Full Spectrum Warrior

Do you remember the last time you sat down to play a video game that was different?  I don't mean a game that happens to be in a genre you've never experienced before, nor am I referring to the games that merge two genres together.  I'm talking about those rare experiences that push video games forward, the kind that make it the number-one form of entertainment.  The ones that make us look at $9 movie tickets and say, "I'd rather spend fifty on a new Xbox game."  Halo is no doubt better than any action film on the market, but it doesn't quite classify as being an entirely new kind of game.  Halo redefined a genre – it didn't create a new one.

As we enter the second half of what has become the best year for Xbox games, five stellar, must-play titles are on store shelves: Ninja Gaiden, Metal Slug 3, Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow, The Chronicles of Riddick, and Full Spectrum Warrior.  Four of those games are the best (or close to it) in their genre.  One of those games has introduced a new genre, one that has me filled with excitement.  If you're lost as to which game that could possibly be, the answer is Full Spectrum Warrior.

Pandemic, the developers of Full Spectrum Warrior, define the game as "strategic squad-based combat."  While that definition is correct, the game is so much more than that.

Players start with two teams under their command: Alpha and Bravo.  Each team has a leader, and even though you have control over the whole team, the leader is who the player becomes.  You tell him what to do and he'll order his troops to follow suit.

But wait – I'm getting into the basics way too soon.  You can probably assume how that stuff works.  What you don't know, and what you'll be happily surprised by, is the depth of control that you have over your men.  Each team has a yellow cursor with four small circles on it.  By moving the cursor around the area, you can pinpoint exactly where you want your team to go.  One of the circles is green, indicating where the team leader's position will be.  This is important because you can't check your GPS if your team leader is in danger of being hit.  Your GPS gives you invaluable facts about your destination, where the enemies are, etc.  It won't tell you where all the enemies are though.  Not all enemies can be detected the radar, especially enemies that don't like to stay put.

With the cursor control scheme that Full Spectrum Warrior uses, the game plays a like a real-time strategy game from an up-close-and-personal level.

If you see an enemy or fear that there might be one nearby, you can order the team to walk with their gun pointed in a specific direction.  The team will move more slowly and in groups of two, instead of all at once, increasing your chances for survival.

Easy-to-read icons indicate the status of you and your enemy.  Are you safe from gunfire?  The icon above your troop's head will tell you.  The shield icon means that you are safe.  Unfortunately that icon usually appears on you and your enemy at the same time.  If you're safe, so is he, and the only way to change his status is to remove yourself from safety.

That's when the game really gets good.  It starts out very cool and is impressive with its innovative control scheme.  But it's the unfathomable amount of strategic options that make the game uber-addictive, even when the mission seems impossible to complete.

Full Spectrum Warrior is more of a modern war game, so you can expect to have a lot of buildings to hide behind and many city streets to explore.  One of the first strategic options you'll take advantage of is enemy suppression.  Suppressed enemies are pinned to their hiding spot.  They can't move, they can't attack others, and they certainly can't retaliate.  They'll stay put to save their own skin, thus opening up the possibility for your other team to attack and kill the enemy from another location.  This is very cool, but can sometimes be a big risk.  Not all enemies can be suppressed easily.  Some will get shot and die, others will be covered enough to stop the suppression from happening.  They won't attack the team that's attempting to suppress them but they will shoot anyone else.

Cars, boxes, buildings, etc., virtually any object you see can be used for cover.  (Any object except a tree.  I haven't had much luck trying to hide behind one of those.)  Brick walls can withstand enemy fire, but if you think a box will, you're sadly mistaken.  Cars aren't impervious to gunfire either, and will be demolished if hit by a grenade.

In the main game it's okay to get hit.  No one's perfect, and as long as your comrade doesn't die, you can always carry him to safety.  (The mission will end if two or more troops are injured, so don't get careless.)

However, Full Spectrum Warrior has an extensive training mode that must be completed before the real game will open up.  There might be a way to skip it with a cheat code, but if there is I'm not aware of it.  And in the training mode you cannot get hit!  Your men won't die because it's just training, but the whole point is to make you a better team leader.  How can you get your men home safely from combat if you can't even get them home safely from a training mission?

This is a really excruciating part of the game, perhaps the most frustrating you'll encounter.  Give yourself some time to warm up to this game and get past it.  Remember: this is a new kind of game.  Both Metal Gear Solid and The Legend of Zelda were brand-new types of games when they were released, and I doubt that anyone mastered them overnight.  I certainly didn't.

Is Full Spectrum Warrior everything I hoped it would be?  How could it be, the game has no clone!  It has no predecessor, no spiritual prequel that I can compare it to.  The game is not at all what I expected or anticipated.  I hoped it would be good, I wanted it to be a masterpiece, but not once did I expect it to create a new genre.  If they make a sequel the developers might as well pat themselves on the back by calling it Full Spectrum Brilliance.

Gameplay: 9.2
It's almost unfair to call Full Spectrum Warrior the best strategic squad-based combat game since it's completely different from its competitors.  But I'm going to do it anyway.  Ignore the deceiving screenshots, this game isn't even close to being a Rainbow Six clone.  I can't think of more than a few small elements that the two games have in common.  The combat is 100% original.  You issue commands using an innovative cursor that makes the game feel like an RTS.  It's brilliant.

Graphics: 9.5
Finally, an Xbox game that looks like an Xbox game!  Full Spectrum Warrior is a visual masterpiece every step of the way.  Insanely detailed backgrounds (just look at the ground – its war stains and natural patterns are extremely varied).  No two buildings look alike, vehicles explode with immense realism, and the sun is fuzzy, beautiful and blinding, just like in real life.  There seems to be some frame rate issues when some of the missions begin, but it's nothing to scream about.  It seems to be a loading issue, not a graphical one.

Sound: 9.5
You're not gonna believe this one.  Full Spectrum Warrior has good voice acting!  No, not good, GREAT voice acting.  And it has a story to back up the voice acting with dialogue that's worth listening to.  The training mission is filled with one too many swear words, but the rest of the game is very amusing.  And while the soundtrack isn't on the same level as Medal of Honor: Frontline, it is very, very good.

Difficulty: Hard
When's the last time you've had to learn to play a new game?  1998?  Hideo Kojima said this would happen: new consoles, prettier graphics, same gameplay.  He was right...until now.

Concept: 10
Innovative is a word commonly used to describe a new gameplay experience.  The words "sharp" and "sophisticated" are often reserved for film and TV.  All three words are appropriate here, a review about a game that goes beyond innovation.  Full Spectrum Warrior isn't merely a new take on squad-based combat – it's an entirely new kind of game.

Multiplayer: 9
Co-op multiplayer via Xbox Live.

Overall: 9.4
I went back and forth with this game, trying hard to pick the best score possible.  Had the whole game been as stressful as the training mission, it would have been difficult to give it more than an 8.9.

But then I got past that and kicked myself for second-guessing this game.  I kicked myself for thinking that Full Spectrum Warrior was all innovation and not enough execution.  Time, and these "new" game consoles, has made me forget that when the industry was young you couldn't just pick up a game and play it.  Lately that's all I've come to expect – a pick-up-and-play experience – because that's all anyone will give us.  It's refreshing, rewarding and exciting to have a game that goes against the majority.