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Full Spectrum Warrior

Score: 8.4 / 10

Over the past two or three years military themed games have vastly gained popularity but not all of the military style games have been true representations of what an actual soldier faces on the ground. Developers usually go overboard and make the game all about shooting and less about tactics. This is where Full Spectrum Warrior (FSW) answers the call. The game is based heavily on strategy and less on running and gunning.

FSW is based on an actual training tool used by the US Army. The Army version has been re-done to appeal to the mainstream Xbox audience. You control a light infantry squad, not Special Forces as some may hope. The basic idea behind the game is that you control two fire teams (sometimes you control three): Alpha and Bravo (and sometimes Charlie). You must guide them through each level completing your assigned objectives. Unlike other military style games you don’t assume the role of one soldier. Instead you switch back between fire teams and give each fire team orders. The game plays similar to an RTS game, but rather

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than playing from an aerial view you're put in the thick of things. The game is played from a third person perspective so you get a good idea of what’s happening on the ground.

The game’s story line is pretty standard. While the screenshots may suggest that the game takes place in Iraq, it doesn’t. The game is set in a fictitious Middle Eastern country called Zekistan. The leader of Zekistan is a radical

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Muslim who runs a totalitarian regime that is carrying out genocide against ethnic Zeks. Not only that, but Zekistan’s leader is also providing shelter for fleeing Iraqi, Al Qaeda and Taliban forces. To stop the genocide and terrorist threat, NATO approves an invasion of the country. Rather than having the game taking place over a series of weeks or months, the game takes place over the course of one day.

At the beginning of the game you go through a tutorial or exercise mode that teaches you all the basic controls. There are about six tutorial levels and each level features different situations that you’ll face on the battlefield. In the very last exercise you’ll be thrown into war games and you must use all you’ve learned in order to successfully beat the exercise. The tutorial mode is fairly lengthy and very thorough as it teaches you everything you’ll need to know. It should take you about forty five minutes to play through the tutorial mode.

Movement is controlled using both analog sticks of the Xbox controller. The right analog stick allows you to move your cursor to the exact location you want your team to move to. You execute your commands by pressing the A button. The right analog stick is used to control the camera. While many third person games suffer from camera problems, FSW has one the best camera systems of any game.

There is just one basic idea that you need to know to be successful at FSW and that is you must always out maneuver your enemy. Almost 99% of the time you will never be able to kill enemies who are behind cover. You must always use both fire teams to flank the enemies. The levels are setup so that you can use multiple pathways to outsmart the enemies.

The game consists of eleven missions. All the missions occur during the day, so unfortunately you won’t have the chance to put on some night vision goggles. Each mission is fairly lengthy and some missions can take up to forty five minutes to an hour to complete. Thankfully there are numerous checkpoints placed around the levels. There is also a unique and cool replay system. You can actually watch an instant replay of your mission and at any time you can jump into the replay and continue playing the mission from that point. This comes in handy if you don’t feel like starting from the same checkpoint over and over again.

Both your Alpha and Bravo Team consist of four team members. There is one team leader, grenadier, rifleman and automatic rifleman. The game is setup so that you cannot have more than two team members killed. If two of your soldiers are killed then you automatically fail the mission. If your team leader is injured than your automatic rifleman assumes the role of team leader. If you’ve ever seen the movie Black Hawk Down, than you’ll know the Army’s motto, “Leave No Man Behind.” This motto applies also to FSW as you must never leave a man behind. Whenever one of your soldiers is badly wounded you must carry them to the closest CASEVAC, which is basically a casualty collection point. At the CASEVAC you can also stock up on ammo.

