The War Game: Basic Training

The War Game: A LitRPG Space Adventure, Book 1

By: August Aird

Narrated by: Rhys David, June Aaron

Carter Ash wakes up with no memories in a virtual basic training. All the recruits will die within the next six weeks. Lucky for them, they’ve all got three lives.

He’s assigned to a squad with his goofy friend and another captivating cadet, Iris. They have to keep each other alive as long as possible because when they die, they get assigned their permanent character class. And everyone in the squad wants a valuable class, ideally the kind where you don’t get killed immediately.

Boot camp is just the start, because around the corner is a terrifying galaxy-wide war filled with dangerous and sultry aliens. Carter must figure out how to survive and thrive in the War Game.

The War Game: Basic Training is a LitRPG novel for discerning adults, featuring unconventional relationships.

©2024 August Aird (P)2024 Royal Guard Publishing LLC

not bad for a weekend listen.

I don't do many reviews, always have trouble you're out what to say most of the time. I will say this is a good book, it has a starship trooper vibe to it, without actually copying the whole formula. it is worth a credit, especially if you're just looking for something light to listen to and they give you a little bit of a laugh.

Awesome

Yeah I couldn't stop listening to this and now I'm definitely a fan of the author, honestly my only complaint would be how little spice there was but I get why that is but I hope there's way more on book two. the narration was amazing!

Excellent adventure, exciting, well written

This is an excellent story and the narration is first class. The hero isn't over powered and is extremely relatable.

character development

I really enjoyed the character development and pacing. it is derivative of some other books and movies but not in an overt or heavy handed way. all in all well done

Lost interest when the alien girls showed up...

...and I wanted to give this a fair listen/read before saying anything, but at the moment, I don't know if I will return to this and finish, so I'm writing this with the genuine intention to update it if I do.

So, first, fair warning, some examples may be used from the story, so spoiler warning!

First, let's start off with some positives. This is not necessarily a unique approach to the whole system apocalypse genre/trope where a game-like system takes over the world or something since I've seen others where a military-like structure or classes are invoked and/or an alienish galactic superpower or ancient alien or supernatural force is behind the system or whatever. But, yeah, that's a positive in comparison to the amount that do the whole European Middle-Age Esque fantasy game-like settings dropping on modern reality set up.

Rhys and June do a good job narrating.

That's it for the positives for me.

Biggest issue: I'm former military. I don't get the logistical thought and combat readiness philosophy of this training and the overall training philosophy to help them prepare for the "game." None of it makes sense. You download people into a galactic or universal "game" that deals with conflicts outside of the "game" and has permanent and REAL affects on the universe outside of the game. It's said to the MCs that if a war is lost in the "game" then, say that war is fought on a planet and for the planet, then that plane is also lost in reality. If a bomb is dropped on a nation in the "game" then that nation is actually destroyed in reality. So, if you're like me, your first question is probably: "Well, what's the point of the game and/or system?" And to be fair to August Aird, I already admitted that as of the time of me typing this, I DNF and lost interest. I also get that Aird is probably trying to give the virtual reality-esque component of the "game" some stakes for the reader/listener to get behind, but I came away from that conversation between the characters in the story thinking that none of this made sense. (And again, to be fair, maybe that's ultimately the overall point since as of typing this, I DNF'd)

Continuing with this issue about logistics, combat readiness, and preparing them for what's to come. The training does none of that. Well, maybe learning to somewhat fight is preparation. But the set up is that they have to stay in the "game's bootcamp" as long as possible in order for the system to offer them a decent set of classes or, at least one decent class. And I get that humanity and other races have not set up the system, but the author did and the system makes no sense as I've already pointed out. Shouldn't they get a select group of class choices to train up and train in during training before they're thrust into the fray? Shouldn't they learn combat strategies and counter tactics against their common enemies they will face in the real "game?" No, on this one they face off against simulated popculture representation of aliens (think sometimes warped manifestations of The Greys). Since they don't get to pick their classes before training, they're just sort of stumbling along facing challenges to see how long they can last and maybe level up in a general sense before dying and going off into the real "war" so to speak. No, direct, qualitative training that meets the needs of the human fighting force in the real thing? No, it's all just challenges based on the whims of the drill sergeant to see how long they can last? Doesn't make sense from a logistical (how many of these classes we need to meet this mission? How many healers do we need to keep our soldiers from dying? etc.) or tactical (teach them how to fight goblins and survive or teach them how to take a ship or teach fighter pilots [if that's a thing] how to actually pilot, etc.). This ultimately just results in them blunt forcing every single challenge without any idea of combat tactics or how to pinpoint pros and cons of dealing with certain enemy forces, nothing. This culminates (for me) coming into contact with a no-win scenario that absolutely falls apart because THEY HAD NO ACTUAL TRAINING. See what I mean? Of course Aird has the Drill Sergeant claim that this is often the only strategy they have in "these situations" and that was the lesson. I'm not complaining that they failed. I'm complaining that they failed absolutely pathetically without showing they actually learned anything other than, "Well next time we have to blunt force it even more than last time to see how far we'll get this time."

