On independence day, 2002, the U.S. Army released their first public version of America's Army. Since its release, the game has received 20+ patches and updates featuring new maps and bug fixes. Probably the biggest update the game has received was on November 6, 2003, when the game received a patch that updated the game to version 2.0. This was the release of the Special Forces update, allowing players to play as the Special Forces along with customizing their weapon (Special Forces only) to fit their needs.

When you download the game, the first thing you should do after installing it is run PunkBuster and make sure it is up to date on the game. If PunkBuster isn't up to date, you will not be allowed to play on most servers as PunkBuster is required. PunkBuster is the tool servers use to prevent hackers from playing on their servers and ruining the fun for everyone. One flaw about America's Army: Special Forces is PunkBuster does not automatically start when you first run it so new players may have trouble with it.

When you first load the game, you have to login with an account you make on the America's Army website. After logging in, you can start playing the game. The user interface on America's Army isn't very colorful and may be a bit complicated or tricky to work with, but it's usable and for the color? It's a military game, it's not supposed to be colorful.

America's Army was always criticized about the training you were required to do before getting a chance to try out the game. After many versions of requiring this, the U.S. Army now has a feature where you get to try out the online mode before doing the required training. This is called “Instant Action” which allows you to play on any map besides the Special Forces only maps up till you hit 20 honor. You can still play after you hit 20 honor, but you will not be able to increase it.

The term honor in this game is sort of like levels in a role-playing game, except honor has no effect on your gameplay as you increase it. Higher honor often shows to other users that you are an experienced player and in most cases, you are pretty good. Honor doesn't really do much else in the game besides giving you that prestige feeling and letting you participate in the special forces once you hit 15 honor (and after completing Special Forces training).

If you decide to go over 20 honor or wish to become a medic, sniper, or a member of the special forces, you have to participate in the games training missions. The training missions are not difficult but take some time and can become boring. Once you complete the training missions, you never have to complete them again, and depending on how well you did and which training missions you did, you might be able to become a medic, a sniper, or be in the special forces.

Once you have decided whether to complete the training missions or stick with 20 honor, you have the choice to choose from one of the many missions America's Army has to offer. All of these maps are unique and are fairly balanced as to which side you wish to play on. To make the game more balanced, the U.S. Army made it only possible to play as them, and not the opposing forces. You are still allowed to pick up the opposing forces weapons, but you do not get to start with them.

America's Army is also not just a game, it's a recruitment tool for the U.S. Army. In order to be a true recruitment tool, the U.S. Army has to make it as realistic as possible while making it still a fun game. To make the game more realistic, the game moves at a slow pace, uses the same weapons as the Army, and there is no respawn. This way you don't die as soon as you start, and have to move into position. The no respawning makes the game more tactical as once you die, there's no starting over until the round ends. This encourages teamwork as you have to work together to stay alive and take out the opposing team. Another way they make the game more realistic is by instead of offering gameplay modes like team deathmatch and capture the flag, each team on the map has special missions to complete. Usually the missions include escorting, destroying certain objectives, and defending the base.

Now the one question everyone has about online shooting games is, "Are there a lot of hackers?" Well the answer to that question is no. PunkBuster is a strong anti-hacking device that greatly reduces the number of hackers the game has. This ends up resulting in encountering a hacker being a very rare moment.

Probably the biggest and possibly only flaw this game has is its lack of a single player mode. The game is strictly online only unless you count the ability to explore maps without any opponents or teammates on it as single player gaming. Although the game does not have a single player mode, the online mode itself truly shines and makes the game worth playing.

As far as the technical aspects of the game goes, this game's system requirements aren't too bad and should be able to run decently on most computers. The game does allow you to adjust the graphical settings so you can make it run on your computer. The graphics of this game, while aren't spectacular, get the job done and are as good, if not better, as they need to be for a visually pleasing experience. The sound effects of this game are outstanding. Everything matches what they should match and it sounds like you are actually on the battlefield.

America's Army: Special Forces is a game that every shooter, especially tactical shooter, fan should download. With the only major flaw of the game being that it doesn't have a single player mode, most gamers should have an enjoyable time playing this game.