User Rating: 8.4 | Full Spectrum Warrior XBOX
Gamers have been looking forward to Full Spectrum Warrior ever since it was first shown at last year's E3. The game was originally developed for the US Army as a training aid, and Xbox owners have been salivating over the chance to get their hands on a title that would almost surely be the most realistic military sim to date. It lost some momentum along the way--particularly when most casual gamers realized that the game was a strategy title, and didn't allow the player to take control of any soldiers to control their fire. However, many people welcomed this idea, and only anticipated the game more. Nearly four years after being contracted by the US Army, Pandemic Studios and THQ have shipped the retail version of Full Spectrum Warrior to stores--but did it live up to the expectations? Full Spectrum Warrior puts you in control of eight soldiers, all of which are sporting their own character models, voices and personalities. The troops are split into two teams, and each team consists of a leader, machine gunner, rifleman and grenadier. You can only control one team at a time, but are given the ability to switch between them on the fly in order to carry out simultaneous commands. Most of the gameplay consists of maneuvering through a fictional Baghdad clone, taking care to stay behind cover along the way, and engaging enemies you come across. Combat does a good job of appearing intense, although there's never really any hurry to press on while under fire, since troops who remain safely behind cover can almost never be killed. There are exceptions to the rule, however, such as when your target is armed with an RPG, and some types of cover are destructible. Unfortunately, nearly all encounters can be won by engaging the enemy with one team while you maneuver the other around to flank them. This may not seem very deep, but it is the core of army tactics, and the game somehow remains exciting throughout the duration. One of the main reasons you stay entralled while playing this game is that the graphics are simply phenomenal. The character models and environments look almost photorealistic, and combine to draw you into an experience very similar to what you'd imagine our troops are going through in the Middle-East. The animations look outstanding, as well. Everybody moves with a rehearsed efficiency and urgency that is so convincing you'll almost question whether you're watching a videogame or a hollywood movie. Textures look fantastic, and there are little touches everywhere that may seem easy to overlook on their own, but add up to create a world where everything is in place. I could go on and on about the graphics in this game, but I think you get the idea. All of the audio in Full Spectrum Warrior is top-notch. The music fits the setting perfectly, although much of it is recycled throughout the game. Every weapon sounds as powerful as you'd imagine, from rifle fire to grenade explosions. Sound effects, like choppers flying overhead or the hissing of RPGs flying through the air, are of the same high quality. All of your troops are voiced in a very believable manner, and they each have their own personalities. Keep in mind, though, that Full Spectrum Warrior has some downright vulgar language, so have the kids leave the room before you start playing. It's nice to see games portraying war as a very scary, hellacious experience, and seeing the characters react the way you'd expect them to in those situations. Full Spectrum Warrior's campaign begins with a mandatory training course that will familiarize you with everything that your squad is capable of. Once the tutorial concludes, your men will ship out to a fictional country comparable to Iraq with orders to remove an international pain-in-the-butt from power. The game then follows them while they attempt to carry out that mission, as well as completing other spontaneous objectives that pop up on their way through the war-torn streets of the capitol of "Zekistan." Save points, referred to as sit-reps (situation reports,) pop up often throughout each mission, allowing you to retry those tough spots without having to experience too much déja-vu. The campaign can be played on two difficulty levels by yourself, or cooperatively on Xbox Live. The co-op gameplay is basically the same--you control one fire team while your friend controls the other, which requires good communication via the headset in order to plan your engagements. This is what makes it more interesting, and ultimately increases the fun factor. All in all, you can expect the campaign of Full Spectrum Warrior to clock in right around the 10 hour mark, which is quickly becoming the standard length in single-player games these days. Poor control schemes tend to keep the strategy genre from gaining a foothold in the console market, but Full Spectrum Warrior does a respectable job of putting you in complete control of your troops. Each face button controls two possible orders, and the one you give depends on whether you tap the button or hold it down. The black and white buttons allow you to radio for hints or confirm you objective, and to check your GPS map for markers that will help you determine which direction to travel as well as the location of enemies or aid stations. Being a strategy game, you are not in direct control of your soldiers. Rather, you use the left thumbstick to direct an on-screen cursor to where you want to send your troops and then press the A-button to give the order. The cursor shows the exact location of where your four troops will be placed depending on where you move them, which allows you to put them behind cover or move them to a corner without leaving them exposed. The A.I. for your troops is good, and most of the time they will react just the way you wanted them to. Occasionally, however, you'll find your troops left out in the open and under fire after a poor decision, and rather than duck behind something solid you'll watch them go prone and get cut to ribbons shortly thereafter. Your enemies will use cover effectively just as your men will, but you will always outnumber them, allowing you to keep them occupied with one team while the other moves close enough for the kill. This feels quite unrealistic, seeing as how you're located in the capital of a violent nation and never run into more than a handful of enemies at a time. Your targets aren't exceptionally bright, either, and you'll often wonder why nobody ever runs when you toss a grenade at their feet. The higher difficulty setting isn't as forgiving as the default, but most people won't bother to play through the game again just to experience the new thrills. All is not well with Full Spectrum Warrior, however. There are a handful of drawbacks that keep the game from obtaining that level of perfection we'd all hoped it would. Online play is a nice addition, but it would have been great to see a versus mode with support for 16 players. Imagine controlling a single fire team with a friend, and knowing that somewhere nearby, navigating the same alleyways and open streets, are two teams of enemy soldiers who want you dead. The possibilities for tense, exciting firefights are endless. I'd like to see Pandemic create a sequel to this game just to include an online versus mode. While the graphics are oustanding overall, you'll see certain issues that you can't help but notice in contrast to the rest of the beautiful scenery. Clipping among your soldiers occurs on a regular basis, and troops or enemies protected by a corner during a firefight are left in plain view so often that you'll almost wish to see your own men get shot just to prove a point. The voice acting sounds very professional, but hearing the team leader shout "Let's go Bravo!" or "Move out Alpha!" after every move order is tiresome. This minor issues, combined with an arguable lack of gameplay depth, are precisely the reason why I'd like to see a sequel to this game. They've proven that the gameplay formula works--now they need to perfect it. All in all, Full Spectrum Warrior does a fantastic job of showing us "regular joes" just what our troops have to go through to protect our freedom to play games and be overweight. It may seem like homework at first, but the game throws you into some tough situations from the start, and draws you into a military experience you've never seen in a game before. Nearly everything falls neatly into place, creating a game that "shocks and awes" on it's first impression. You'll have to think on your toes to get your men out alive, and you'll find that it's harder to do that when in a seemingly hopeless situation, even in a videogame. The game has a few minor flaws that keep it from shining as brightly as it could have, and it could have used some more online modes of play, but when it comes down to it, you'll find something in Full Spectrum Warrior that you can't find anywhere else. Military buffs and strategy fans alike should not hesitate to get their hands on this game. 
