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Preview:

28th August 2003:
Full Spectrum Warrior (ECTS 2003)
We were able to meet up with THQ at this year's ECTS and check out their new, highly accurate, military-based strategy game.
Posted by Marc Hull - Xbox - UK and Europe

I have to say, when I first heard the idea behind Full Spectrum Warrior I was more than a little skeptical. The early press releases promised an ultra-realistic military game that was originally commissioned by the American government to help marines in their training, with squad-based play where you could issue commands to your team-mates to arrange them into various tactical positions depending on the situation. Having played many first and third-person shooters that thrive on realism (such as the Hidden and Dangerous series), I imagined many frustrating hours of being killed in missions by snipers who I had no idea even existed, and faffing about during heated battles trying to issue squad commands and ending up getting all my men killed. The main problem with realistic games is getting the balance between accuracy and fun just right - of course, in real life if you got shot you would probably die there and then, but in real life you'd also have a much better sense of your surroundings; something which (beyond wearing a virtual reality suit or connecting your brain directly to the console) cannot be achieved in current games. Fortunately, though, having had the game demonstrated to me at THQ's stand in ECTS this year, I'm not only much more positive about the game, I think it could be one of the best titles to hit the Xbox early next year!

The main concept behind the game is that it is not a first or third-person shooter, it is instead a strategy game that concentrates far more on military tactics than being able to burst into a situation 'all guns blazing'. You actually have no direct control over any of your infantry - you can't select one and move him around the level with your control stick, or fire his weapon using one of the shoulder buttons - you never have this kind of control over them. What you can do, however, is issue orders to your team and tell them where to move, where to aim and when to attack. Initially, this form of control seems somewhat strange, but after a while it begins to make a lot of sense. It means that during heated battles you can have full control over your teams and issue commands to them much quicker than if you were controlling a single character directly yourself, having to keep him out of danger whilst also coordinating your team-mates.

At the start of a mission you are given two teams, known as Alpha and Bravo (hey, this IS an American game), each consisting of four members of the U.S Army Infantry. You view them from a third-person view that always hangs around near the currently-selected team, so that you see pretty much what they're able to see, and you can switch between the two teams with the touch of a button. The digital pad is used to issue your commands, and by tapping one of the directions you can bring up your movement marker, which you can move around the environment and shows exactly where your team will end up if you issue this command. This marker is context-sensitive, meaning that pushing it up against a wall will cause your team to push up against said wall with their backs to it, while positioning it near a corner will cause them to group near the corner with one ready to look around it. Another direction button will bring up an aimer that tells your team to target their weapons on a particular area. This is particularly useful if you think someone's trying to ambush you from a certain direction, since you can tell your team to target that area and they'll fire on any enemies they see.

Of course, the real beauty about the game is using your two teams together to outmanoeuvre your enemies. It seems quite normal to use your two teams to attack enemies from two different directions simultaneously, or use one to draw their fire while the other team finds a back-route to ambush the enemies from behind. Also, once in a firefight, it isn't just a case of lining your guys up, telling where to shoot and letting them get on with it. Quite often the enemies will be intelligently reacting to your tactics, trying to gain an advantage on you by sneaking up through back-streets, and often cover that you may be using such as derelict cars in the streets will suffer so much damage from enemy fire that they become useless, forcing you to move your men and re-evaluate the situation.

There are loads of neat touches in Full Spectrum Warrior that you may miss on a quick glance, but really add to the realism of the game. For instance, your team will never aim or fire at other team members no matter what formation they are in, and fallen team-mates can be checked to see whether or not they're dead and, if not, carried to points in the level where a medical helicopter will pick them up. Graphically, the game is also pretty strong, with some very nice shadows being cast by almost all moving objects. Although the environments themselves are all city-based (this is urban warfare after all), they should be fairly varied and are very detailed, with lots of high-quality texture work giving them a nice look.

Overall, this game is shaping up very well, and we're not surprised that it managed to obtain "Best Simulation" and "Best Original Game" awards back at this year's E3. We're looking forward to seeing more of the title in the run-up to its release early next year and, of course, we'll report anything we see about the game right here on this very site!

Marc Hull

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