The traditional wargame has undergone a bit of a makeover of late. Gone are the days of plastic replicas moving around an hexagonally shaped theatre of war, with your army’s fate determined only by the random roll of a dice. No, things have moved on somewhat, and with titles such as the excellent Conflict: Desert Storm II and the cracking Hidden and Dangerous series to keep you busy, why would anyone believe that the future of virtual warfare is not sitting squarely in our hands’
Full Spectrum Warrior from Pandemic Studios comes to the Xbox amidst a blaze of controversy that could have seen the title ending up in the basket marked “unreleased”. Fortunately, both THQ and the development team have ignored the doubters and developed what is quite simply, the finest tactical simulation of war that has ever graced a home console. Some players who hanker for Conflict’s direct method of control may find things to be a little slow going, but the tension that the game provides will be more than enough for most adrenaline junkies to handle.
But let’s slow down a little and look at a brief overview of the gameplay. Full Spectrum Warrior sees you controlling two teams (codenamed “Alpha” and “Bravo”) of four soldiers. Each team contains a rifleman, a grenadier, an automatic rifleman and of course, a team leader. Your job is simply to complete the missions laid out in front of you by using a mixture of direct and indirect commands. Direct commands are mostly limited to aiming grenades and long-range weaponry, whilst the indirect commands are what make up the beef of the game. To manoeuvre to a position, you control a cleverly designed cursor – that shows the resulting formation of your troops – to the target area, and press the A button. The soldiers will then make their way to that location, only stopping if you abort the command or – gasp! – they come under fire. And this is where the first level of tension creeps in.
You can only see as far as your soldiers can. That means that you can sidle over to a corner, making sure the cursor is set to allow your team leader to poke his head around the corner to check for tangos, but you have no idea of what you’re walking into. Unless you’ve called in a recon flight beforehand, of course. This means that once you’ve undergone the long, long training mission and have been forewarned of what Full Spectrum Warrior has to punish you with, you’ll be sweating with each command, praying that you’ll be able to take the opposition down without too much trouble.
I can’t give too much away about the game, but the majority is set in a fictional Arabian nation and focuses on urban combat rather than wandering through the countryside popping shots at sheep. That will probably explain the controversy then, but I for one am ignoring it. There’s too much of a good game here to pass up because some mealy-mouthed pacifist says that you should. Soap box, check.
Whereas some combat games take themselves so seriously that it hurts, Full Spectrum Warrior does a great job of recreating the camaraderie of the forces in-between missions. The one-liners fly back and forth, with the characters being stereotyped for sure, but never to the point of annoyance. Xbox Live support is a huge boost too, with co-operative missions also playing a large part of the game. Work together and you’ll progress, but should you start trying to be a lone hero, you’ll be shot dead like a dog in the street before you know it.
Also of massive importance in a title like this, is the aesthetic side of things. Sonically, FSW does a mean job of building that tension level to an all-time high with some sweet incidental music and truly spectacular vocal acting. General sound effects suffice too, and I’ll have absolutely no complaints about the graphics, thank you very much. Clean, crisp and as smooth as you could wish for, Pandemic has done the job well.
So your debriefing today, ladies and gentlemen, consists of notes on why Full Spectrum Warrior really is one of the most stunning games of the year so far. Training will be a long, tough process – longer and tougher than most, in fact, but mastering the control system will give you the ultimate power when it comes to taking out the opposition forces. How does Full Spectrum Warrior compare to Conflict: Desert Storm II‘ Favourably, but the titles are different enough for me to recommend that if you have the resources, a purchase of both is recommended. Full Spectrum Warrior contains more polish than your average shoe store. Top notch stuff, and for once, I can’t think of any way to improve things.
