Full Spectrum Warrior is based on a game commissioned by the U.S. Army to train light Infantry troops in urban combat situations. Soldiers are placed in a tense, hostile, and claustrophobic environment where they must complete a variety of military objectives.Players act as the Squad Leader, providing direction to Alpha and Bravo fire teams. The successful Squad Leader effectively uses cover in the environment and moves his fire teams in a coordinated fashion so they can protect themselves from possible attacks that could come from any direction. Full Spectrum Warrior puts you in the dirt with your men, where danger lurks around every corner.
Knock on wood, I've never been in a war, but one question haunts me: Would I be the leader of men that I was born to be?
Or would I be the guy hiding behind the burning truck, trying to dig a tunnel to China? Dunno. It's a pick 'em.
I've managed to acquit myself quite honorably in this terrific new game for the Xbox, though, at least in the sense that I go grimly chugging forward until I've completely failed the mission yet again.
It uses the same engine as the Army's version (which you can also play by entering a cheat code), but with a bit more chrome -- improved lighting, cutscenes, music, and backstories for your "soldiers."
As the above blurb indicates, you control two 4-man fireteams, each composed of a team leader, a rifleman, a machinegunner and a grenadier. Except for throwing grenades or firing RPG, you don't do any shooting; but you assign firesectors for each team (and occasionally split fires, with the machinegunner taking on one target and the rest of the team another) and direct the type of fire (overwatching, bounding, or suppression). In some scenarios you can dialup a mortar barrage, which is a beautiful thing to see, especially when it's landing on enemy armor.
This wasn't the military's first foray into video games -- back in the 90's the Marines experimented with Doom, modding up the monsters in it to look like enemy soldiers. (This was the basis of former Lt. Colonel Dave Grossman's phony claim that the Pentagon was using computer simulations to desensitize troops to killing. I think I fairly debunked that theory here.)
But Marine Doom didn't work too well -- the artificial intelligence of those early versions of Doom wasn't very good at emulating soldiers, who tend not to come running out of the shadows straight at you, yelling gibberish. Well, apart from the Al-Sadr Militia , which might explain why U.S. forces enjoy rather impressive kill ratios (30:1? 50:1? 100:1?) against it.
I digress. If you have an Xbox and an interest in small-unit tactics, buy this game. If you don't have an Xbox (a PC version will be coming out in the fall -- no word on a Playstation release) then buy an Xbox and then buy this game. If you don't really like tactics or wargames or Xboxes one way or the other, then you can check out the post below for a fascinating link.