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.
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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.
