The US Army released yet another add-on to their locked and loaded franchise, America's Army: Special Forces, entitled Downrange. This enhancement adds all kinds of goodies to the ever growing bag of free gaming goodness that is America's Army. In addition, it includes some enhanced graphical eye-candy and the Karma physics engine, which brings the wonders of ragdoll death gyrations to an all-new level of realism.

First, let me just say that the training portions of this recruiting tool - err, I mean game, - are lame. I understand they're trying to keep the realism factor intact, but first time players may find it to be tedious, drawn out and altogether boring. And don't get me started on the whole Special Forces training: chatting it up with 7 members of SpecForce like I'm on a Lightning Date Circuit is worse. Literally sitting down and listening to a rather lengthy lecture and then taking a test (which I had to retake at least a dozen times) is not my idea of a good time. After getting a bit more than impatient, I practiced my yoga and calmed down - and I am glad I did.

If you're already a hardened vet of AA:SF and bored of running through all of the current missions, give the two brand spankin' new missions included with this add-on a run through. I guarantee the boredom will be driven away faster than an MRE through your digestive system! The SF Village map scenario is as follows, soldier: rebels have obtained several weapons caches and are holding out in an abandoned town in the middle of the desert. As part of a Special Forces A-Team (with some friendly natives forces in toe) you must infiltrate the town, seize the weapons, and "incapacitate" the enemy's ability to arm the rest of their li'l band of insurrectionists.

The new lens flare graphics that have been added are simply breathtaking in this map. And when you look in the direction of the sun, that life-like flare now has an impact on your vision. So don't look into the light! The "village" is vast, filled with hundreds of buildings filled with thousands of rooms, nooks and crannies. Regrettably, I ran into persistent server lag, which at times made the game virtually unplayable. However, when it's hummin' and the map is at capacity, this is some fun gamin'!

For those of you who get heat stroke from the desert, switch climates and run through SF Arctic. The scenario breaks down like so: while transporting arms and ammo, a coalition transport truck has a nasty run-in with a mine and immobilizes the entire procession on a narrow mountain road. As before, you have some native military forces in toe (both missions allow you to play as either Special Forces or as Indigenous (native) Forces) and must protect said arms and ammo against an assaulting force. This insane scenario is replete with varying levels of terrain - cliffs, gulleys, crevices and open spaces! The entire map is engulfed in a snowy, fog that really immerses you in the bone-chilling environment. Sound plays an important roll in these two maps, more so with this SF Arctic because your visibility is so much lower. In either case, the ambient sound effects are utterly amazing.

But what good would new maps be without new toys? The Army made sure you got a few new weapons to play with on these new maps. The M136 AT4, the Army's primary light anti-tank weapon, is a recoilless rifle that allows accurate delivery of a freeflight, fin-stabilized, 84mm rocket-type cartridge. Soldiers using this particular weapon love to shout, "Come get some!" in their best Duke Nukem voice! And if that weren't enough, the AT4 (and the RPG-7) has new 3D ironsights. Players can now adjust the ironsights based on the range to target, and then simply aim directly at the target when firing.

What, you want more? Drop and gimme fifty, you filthy maggot! Ok, never mind... you can have more. How about the "just off the showroom floor" new "Interim Armored Vehicle" known as the Stryker? Yes, vehicle combat has arrived... and it is glorious! The Stryker comes equipped with standard bullet resistant tires, armor plating, and a stationary-mounted .50 caliber turret - which is accessible from inside the vehicle and has full zoom capability. Alas, this hummer of a rolling death machine is only playable in the "SF Arctic" mission.

New tournament mode features have also been added. They include a time adjustable pre-match phase with an in-game notification when the match is beginning; the time remaining until the start of the tournament is now displayed on the score screen, along with in-game reminders, and a final 10-second countdown. Furthermore, players can now easily swap weapons/classes with teammates simply by hitting the "Swap" button next to their name in-game rather than having to go back to the main user interface.

Other additions consist of being able to toggle "auto slow mode" for zooming; new "Combat Reload," including "Plus One" loading; a mode that allows you to run demos when you have a party and want to impress people. The new in-game server launcher is rather clumsy and difficult, though.

In the end, this is a decent add-on to the franchise. Unfortunately, it's extremely difficult to set up and get into. Whether or not the Army is using this as a recruiting tool or not doesn't matter anymore because they keep supplying us with decent and free gaming goodness! Keep it locked and loaded, spit polished and in-step, soldier!

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