Speaking of the Drill Sergeant - he claims to have a teacher's class yet he actually doesn't teach anything. As I said, all he does is create simulations to see how long they'll last to help them get a decent class offer from the system. He offers no information on the system other than little tidbits of information here and there. And yes, while this may work to keep the overall core of the plot mysterious to the reader, it just makes absolutely no sense for a military fighting force to operate this way in the initial training stages. It lets me know that the rest of the story will have a military that absolutely doesn't function as one. Which helped deteriorate my interest.

So, why did I ultimately lose interest in the story? Well, first, I went into this knowing this is HaremLit LitRPG and at some point a harem would come into play. Fine. No problems there. HOWEVER, Aird set up rules early on in the story by having the Drill Sergeant threaten everyone that they would do no intimate funny business else they would automatically be ended in training and shipped off to be sex workers or laborers. Ok. Fine. Rules set up. I'm fine with that reality that there will be a focus on the character surviving training and building relationships during that time. UNTIL...as I said the alien girls show up. Suddenly training shifts (which does happen in reality) and the Human Drill Instructor puts them through a new simulation where not only results in 1 rule being broken by the author but 2.

Up until this point if anyone died in training they left training upon death. Period. All of a sudden now everyone dies and it was part of a simulation? MC (and you) think that training is over and you're going to finally get to see what reality is like only for you to find out it was all an elaborate hologram? Ok. I let that one go, but where I lost interest is here:

Remember the rule about automatically being ejected from bootcamp and getting sex worker or laborer as a job if you bump and grind? Well, all of a sudden one of the Main female characters comes up to MC who is having a post-failed-op after action conversation with the alien girl leader and this MFC prepositions MC for bumping and grinding. MC rightfully rejects her on the grounds of the previous rule. He doesn't want either of them to end up forced to be sex workers. Ok. Cool. MC has his head on right (most of the time, but I won't get into that). MFC proceeds to tell him that on a whim, the Drill Instructor has arbitrarily lifted that rule and now they can proceed to hump like rabbits whenever they want. HUH?! I know, I felt the same.

And the main reason I kind of pulled away is cause up until this point MC was doing ridiculous stuff like ogling his female teammates during combat, while yes, the threat of death and getting a weak class was there. He'd still be pausing and taking stock of their female assets. And of course this is first person POV and so you get stuck in MC's head narrating their assets in that perspective....CONSTANTLY. It's not just the first time so you can get that they look good. ITS CONSTANTLY. So, now that the author opened the flood gates...I saw the writing on the wall and lost interest. To be fair, maybe I was/am wrong, but I'll come back and let you know if I finish, but I doubt it cause immediately after that announcement, MC and his Main Love Interest have a "moment" and reveal that, at least with MC, that being even moderately intimate can give experience to help level up. Sigh.

Some other minor problems - has the usual tropes of Haremlit such as there has to be one guy who's a jerk. None of the female characters can do any actual wrong because nearly all of them may be potential partners for MC. Etc.

Your mileage may vary.

MC is terminally stupid!

MC is constantly make idiotic decisions and not doing what is obviously needed! Most obvious Example, when Spencer shows up and openly gloating about killing their allies. MC needed to execute Spencer immediately! By not doing so, should have been seen as a betrayal to his friends!

Disappointing, But Still Arguably Good.

I very much enjoyed this book. At least up until the last 3ish hours.

Some "SPOILERS"
(Read at your own discretion)

My biggest issue is when the A..Hole bully shows up at the end of the book. I was more than a bit pissed that our MC didn't immediately kill the troublemaker. When lives are literally on the line why would you risk letting such a dangerous individual live anywhere within your proximity. And we all know that driving him away would only make the A..Hole more dangerous in the future when you aren't prepared to face him. There is only one way to deal with such people no matter how distasteful a person might find the act.

My other issues with the ending mostly revolve around the poor decisions that the team makes. All of which culminate in the deaths of almost everyone when in my opinion it could've been avoided(at least mostly). For instance, why does the MC's friend die to the giant croc. Honestly the way it was set up made no sense. Other than it was an excuse to get the MC alone with all of his female teammates. If tweeked slightly the whole thing could've worked, but instead it felt like the author was rushing to the conclusion.

My second biggest gripe is, why did they surrender the high ground without putting up a true fight to keep it. Even if the enemy has artillery it is still more advantageous to secure the high ground and hold it at all costs. Especially given the climate conditions of the situation. It certainly drove me up a wall when the team later talks about needing to retake their home base because they knew the location was so important. I nearly screamed at my phone, "of course it's important you idiots, isn't that why you risked it to take that base in the first place."

Then immediately after "losing" their home base rather than focus on the enemies who are killing you the group attacks a different powerful enemy force and of course are repeatedly ambushed by the original enemy. The whole premise of that portion of the story is just badly written in my opinion.

BIG SPOILER

The ending was somewhat predictable. I had hoped the reward would be more than what he got. Sure a Unique extra class is good but it hardly felt like enough. But the most cringeworthy part was the assigned class itself. Hero(in training). The other guy gets "Destroyer" and our MC gets the most boring, generic class type ever devised. While I personally was hoping he would receive something like "Harem Master", lol, due to his relationships with the many women surrounding him I honestly would've been fine with just about any other class title.

Overview.

So overall, I enjoyed this Audiobook far more than many of the other new authors I've listened to recently, but I thought it could've been alot better if a bit more work had been put in to more cleanly make the ending come together.