America’s Army: Proving Grounds returns to basic training

America’s Army: Proving Grounds, the controversial free game and recruiting advertisement, from the United States Army launches today on Steam. It’s got all your multiplyer hoo-rah military shooting and running, but sponsored by an actual armed force. Executive Producer Randy King told Polygon that the game features a return to the basics of the project. Mainly, the game needs to be fun to play while depicting sound tactics and realistic equipment.

“One of the things that influences the teamwork is how lethal you are,” Roberts said. “Positioning is the ultimate dominant strategy. In order to do that, you need to be talking to each other because there’s not a big accuracy cone like in Call of Duty where you can circle strafe and somebody goes down. You can put a reticle on someone to take them down, but positioning matters more.”

As with previous America’s Army games, Proving Grounds is 100% free, with no microtransactions or in-app purchases. You’ll just have to put up with a few recruiting pitches to actually give up a few years of your life for military service – possibly in hostile territory. How’s that cosmetic DLC looking now?