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 REVIEW:
FULL SPECTRUM WARRIOR |
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Full Spectrum Warrior (FSW) was originally
developed as a simulation environment for the U.S. Army
to use for training team leaders and officers in commanding
squads to fight in an urban environment. The intent
was to provide experiences that mimic real life situations.
The extensive character depth was no accident; it was
created to give players a personal involvement with
each soldier in their command. The Army also required
the simulation to be playable on consoles, so that it
could be shipped out with units to Iraq and other hot
spots without needing heavy or expensive equipment.
The decision to convert the simulation environment into
a game for broad retail distribution surprised no one,
as it was a huge hit in the Army and people had fun
playing it. To change the simulator into a game environment,
several aspects of realism were removed (such as bullets
ricocheting off of the walls) to make the gameplay more
enjoyable. The developers added on-display icons to
inform players of the status of situations. In the simulator
environment, no helpful hints were provided; soldiers
were expected to figure out what was happening on their
own. In real life situations and in the heat of a battle,
soldiers are seldom provided with helpful clues for
success. Gamers, on the other hand, benefit from the
hints provided in these heads-up displays (HUDs). |
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September, 2004
Pandemic Studios
THQ
Xbox
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The FSW story takes place over three days as two groups of
small infantry teams from the U.S. Army go through a series
of missions of fighting terrorist forces in an urban environment.
Each team encounters various hardships, such as being surrounded
by enemy forces and being outgunned. The best weapon in a
team's arsenal is the collective wit and cunning which the
soldiers use to overcome the enemy and to aid other small
teams. Throughout the missions, they must follow various orders
from HQ and are expected to succeed without suffering any
casualties.
Each soldier in the game has a unique background history and
story, which is introduced at the start of the game. The soldiers'
backgrounds range from a NYPD cop to first-generation Americans
born to Cuban immigrants. Among them also is a soldier from
a suburban middle-class upbringing who lost his mother to
cancer at the age of 10. This soldier provides the comic relief;
he's always cracking jokes and making street references during
combat, sometimes at the worst possible moment.
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FSW’s graphics immediately surround you to create a
sense of being immersed in the environment, and this quickly
pulls you into the game. The game creates realism and a compelling
atmosphere through the depth of each character model, the
look of the environments and the situations presented as the
characters animate as they breath, move around, fire weapons,
or simply scan the environment. Each team member has an authentic
and distinctive look, which is created by the characteristics
of the face, body, uniform, weapons and accessories.
Overall, everything appears smooth and detailed to provide
a high degree of realism. The only exception is some textures
lacking in walls, floors, and patterns that don’t look
very real. The lighting is detailed and shadows are cast in
real time, affecting every item in the game including characters,
buildings, and vehicles.
In this screen capture, the Bravo team takes formation
on top of a pile of rubble. Notice the difference in each
character’s ethnicity and gear.
Landscapes
The entire game takes place outdoors; all the environments
are distinctively dry and covered with dust and sand. The
setting appears to be in the Middle East, but only a fictional
country, Zekistan, is mentioned. It has a tree-less landscape,
though you see occasional shrubs. There are no signs of life
or activity-- no shops, traffic, civilians, bugs, animals,
or green plant life. All the buildings are distinctively old
and abandoned. The soldiers run into the remains of stone
buildings, abandoned market stands, and broken down cars full
of bullet holes and broken glass.
Buildings
The sand plastered and abandoned buildings are pretty generic
and the scenes look surprisingly similar. The same goes for
the interior shots, which are rare. The only inhabitants of
these dust-covered abandoned villages are bad guys shooting
at you.
Dilapidated buildings in the abandoned town. Taking
cover from enemy fire behind buildings, cars, and other objects,
is critical to success.
Vehicles
No vehicles move beyond tanks and transport for the soldiers.
Cars are only broken-down heaps that litter the streets and
provide the teams with cover. The tanks look pretty good,
though you rarely get up close and personal with the behemoths.
All tanks are up to military standards – because, well,
this game was designed for the military. It’s an armchair
general’s dream.
Notice how well the lighting is implemented and the details
of the beaten-down look of the vehicles.
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| FSW vehicles and
buildings. |
MetaVR
vehicles and buildings. Click to see a
close-up. |
Characters
As described earlier, the characters are well detailed. The
individual differences among them range from skin color and
facial features to each character’s different assortment
of gear; the gear corresponds to the character’s role
in the squad. The characters animate their actions smoothly
and are life-like. They take cover following standard military
procedure and each member carries out his part of the task.
They also animate small movements well when they are idle,
as evidenced by their scratching themselves, panning from
side to side, and their obvious breathing movement. When they
pull their guns from a relaxed to ready position, there are
no signs of awkward or jerky motions. However, whenever a
character opens his mouth, only the lips move; no other areas
of the face are aligned or engaged appropriately. But there
are relatively few close-up shots of a soldier’s face
due to the fact that the camera doesn’t work well, as
described later.
The uniforms look realistic and include proper camouflage,
which varies from character to character. Each character carries
different equipment strung across his belt and wears an individualized
helmet, for example, the NYPD cop has NYPD on the back of
his helmet. Some characters wear goggles, which they keep
on top of their helmet. Other characters wear eyeglasses.
Three members of your team are kneeling here in a waiting
position. Notice each character has a distinctive face and
individualized gear.
Far Horizon
Generally, there aren’t any far horizon shots because
the gameplay takes place in a restricted urban environment.
The scenes that are shown at broad distances are fine.
