The US Army has announced that it will launch the Recon version of America's Army this Thursday, July 4. The special version of the game will be available as a 220MB download, and it will include 10 missions from the Operations team-based action portion of the full game. It will begin with basic training missions that include a rifle range, an obstacle course, and the McKenna Urban Training Site at Fort Benning, Georgia. Once players have completed the basic training, they will participate in online multiplayer missions.

　　America's Army will combine two simulations: Operations, a team-based first-person shooter, and Soldiers, a role-playing game that lets players experience what it is like to have a career in the US Army. The Army will make additional missions available for Operations through the course of the summer and then release the full game as a free two-CD set at the end of the summer.

　　"The launch of America's Army on the Internet marks a new chapter in the US Army's history of communicating with Americans about the Army's opportunities, adventures, challenges, and training," said Lt. Col. Casey Wardynski, project originator and manager of the America's Army game. "With this game we hope to educate young Americans and present them with a realistic, engaging view of today's modern Army and its opportunities."

　　Operations is built on Epic's latest Unreal 3D engine and can support up to 32 players per game. In the multiplayer matches, both teams will perceive that they are on the US team. Communication will play a large role in the game, and players will be able to send messages to their teammates using speech, whispers, shouts, radio messages, and hand and arm signals. The game will also feature advanced sound effects, created with the help of Dolby Laboratories, including accurate sounds for footsteps, shell casings, bullet impacts, and grenades, all of which are affected by the materials they interact with, such as wood, metal, concrete, water, dirt, or glass.

　　The Recon version of America's Army: Operations will be available for download on Thursday from a variety of Web sites, including the official http://www.goarmy.comUS Army Web site, the official http://www.americasarmy.comAmerica's Army Web site, and the http://www.nvidia.comNvidia Web site. GameSpot Complete subscribers will be able to download the game from our America's Army page . All GameSpot readers can also http://web.kontiki.com/GetIt.vm/moid/ff3f18d6-5e65-b477-5643-4cfba8c63c20reserve a copy of the game through the http://gamespot.com/gamespot/misc/downloadcenter/GameSpot Download Manager in order to get the game automatically delivered to their computer as soon as it is available.