Inconsistency plauges this game from start to finish,essentially undermining everything that makes it functional. Avoid.
I absolutely LOVED the first FSW, it's one of my favorite military strategy games of all time. That said, I absolutely HATE its sequel. I just pulled it out after finishing the original FSW for the 100th time, having forgotten about my previous nightmare last time it got played.
Ten Hammers is nearly broken. This is a game that is seriously impeded by employing inconsistent rules. This renders everything else useless and makes playing it extraordinarily frustrating. No tactics are functional if the system that dictates them holds no consistency. This is a game meant to teach tactics, yet what good is this when tactics properly used constantly yields different results?
A few examples:
-Cover. My men are either in cover or they are not. There's no ifs, ands, or buts here. Unpredictableness is all well and good (A.I.), but not when it always is changing the foundation on which the game stands. In real life I can understand this; in a game it does nothing but frustrate. Corners are the only assured cover as far as I can tell, cars and everything else are garbage.
-Suppression fire. Same thing as above. There are no different levels of suppression fire, it either suppresses or it doesn't. As it stands, it's completely useless. A simple fire sector is more useful, which is absurd. And don't even get me started on HOT bounding. Mine as well cross fingers and book it. Oh yea, ammo consumption is ridiculous. Setting a simple fire sector for a few minutes eats up 40-50% of all ammo. The first was perfectly fine (well, they could've limited it a bit more, just a tad.) And why do I need an option to command my men to reload?
-A.I. A well known issue in the series, but at least in the first one it was merely an annoyance instead of an almost game-breaking flaw. My men should be average to good shots, they went through basic. OK, they can't hit enemies behind cover from 200 yards off while under fire, it's all good, I understand. But when they can't even hit an enemy 5 FEET AWAY running straight at them screamin' "ALLAH ACKBAR!!!", there is a problem. If I'm not in direct control of my men and their weapons, competent A.I. is absolutely crucial.
-Useless commands stemming from the poor A.I. Hitting the cover command when my men are standing right next to a corner more often than not does NOTHING, which is a lethal error every single time. Speaking of commands, they tend to lag and the control layout is overly elaborate. Not too bad and definitely do-able, but it could've been streamlined and tightened up.
There are many things I do like about TH, don't get me wrong. Being able to move one team while controlling another is brilliant addition, as it splitting up fire teams. Being able to have two wounded (with the option to drag soldiers out of harm's way) and continue brings a challenge, setting fall back positions is a great option to have, and the vehicles are awesome to use. I really enjoy blowing insurgents into bloody bits.
But as it stands, it's nigh unplayable. I enjoy a good challenge, but only when I am the one responsible for mistakes, not those caused by bad design decisions. I hope no real soldier takes this game to heart and practices what he plays, or he's in for a rude wake-up call in the field. Great training tool for sure. I'm just upset because TH is probably the last FSW game we are ever going to see. I'm considering picking up the PC version and looking for possible mods that will remedy some of these problems, but am not holding my breath.
There, I've vented. Now excuse me while I go to play the original to wash this bad taste out of my mouth.