Americas Army 3

[ebud 18]

I wouldn't say - it has many more realistic features than ARMA II, like totally authentic sounds (bullet spray near your head will actually suppress you because of this) and ultrarealistic weapon handling for example. CQB is more realistic and enjoyable than ARMA II and long range isn't that bad too.

That wasn't the point. It wasn't created to be a sim or to even try to be realistic, it was created AND FUNDED by the U.S. Army as a recruitment tool for kids to play and get interested in joining the Army. It was supposed to fun so kids would enjoy it, tell their friends to play, then go see a recruiter.

[m@ster 0]

install ;)

5 min testing "playing" ;)

Edited June 17, 2009 by M@ster

[TrueSlawter 10]

im having problems with steams crappy servers:( they are too busy almost 3 hours after the release to decode the content :(

[echo1 0]

Steam crashes when I try to download AA3. Fail...

[kuIoodporny 45]

I'm downloading this via Steam... I wonder if I had better bandwidth, got 1M/256k ADSL. Only 50% of game was preloaded before.

[boomar. 10]

So many people trying to download off steam, they cant handle it =(.

Usually i can get into a server and start downloading but with AA3 its very hard. Might go watch a movie and check bck later to see if i can start downloading.

[Albert Schweitzer 10]

Well I am doing the first training and achieved something like 52 seconds and still failed. Come on, how often do they want me to repeat that?

[boomar. 10]

The auth servers or whatever are getting overloaded and training results arent getting recorded. They are aware of the problem. It wouldnt be an AA release without problems.

[m@ster 0]

Download

3.4 GB

+

1.4 GB NEW PATCH :cc:

=

Offline Work

Online Work

Edited June 18, 2009 by M@ster

[wipman 1]

Hi, soon i'll have it installed and i hope to see of you there to shot you down like the dirty

talibans that i know that you're >>;-). Let's C ya on the field.

[boomar. 10]

The gun models and sounds are fantastic, hands down best gun sounds in a game ever.

[m@ster 0]

Maps

[RaVe 0]

I tried loading it up and playing it but it's way too laggy to even complete the obstacle course. outdated graphics card : \

[m@ster 0]

1280x1024

all full details = min 30 ~ max 70 fps on amd dual core 6000+ / geforce 9600gt / 4 gb ram

graphics = :o

[Raptor13270 0]

America's Army is in a mess. It won't even save training results...

Hopefully, it'll clear up in a few days :/

[-Total- 0]

GUI and Settings

- Having to force my resolution via the console was unexpected.

- My install did not have a Screenshots folder. Pressing F9 did not place a screenshot anywhere in the game folder. This will make it difficult for me to post shots of any ingame bugs I find. Below image was done using Alt + PrintScreen.

Graphics

- I'm not going to go down the anti-alising road cuz I've known this about the UE3 enigne for quite some time.

- However, I do not understand why the decision was made not to make use of the post processing effects readily available in the UE3 engine.

http://ripteam.org/misc/AAPPE.jpg

The above image is a (very) quick example. As things get farther away, they do not just get smaller and jagged. They become smaller and out of focus. This creates a depth of field. This depth of field is something AA has never really had. Only the map boundary box would be out of focus to give a presentation of depth, but the primary map area lacked any depth of field.

The lefthand side of the image is untouched with all settings to high.

The right hand side though is incrementally put slightly out of focus as things get farther away. this immediately creates a more immersive image.

Map Design

- The new maps have a decent appraoch, but the layouts do not break any new ground. I will admit that I was kind of hoping for maps that allowed for many different ways to approach target areas instead of the predictable chokepoints present in shoebox shooters since the early 90's.

Audio Engine

- The enviromental sound effects are nice as is the reaction of sound with enviromental objects.

- Please correct me if I am wrong, but the audio seems more like the emulated 3D audio back in the games 8-9 years old. I have 5.1 surround headphones (4 drivers per earpiece). In AA 2.X, sounds were extremely directional in a surround format. In playing AA 3.0, it feels like they are just left and right stereo with volume adjustments to simulate positional audio.

