, 512MB RAM, 1GB hard disk space, and a GeForce4 MX or Radeon 8500 graphics system or better.