Full Spectrum Warrior (2004) (VG)

User Rating:

5.4/10   

Writer:

Paul Robinson (dialogue)

Release Date:

2004 (USA)

Plot Keywords:

Hostage | Grenade | Helicopter | Multiplayer | Army

Cast

Lex Lang	...	Platoon Leader (voice)
Svon	...	Devereux (voice)
Ben Diskin	...	Ota (voice)
Armando Valdes-Kennedy	...	Mendez (voice)
Ian Kessler	...	Picoli (voice)
JD Cullum	...	Shedadi, NATO British Officer (voice) (as J.D. Cullum)
Mikey Kelley	...	Shimenski (voice)
Beng Spies	...	Silverman (voice) (as Ben Spies)
Billy Brown	...	Williams (voice)
Ektimal Shbib	...	Arab Female Civilian (voice)
Toufig Tulsiram	...	OPFOR #01 (voice)
Gino Salvano	...	Al Affad (voice)
Ahmad Alsundos	...	OPFOR #02 (voice)
Hugh Mun	...	OPFOR #03 (voice)
Nika Futterman	...	Alvarez (voice)

Country:

USA

Company:

Pandemic Production

Trivia:

Was commissioned for development by the US Army as a small unit tactics training aid, from which the commercially released version stems. In fact the term "Full Spectrum Warrior" relates to the army's program of training it's soldiers to be flexible and adaptable to a broad range of operational scenarios. Although the retail version carries the disclaimer "This game is not sponsored or endorsed by the United States Army", the actual army training version can be unlocked by completing the game or entering the cheat code HA2P1PY9TUR5TLE.

Quotes:

Williams: [after observing two Zekistan rebels attempting to fight a tank while standing in the open] That's not balls, that's stupidity

Excellent Game

Don't be mistaken: This is an excellent game.

The biggest thing that people complain about is that you don't actually shoot anyone, that its not based entirely on your twitch skills. Instead, its one of the best Tactical Strategy games I've ever played.

Its deceptively simple. All you really need to know are these four things:

If you are behind cover, you won't get shot. If they are behind cover, they won't get shot. If you flank them, such that there is no cover between you and them, they will get shot. If they have an RPG (Rocket Propelled Grenade), cover doesn't matter.

Its a slow game, I'll give it that. You have to move from cover to cover and outflank the enemy, and some of the missions can take quite a long time, especially near the end. Other times, it takes several minutes to go down an empty street simply because you have no idea when a baddie is going to show up.

So, yes, the pace is rather methodic, and you can't shoot the gun yourself. But its a strategy game, so those hits are pretty much standard for the entire bleeding genre. But once you get into it, when you start looking around and seeing exactly what you need to do, that's when you really get how good it is.

Also, it really feels authentic. The strategies make a lot of sense, and since this was commissioned by the US army (well, a separate version, which is more detailed and difficult), it makes sense that this would use modern strategies.

Basically, give it a chance, because its worth it, especially if you are a strategy nut.

You should rent it though. If you don't like it, then you aren't down thirty-forty bucks, and if you do like it, you'll burn through it relatively quickly, and there really isn't a huge replay value. It took me about three days to finish the campaign, and its unlikely that the downloadable missions will take much longer.

4/5 (5/5 for the strategy nuts)