An Apache attack helicopter hovers above palm trees in a tropical forest as a surface-to-air missile blasts off from the shoulder of crouching solider. The missile draws a graceful curve in the air and hits the engine, bringing the chopper down.
The soldier is wearing a People's Liberation Army uniform and it's a scene from Mission of Honour, a first-person-shooter video game developed by the army and a commercial game studio for more than two years.
The scene from the game, just completed and soon to be played by PLA soldiers in barracks across the country, was aired by China Central Television on Thursday.
According to details of the game's development released by the PLA Daily newspaper yesterday, Mission of Honour's purpose is to improve modern warfare skills, to experiment with new assault tactics, to boost the morale of computer-savvy young soldiers and to avoid copyright disputes.
There are also political and ideological factors at play. The PLA has been using foreign games, but the PLA's 'values and military ideology' are very different, the daily said.
'Using these [foreign] games for the long term is not beneficial to the training of the army and it may even mislead soldiers,' it said.
