Full Spectrum Warrior review:
Whilst the glaring faults and missing features just nudge this version out of the “must purchase” category, Pandemic Studios have a real winner on their hands. We only hope that Full Spectrum Warrior 2 and Pandemic Studios makes the changes required to make the next version the classic purchase its brother almost claimed.
Full Spectrum Warrior review:
And at twenty bucks or less for each of the three versions, it’s still a reasonable value. It still is a new game concept that hasn’t been done before and has merits as such. But when it comes to the platform, and you can call me old-fashioned, strategy games are played on the PC. -- Nik Dunn
Full Spectrum Warrior review:
Other people will. Some people will feel that the game is too easy or too brief. Other people won't, since they'll be too busy constantly replaying old missions. For those reasons, you should probably rent before you buy. Just don't count the game out entirely because it has a few flaws or tries to be innovative. It's one helluva war game regardless.
Full Spectrum Warrior review:
Full Spectrum Warrior was released on the Xbox nigh on a year ago, delivering a twist on the standard shooters already out there with strategy-based gameplay centred upon modern warfare. The PlayStation 2 port of the game has only just been released - despite its age, can the game still stand its ground? Put simply, no. Full Spectrum Warrior’s storyline revolves around the attempt by a special forces unit to cripple the regime of a tyrannical dictator and his legion of terrorists in Zekistan - a fictional country - the locales and events portrayed proving very similar to those that have occurred in Iraq recently. Gameplay While appearing to bear the standard gameplay structure of a third-person shooter, Full Spectrum Warrior, as mentioned above, focuses on strategy and entirely that. From a third-person view, your job is to issue your team - or teams, on occasions - of four soldiers, each equipped with a different weapon and function, the Rifleman and Team Leader being two examples. Commanding your squad about the largely urban locations is easy, requiring you to - put simply - point and click, with various combinations and uses of the X and Square buttons allowing for more precise and detailed maneuvers such as the bounding move and laying down suppressive fire. Taking down enemies is made easy by the ability to place a large circular cursor over the enemy or enemies and ordering a fire sector. This will see your team efficiently and accurately take down the enemies within the reticule. As you may have guessed, though, getting through the game’s lengthy campaign mode is not as simple as running and shooting. Being a strategy game, you’ll need to make use of cover at all times – be that the corner of a building or a discarded lounge which will deteriorate with enemy fire thanks to the implementation of the Havoc engine – as well as suppressive fire. Once you’ve got your enemy pinned down, it’s a good idea to open up your handy GPS in order to note a suitable flanking route as hitting your enemy from the front becomes impossible if they are at all behind cover due to the game’s strategic nature. The GPS provides a detailed yet small map of the immediate area, as well as enemy, objective and med-evac – which allows you to heal injured soldiers on your team – positions. It proves very useful, as mentioned above, for determining the best and most efficient flanking route to help you destroy enemies behind cover while suppressed and for acquiring the fastest – but least dangerous – route to your objective. As with firing upon enemies, using grenades and grenade launchers is easy. Holding the Square button brings up an animated line that indicates the path the grenade will take, the left control stick moving it around and allowing you to position it optimally. The ease of use that the game’s weapons provide keep the game from becoming too frustrating as it otherwise would; many of the missions are lengthy and it’s easy to fail – get one man killed and it’s all over. Despite being slow moving due to its strategic gameplay system, Full Spectrum Warrior manages to present you with a few large-scale and eventful fire fights that break up the standard building-to-building advancement. These usually set up or conclude missions or become the catalysts of objectives and the like, still forcing you to use cover and act strategically as you would during any other moment. As you force your men through the streets and areas of the game’s various locations, you’ll often wish you could take control for once and take down that lingering terrorist with a well-aimed shot to the head as you would in any other third-person shooter. This immersion is what Full Spectrum Warrior lacks; while it can be praised and recognised in part as a strategy game, the fact that you’re never part of the action and the lack of direct control in terms of movement, aim and the like that you have is frustrating. The recently-released World War II shooter Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 proves that the player can be part of the action as well as a leader, and being a year old, Full Spectrum Warrior is now outdated in this sense. Graphics Full Spectrum Warrior struggles in the graphics sector as in the gameplay sector, not often being a glorious sight. The PlayStation 2, admittedly, can’t handle what the game delivered a year ago on the Xbox, leaving it in a mess of convoluted, bland textures and a terribly unreliable frame rate. On the plus side, the character models have generally made it across in one piece, bearing convincing amounts of detail and authentic animation that helps to bring them to life. Sound As you recite orders to your team in order to progress through the missions successfully, they’ll bounce back witty replies occasionally laced with profanity, coinciding with the great character models to help you to feel compassion and the need to look after them. The same praise cannot be given to the game’s sound effects, however; they’re muffled and of poor quality, the gunfire sounding particularly disappointing even with the addition of a healthy dose of bass. Overall Full Spectrum Warrior is a messy port of the year-old Xbox version, bearing disappointing graphics and sound. Conversion problems aside, the gameplay is outdated and generally unimpressive; despite its good points, it can be compared to and is as exciting as being a spectator in multiplayer game Counter-Strike. Strategy fan or not, you'd better rent before considering a purchase.Thumbs Up Unique yet dated twist on the genre Thumbs Down Messy textures and an unpredictable frame rate Poor sound quality Uninspiring and bland gameplay Can’t compete with squad shooter Brothers in Arms full size >>
Full Spectrum Warrior review: