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Full Spectrum Warrior


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I just got this month’s issue of PC-gamer, which had a “Top 10 Games of 2004” future. Listed among them was Full Spectrum Warrior. Lookin good.

If I had a descent scanner I’d just post a pic of the article, but since I don’t, I’ll just give yall a transcript of it. So anyway, here’s what the article had to say:

we’re always on the lookout for infinite coolness. And this time we’ve spotted it. For we humble civilians are set to benefit from an Army initiative to educate its troops wile entertaining them. Full Spectrum Warrior is an Army-funded game intended (in it Army version) as a fun instructional tool for teaching urban-warfare tactics at the squad level. In the commercial version headed to PC, we’ll all get to enjoy a street-level strategy game with a shooter’s feel and graphical trappings.

The “full spectrum” refers to the wide and unpredictable range of mission for which the modern Army has begun training. It’s an evolution way from traditional warfare and toward police/peacekeeping roles – including deployment inside hostile, lawless cities – and the game graduates from traditional RTS and combat-FPS precepts to a new strategic level. Full Spectrum Warrior drops you in the middle of Third World urban environments, each a highly detailed maze of dilapidated buildings and deadly narrow streets.

You’re in command of a squad of infantrymen, consisting of several four-man fire teams, each outfitted M16’s, M203’s, and SAW’s. You jump from team to team as in a real-time strategy game – which, despite its looks, is what Full Spectrum Warrior really is. You issue orders, which are then relayed down the chain of command from team leaders to individual troops. Your boys then respond as best they’re able (enemy fire has a funny way of changing you plan), moving through the city, establishing firing positions, and laying down fire at sectors you wont suppressed.

The trick is to manage you multiple teams wisely, It’s a smart idea to use one team to lay down covering fire so that another team can move safely – or to use a team to outflank a suppressed enemy position. Run-and-gun won’t get it done here: you’ll find yourself quickly learning to coordinate teams and overcome the enemy by means of maneuver.

The Tactical game, with its detail and real-world accuracy would be sweet enough. But Full Spectrum Warrior is as visually absorbing as any first-person shooter, and it feels like one despite the fact that your “character” is not even physically represented in the world (you just direct the squad from a free floating “RTS god” perspective). This setup is a real innovation, a new hybrid form – FSW offers not just a “new twist,” but rather a whole new way of seeing and playing a game.

Some of the screen shots show solders taking cover behind an armored vehicle, along with a SAW gunner laying waste to some unseen enemy (the caption reads “Infantrymen fight according to proper squad tactics. Count on your SAW gunner to lay down a heavy base of fire.) Another pic of a SAW gunner: “You select the target zone, and then watch your boys rock.”

And that’s about it. Share your thoughts.

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