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Full Spectrum Warrior
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Based on the combat simulator in development for the U.S. Army, Full Spectrum Warrior promises the most realistic urban tactical combat experience seen yet on any platform. While games such as these are more commonly released on PC, THQ saw the opportunity to introduce it to console gamers on the Xbox.
Some of the realism aspects will be tweaked to make the game more accessible to the public, which could be a good or bad thing depending on how far they take it. An example of this is the smoke grenades. In the military version you will have to wait up to a minute for the smoke to be of any use. In the civilian version this is much faster. THQ is also considering including the military version on the disc, so if players want the most realistic experience possible they can have it.
Pandemic Studios are working closely with the University of Southerm California's Institute for Creative Technologies and consulted them for things in the game such as physics. This will enable Pandemic Studios to make the game one of the most technologically advanced ever made to date.
In Full Spectrum Warrior you take on the role of a Sergeant with command over a squad of 9 soldiers, including a machine gunner, grenadier, medic and riflemen. This is split into two teams of 5 and 4 men - Alpha team and Bravo team. You can issue orders to the leader of each team, and they will decide the most appropriate use of men to fullfill you command. One of the most important parts of the game is using your two teams effectively to cover and support each other.
Commands can also be issued to individual soldiers, such as to supply supression fire, or covering a certain area. They will also act on their own, lying down when under fire, covering each other, and checking casualties. Enemies will also display clever AI, employing ambushes, flanking techniques, sniping and other effective military tactics.
Since this is all intended to help train the U.S. Military, the equipment on offer will be the same used, and in research for use by the U.S. Army. The Heckler and Koch Objective Individual Combat Weapon (Also known as the OICW, it has a scope that calculates range and other important details, a 5.56mm assault rifle like the M16 and a 20mm grenade launcher combined in one) is rumoured to be included in the game, although soldiers in the screenshots are using the M16A2. Other equipment will include fragmentation grenades, the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon and the M203 grenade launcher.
Full Spectrum Warrior will be Xbox Live enabled for online play, and will also feature system link support. Split screen play is not confirmed but likely. Game modes will probably include an objective based "assault" mode, as well as the usual deathmatch, team deathmatch, capture the flag and elimination modes.
Full Spectrum Warrior's graphics are also looking good. The towns have a smooth look to them, all the models are nicely detailed and realistic. The textures are also of exceptional quality, which is something of a rarity for a console game. In short, it looks almost as good as anything on the Xbox.
Full Spectrum Warrior won 4 awards at E3, that's as many as Halo 2, and it had more nominations, only being beaten by Half Life 2. It should be a great game for gamers looking for a more realistic military game, the only other notable tactical shooter being Operation Flashpoint. Full Spectrum Warrior is due out in early 2004.
Review By: Flid_Merchant
Game Info: Full Spectrum Warrior
Screenshots (9):
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