By John Shea

    What I mean by First/Third Person RTS is that you don't actually control a character in this game. You control small groups of soldiers by issuing commands which get carried out in the manner you specify. This gameplay mechanic was very hard for me to get used to but as I played I started to enjoy the fresh angle it gave the tired war game genre.
  
     Upon booting the game up on my Xbox I was greeted with a tutorial level to play thru. The game uses way-points to establish points of interest or mission objectives. But for me these way-points could be exceedingly tedious to follow. Reason being is because many of the levels ( read: repetitive level design) are played in cramped cities.
   
    Often times I would be navigating my way thru a town only to find my way blocked off by a fence or a wall. Now I now that when your developing a game there are certain things that you just can't do for many reasons. I just feel that jumping a wall would be something that a game trying to achieve realistic tactical simulation would include. Do you think when real soldiers need to get somewhere fast and they come to a wall they turn around? No.

     This among many other things just bugged me. And although the game can be very fun, you have to plod thru repetitious and boring levels to get to them.


    This definitely isn't your typical game. It was developed with help from the U.S. Army. This lead to the use of two man combat teams being integral to gameplay.

     When trying to take a group of opponents out you can divert attention to one area with one group and flank the opponents with another. Which is great in and of itself. But when I leave a team to divert attention while I go to flank, and I run into a wall to which there is no way around (or over),  and I have to run my guys back. This leaves my first team to deal with constant gunfire and most of time they just can't survive that long. If I'm gonna flank someone I need to make it there on the double.
  
     But by far my Biggest complaint with this game is in it's controls. The Xbox controller just doesn't have enough buttons for all the commands here. If a group of enemies surprise me I simply don't have enough fingers to move my guys, set a firing quadrant, and throw smoke grenades. It just doesn't seem to work here. But I'm sure the controls work great on a PC keyboard where you can set key commands.
  
     Some of the commands can be extremely useful. You can command your troops walking behavior. Use "tight" and your troops move slower but more stealthily. Sometimes giving you the jump on an enemy. Use "hot" and your troops move 2x as fast but are more susceptible to enemy fire. You can also split your teams into two "buddy" groups allowing you to send groups of two soldiers to one place and two somewhere else. Great for those situations where your other team is too far away and you can't take an enemy from one direction.
   
    The incorporation of different factions plays an important role in this game as well. In one chapter you might find your self playing the U.S., and in a separate chapter you will be playing as a different country. This allows for the story to be told from different perspectives simultaneously. Which gives the game a more cinematic feel. 
  
     This brings me to enemy AI. Opponents in this game are constantly seeking you out. If you stay in one position too long you may end up getting flanked which forces you to constantly move and strategize on your next attack. What works in one situation may not work in another situation. On the flip side of that it means if you die In a particularly cheap way (i.e. getting an RPG to the face) you often times can't adjust your strategy for that situation because it won't be the same when you get back.

   
    Well on the Original Xbox on a regular CRT TV, it wasn't anything to write home about. Definitely had some nice textures, and nice particle effects. But the realistic cityscape doesn't often lend itself to impressive visuals. Overall nothing to complain about but nothing that truly stands out either.

   
    The audio is mostly lackluster, consisting of your usual gunshots and explosions. Footsteps seem to sound the same regardless of what surface your walking on. Which really sucks because nothing gives you that feeling of suspended disbelief as walking on a wooden floor and hearing the distinctive thump-thump of footsteps on wood. When you constantly hear the gritty crunch crunch of what sounds like sand it really takes you out of the moment. But to be fair, you are mostly walking on sand anyway.
  
     As for the soundtrack it's a decent instrumental. My only complaint is that while the soundtrack is Dynamic (changes in intensity and gets louder as the action heats up)  It really gets too loud for it's own good and on the default level it seriously distracted from my gameplay. So much so that I actually had to go turn it down in the options menu. Something I almost never do. Since I am a Sound Engineer by trade I really feel that the music should compliment and enhance the game through cunning use of texture and volume. Something this game failed miserably at.

   
    There are definitely some good examples of level design in this game. The problem is that they are hidden in between boring and repetative levels that just seem to plod along and make playing this game a chore at times.
   
    Many levels take place in repetitive towns and temples, all look pretty much the same, and all have the same cars and planters littered thru the streets. If you can make it thru the boring filler there are some fun levels that will remind you how good this game can be when it's done right.

    Full Spectrum Warrior:Ten Hammers is a good game. It just has too many problems which hold it back from being a must own title. The lack of buttons on the controller makes for confusing and obtrusive gameplay. The level design is also a boring plodding affair interspersed with brief flashes of fun. While the series innovates by creating a new sub-genre and adding depth to the usually shallow war game genre, it unfortunately never ascends to something that will really stand the test of time.

     On the whole I think this game is completely average and would advise that all you tactical simulation fans out there (you know who you are) at least go rent this game and give it a try.

Gameplay--7.5/10   
Graphics --- 8.5/10
Audio--------6/10
Multiplayer--N/A (the modem on my Xbox is  broken for some reason)
Level Design-6.5/10

Overall--- 7/10