Full Spectrum Warrior Updated Impressions

THQ was showing the first playable version of Full Spectrum Warrior at Microsoft's X03 event in France this week. We met with Wil Stahl of Pandemic Studios to get a first look at the game in action and to find out about some of the major differences between the retail and US Army versions of the game.

The US Army already took delivery of its own superrealistic version of Full Spectrum Warrior earlier this year, but the game is being reworked considerably to make it suitable for public consumption. As Stahl explained, the two audiences for the game are essentially opposite--players from the US Army know all about military tactics but aren't necessarily used to playing games, while regular players have no problem picking up the controls but often don't have a clue about how combat works in real life. The consumer version of the game is currently around 50 percent complete and will feature far fewer interior environments than the US Army original but will add a training mode and one or two other new features.

Stahl describes Full Spectrum Warrior as a puzzle game rather than an action game, because, unlike many action games, the actions of the enemies are tightly scripted and are the same every time you play. Also, because the soldiers in the game move at seemingly slow but realistic speeds and don't need to be told to fire their weapons when the opportunity arises, the trick to completing missions (or solving the puzzles) is in knowing where and when to move your units. The consumer version of Full Spectrum Warrior will feature six chapters containing two or three mission objectives each, and Stahl told us that the game should take between 12 and 15 hours to play through on the regular difficulty setting.

The level we got to see in action had our two teams of four soldiers attempting to negotiate a Middle Eastern city in which a number of enemies were lying in wait. Before even moving from the start location, Stahl had them scout the area and identify any potential trouble spots. It didn't take long for the soldiers' lines of sight to all but do away with the game's great-looking fog of war feature and for them to protect the group from any incoming enemies by issuing fire sector orders to soldiers facing the only possible entry and exit points to the square in which they stood. Stahl then had one of the teams move into the next area where, upon coming under fire, they were quick to seek cover behind the small wall that they'd been positioned next to.

Like all of the soldiers in the game, walls and other objects that can be used as cover have their own health bar. On this occasion we were fortunate enough to be behind a wall that was practically indestructible. The enemy, however, was hiding behind a parked car. Shooting at the car was using up an awful lot of ammo and, although the consumer version of Full Spectrum Warrior is more generous with its supplies than the original, Stahl showed us that while the first team was drawing the fire of the enemy it wasn't too difficult to position the second team so that they had a clear shot at him.

A couple of similar encounters followed before the teams found themselves pinned down at one end of a street by an armored vehicle at the other. Ordering one of the teams to cross to the other side of the street served as a good indication of just how intelligent the soldiers in the game are--rather than all cross together, they took turns moving in pairs while the others provided covering fire. That group then had an opportunity to hide behind the car that Stahl had deliberately not blown up earlier, but when Stahl accidentally ordered them to position themselves against the wrong side of the vehicle, the results were fatal for one of the group, and when it became obvious he was beyond help, Stahl had two of the other soldiers take him back to the evacuation site so that he could be replaced by another soldier. The armored vehicle was subsequently taken out using a frag grenade, and the pile of debris it left behind marked the end of our demonstration.

Full Spectrum Warrior is certainly an intriguing game and is one that's exclusively reliant on decision making and planning unlike most tactical shooters where a good aim and a fast trigger finger are also required to succeed. The game boasts a number of features that might not have been considered if it weren't for its US Army roots--realistic wind and dust simulation, for instance, which were required because they're crucial if smoke grenades are to be used effectively.

Full Spectrum Warrior is currently scheduled for release on the Xbox in February 2004, with a PC version following later in the year. For more information, check out our previous coverage of the game.