# America's Army Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/america-s-army/ 6 people recommended America's Army in Hacker News comments and 2 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 4 of 12 months, in 4 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule. 3 of the 6 people who recommend it commented in one thread, “US hires over 2k video gamers as air traffic controllers”. **Verdict:** People recommend it as a free, playable competitive shooter that is simple to pick up, though some critics find it buggy and clunky. Summary written by Claude from 8 comments. ## Why people recommend it - Free to play (2 comments in the sample): "very popular and well liked, especially because it was free" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49272696)) "Really good competitive shooter for free." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47218791)) - Playable and intuitive gameplay (2 comments in the sample): "Surprisingly for a government project it was pretty playable" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47777585)) "Americas Army was the most intuitive game I ever played." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49272584)) ## Other multiplayer shooters people recommend - [Arc Raiders](https://hackerapproved.com/p/arc-raiders/): 44 recommend, 7 mixed, 10 criticize - [Counter-Strike](https://hackerapproved.com/p/counter-strike/): 19 recommend, 10 mixed, 17 criticize - [Counter-Strike 2](https://hackerapproved.com/p/counter-strike-2/): 18 recommend, 8 mixed, 17 criticize - [Marathon by Bungie](https://hackerapproved.com/p/marathon/): 13 recommend, 2 mixed, 13 criticize ## The badge A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged. ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "America's Army", https://hackerapproved.com/p/america-s-army/ (6 recommend, 0 mixed, 2 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026). Counts updated 3 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.