Gameplay

- The radial menues are good for those using a game controller, but many of us would still prefer a key to swap weapons and a choice to have an "Old-fashioned" voice command menu. The radial menues obscure the forward vision. Communication should not reduce situational awareness.

- What is the proper double tap sensitivity for using the forward key to sprint? I tried many times to find it so I could hit it consistantly, but it felt as though it's dependent on the curent speed of the player (this was done with full sprint ability - not an empty sprint bar).

- The slide is a nice touch. The mantling and vaulting actions are kind of like the double tap sprint though, rather inconsistant on getting to perform properly even when repeating the same movements.

- Holding of the breath while iron sighted is detrimental to a soldier. There are many reasons why soldiers are not trained to hold their breath while shooting.

- When holding the breath, the decreasing of the FOV to make the target area larger is out of place in AA. That's an arcade feature that was a bit of a disappointment.

Overall

Graphically, the game could look great with some post processing effects and the ability to override the AA settings. Sound-wise, their needs to be an option for 5.1 surround (I tried all three and none of them really sounded like true 5.1 audio).

The overall movements feel like they have been slowed down a touch in relation to the rush-centric gameplay that AA 2.X evolved into. There are elements of the console-generation semantics in AA 3.0 though. I do admit to having a hard time even trying to tolerate some of the console orientated options and physics.

In the end, I think I expected a little more polished release after at least 4 years since the development of AA3 was announced. Hopefully, the patches are already in process to advance the game past it's current state.

[Leopardi 0]

America's Army is in a mess. It won't even save training results...

Hopefully, it'll clear up in a few days :/

Hell, the game got over 20 million downloads during the first hour so the auth servers couldn't take it. You can't play it until the auth servers are fixed to sustain such enormous amount of people.

[boomar. 10]

Im sure they will fix the AA, resolution issues and all. Never had a problem with this in AA2. As usual they will patch the game up constantly and support it for years with new content.

---------- Post added at 08:05 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:04 AM ----------

Hell, the game got over 20 million downloads during the first hour so the auth servers couldn't take it. You can't play it until the auth servers are fixed to sustain such enormous amount of people.

Ouch @ 20 million? Is that correct?

Thats a hell of alot of players.

Number 1 online game if so.

[Leopardi 0]

Im sure they will fix the AA, resolution issues and all. Never had a problem with this in AA2. As usual they will patch the game up constantly and support it for years with new content.

---------- Post added at 08:05 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:04 AM ----------

Ouch @ 20 million? Is that correct?

Thats a hell of alot of players.

Number 1 online game if so.

from aaotracker:

I just got an e-mail from Phoenix (AA Project leader).

He informs me that at the moment there are over 20 Million simultaneous connections to the download and auth servers.

Being fair, I doubt there are any systems out there that could cope with that kind of load, so lets give them the benefit of the doubt on this one.

All The Best

[TrueSlawter 10]

Authentification server is down, I cant make a accout or use any of my predone linked accounts.. Requesting the details is down too

[Leopardi 0]

Authentification server is down, I cant make a accout or use any of my predone linked accounts.. Requesting the details is down too

Yeah they are doing the fixes on the auth server now I guess

[funkee 0]

fail while downloading via AA3Deploy. 66% done and no progress. :banghead:

[echo1 0]

I started downloading it around 1-2 last night. It's now 12.30 and its only 60% done... Then again, I was torrenting at the same time, but that's still quite slow nonetheless.

Edited June 18, 2009 by echo1

[Baff1 0]

I had to restart mine a few times Ch, a lot of times it hung in mid download, but when it worked best it gave me my maximum bandwidth.

GUI and Settings

- Having to force my resolution via the console was unexpected.

-.

I'm trying to find where in the config files this is defined.

I'll shout if I can spot it.

Aspect ratio is the other one I seek.

[4 IN 1 0]

is there any other way to download it?