The shutting down of a popular game at Summerfest called Virtual Army Experience has led the army to reconsider its techniques for recruiting youngsters. “We thought an exciting romp through an urban environment in a Humvee with guns-a-blazing would excite our nation’s youth,” said Brigadier General Joe Anderson. “Apparently, Summerfest patrons are not looking for fun, so we’ve developed a game called Virtual Army Home Experience."

The experience starts with a video email from the player’s wife, saying her pregnancy is going well and that she can’t wait for your return, followed by a ride in a Humvee that gets hit by a makeshift bomb and small munitions fire. You can shoot as many Iraqi’s as you want at this point in the game, but your character will always end up with some sort of debilitating injury, either physical or psychological. If you receive post-traumatic stress, you’ll have strange flashbacks throughout the rest of the game. However, if you lose a limb or something of that nature, you’ll have to perform tasks without the use of that part of your body, and gameplay for this scenario is quite realistic.

You are sent to a virtual hospital in Germany after the battle, and you are given advice as to how to cope with whatever red badge of courage you have earned. The game allows you to hit on the nurses, who are typical video game-style buxom women.

When you return home, you find out that you have lost your civilian job, and the repo-man is after your Hyundai Sonata, which leads to a chase sequence. If you escape, you’re allowed to keep the car for the rest of the game. If you lose, you have to walk for the rest of the game. Your wife then kicks you out of the house and you have to live in an apartment in the seedy part of the city. Before you go, however, you can get into a brawl with her. Just don’t let her bite you in the fight, and you should be able to win.

Most of the latter part of the game involves you trying to find evidence to get your neighbor, whom you suspect to be an Al-Qaeda operative, thrown in jail. The final boss battle involves you breaking into his apartment and fighting with him using kitchen utensils. This final battle can be very difficult if you do not have the use of an arm or leg. Just remember to duck when he takes off his head towel, because he’ll whip it around three times and then snap it at your head.

The interactive elements of the game are stupendous, and you can find wonderful details. For example, if you go to the computer in your apartment, you can discover the sex tape your wife made with your best friend while you were away. You can even squash the cockroaches in your new pad. All in all, the game does a wonderful job of recreating the home front.