It’s important to note that you don’t do any of the shooting yourself. You assign fire sectors to each team and what it basically does is that any enemies that enter that assigned zone will be fired upon by your soldiers. Assigning fire sectors is extremely crucial when you’re trying to cover one of your fire teams. You can also tell your teams to suppress fire in a certain zone which means that your soldiers will fire on an assigned zone regardless of whether there are enemies or not. This proves quite useful against enemies behind cover, but it exposes all members of your team and burns a lot of ammo

Like I mentioned before, you cannot simply kill enemies behind cover all the time. There are several methods to flush out enemies behind cover. You can either sneak around behind them or use grenades. Grenades can usually destroy most cover and incapacitate any enemies behind cover just as long as the enemies are within the blast radius. There is the odd time where you can kill enemies behind cover simply by shooting them. Some cover such as boxes, cars, and wood degrade under gunfire so it weakens the cover and eventually exposes the enemy.

The AI of FSW is a mixed bag. On one hand your soldiers act realistically, but there is the odd occasion where they don't. Sometimes your soldiers won’t respond to orders which are crucial in the heat of the battle. The enemy AI on the other hand is not too impressive. The enemies usually won’t run from grenades and there’ll be occasions where they won’t even seek cover, making them easy targets One other I gripe I have with the game is how poorly your soldiers throw grenades. Your soldiers don’t throw grenades very far but smoke grenades can be thrown three or four times the distance of a regular grenade.

There are two difficulty levels in FSW. The first difficulty is pretty easy and it shouldn’t take you longer than twelve hours to beat the game. The second difficulty is much tougher as the amount of enemies is increased and the game is less forgiving of your mistakes. As an added bonus, the developers also took the liberty to include the original Army version. The Army Version can only be unlocked by using a cheat code. The Army version adds some much needed replay value to FSW as the campaign mode is over much too quickly.

The Army version is made up of six levels that span across two environments. The first three levels take place in a Middle Eastern looking City, while the last three levels look reminiscent of that of Eastern European countries like Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia or Yugoslavia. The Army version plays much differently from the console version. First off, the controls are changed around a bit and the overall speed of the game seems much slower. Rather than controlling two teams of four soldiers you’ll actually exercise control over nine soldiers in total. You’ll have an extra soldier at your disposal that you can move between your alpha and bravo team. The Army version is more customizable than the console version as you can alter enemy aggression, civilian aggression, wind speed, troop skill levels and even the numbers of enemies you’ll face. One big difference between the console version and Army version is the number of civilians roaming the streets. In the console version you might see two or three civilians in the whole game. In the Army version you’ll see a lot more civilians and not only that but you’ll frequently have civilians come up to your soldiers and shout anti-American slogans (kind of makes you feel like you’re in Iraq). The Army version is much more difficult than the console version.

FSW is also online compatible. There is a pretty standard cooperative mode where you and another person can play through the entire single player campaign. Each person controls one fire team so basically your work load is cut in half. The cooperative mode is fun for a while, but there are only so many times you can play the same single player missions. On the bright side, the development team has promised to release new single player and multiplayer missions through Xbox Live.

FSW features some of the best visuals on the Xbox. The game looks extremely clean and nothing looks aliased. Your soldiers as well as the enemies are rich in detail and there are a lot of small details that further add to the realism of the game. You’ll be able to see little details on the soldier’s helmets and you’ll even be able to see the unit patches on the uniforms. The environments are believable as they look reminiscent of Mogadishu in the movie Black Hawk Down or even Baghdad itself. The explosions look great and the particle effects are top notch. The best example of this is when a rocket propelled grenade slams into a vehicle.

FSW does an excellent job of incorporating great music with terrific voice acting. The music has a Middle Eastern flavor to it and all the enemies speak in their Native tongue. There is a lot of voice acting and audio cues in the game. You’ll hear a lot of radio chatter and talking between your soldiers. You’ll also hear your soldiers use profanity a lot. This really adds to the overall atmosphere of the game.

Full Spectrum Warrior is truly a unique and fresh game, but it won’t appeal to everyone. Those who are fans of Military style games should really check out FSW. It’s a great game with a lot going for it, even if there is room for improvement.

- Siddharth Masand
(August 15, 2004)

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