Audio
Sounds are as realistic and engaging as the graphics, and
they add to the game’s realism. The constant gunfire
from hostile forces creates an intensity that makes you almost
fear going out in the open. You definitely feel as though
you are in the environment with the team. You hear constant
exchanges within the team varying from orders and responses
to jokes and comments on the situation at hand. Soldiers swear
when they have been shot and cuss in general conversation,
which adds realism. Soldiers also shout comments when they
successfully shoot at the enemy, such as “Ha, I got
one”.
Voice-overs for the soldiers are generally well done and convincing.
Sometimes they can get annoying though, as they are often
repetitive. Overall, the constant stream of conversation adds
to the fun and will make you laugh.
Special Effects
As you would expect, the grenades created quite a spectacle.
Particles fly up from the ground, area debris is thrown about,
and the effect is to ensure the player moves away from the
area. Gunfire looks pretty good with muzzle flash and casings
that make sounds when they the ground. Smoke grenades take
a while to create a smoke cloud, which is a realistic effect
as the smoke slowly dissipates. In other games when smoke
grenades are thrown, the smoke appears instantly, which isn’t
realistic. RPGs make a similar grenade explosion, a huge explosion
with dust, debris and particles flying which looks convincing.
The effects of the tank fires are similar, if more intense.
Smoke clouds slowly dissipate in a realistic way. |
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FSW is a unique blend of a real-time strategy game (in which
the player takes a force and strategically manages its activities,
while not actively participating) and a shooter game. In FSW
the player directs the team by giving the soldiers orders
such as to move to another location, fire, or take cover,
and then watches what ensues. Using both teams, you have to
navigate obstacles strategically and figure out solutions
to a situation. One team can fire at an enemy so it will take
cover, and while doing so the other team can move up and flank
the enemy and not worry about getting shot. In this situation,
you could just throw a grenade and blow the enemy to smithereens,
but you have very few of these luxuries to take advantage
of.
Other situations include your sending teams in to clear the
streets of hostile forces so the other U.S. Army forces can
get through without encountering the enemy. To accomplish
these goals you must think on your feet and find the best
way to tackle each one. You use real military procedures to
move the soldiers from cover to cover down the streets, eliminating
enemies as they move. The best cover you can find is a corner
where you can peer around but stay immune to enemy fire. Other
objects you can use for cover are cars, abandoned market stands,
and other structures that litter the streets. However, this
type of cover can be torn apart by incoming bullets and will
not last long in the path of an enemy's .50 Cal. Of course
this situation also applies to your enemies. You spot a terrorist
taking cover behind a car? No problem, you just shoot the
car until it falls apart and he is left in the open. Unfortunately
this approach uses a lot of bullets. Cover plays a huge role
in the game dynamics.
Your team is an intelligent group. The soldiers get into a
proper formation that fits the situation at hand, and you
don't need to instruct them to return fire when they are under
attack.
When bullets fly and there is no cover close by, the soldiers
on your team hit the dirt to save their own hides. You don't
have to micromanage every thing they do; that would not be
fun now would it?
You are not completely alone; you can call for recon, and
have a plane scan the area and mark on your GPS the locations
of enemies. I never really used this feature though, because
it wasn't all that helpful to me.
This repeating formula of moving from cover to cover, locating
the enemy, defeating the enemy, and moving along again gets
old -- fast. It may cause some gamers to give up on the game
out of boredom. The gameplay often turns into a cycle of trial
and error. You learn what doesn’t work, get killed,
and try again by doing something different. This repetition
is mainly because the gameplay path is linear. There is usually
only one way to solve the problem presented to you, which
can be frustrating to say the least. Also, the one hour training
session that teaches you everything and leaves nothing to
be discovered on your own is boring. Most players will be
bored waiting to get into the action. The session is definitely
a realistic aspect, but this is a game and a one hour of training
is boring!
The gameplay is definitely targeted to strategy fans with
a love of all things military.
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CONTROL SCHEME |
SCORE: 6.5 |
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The control scheme is fairly basic, which is good in a strategy-oriented
game. You move the left control stick to control a cursor
with four circles that indicate where your team will take
position and then press the A button to confirm; there are
variations for more advanced moves. You use the other face
buttons to choose grenades, cancel an order, create a fire
sector to direct at an area, and answer an incoming order
from the communications backpack. The right analog stick controls
the camera, but unfortunately it handles awkwardly and has
a tendency to not cooperate. This is not good when you’re
trying to get a good view of the action. The right trigger
zooms the camera in and out but it doesn’t zoom far
enough. The left trigger creates a fog-of-war effect that
blurs out the areas that your troops cannot see. The controls
are easy to figure, out but controlling your camera will likely
drive you crazy by the end of the game.
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As mentioned before, the linear gameplay elements create no
reason for you to play through the campaign again. However,
FSW does feature online play where one player controls one
team and another player controls the other throughout the
single player campaign. It’s not really innovative but
it provides a few kicks to be had with your friends for an
hour or so. This game will likely not spend much time in your
Xbox disc drive.
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BUGS AND GLITCHES |
SCORE: 7.0 |
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When I got up close to the American flag on one of the soldier’s
uniforms, I discovered that it flickers. The flickering might
be a problem with collision detecting, but it's very odd not
to fix such an apparent flaw in the visual department. Also,
sometimes clipping occurs due to the poorly utilized physics
engine. For example, the arms of characters protrude through
walls at times, and enemies die in strange positions. |
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The linear game experience and trial-and-error routine combined
with a questionable camera might frustrate many gamers to
no end. On the other hand, the unique gameplay style, enticing
graphics, and sounds that all bring you into the environments
with unparalleled authenticity on the Xbox will easily win
the hearts of military and strategy games fans.
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