Waves of terrorist attacks have spread across Europe and Southeast Asia, targeting
U.S. and U.K. interests. After weeks of hunting, U.S. intelligence tracks the
source of these attacks to the small eastern nation of Zekistan. After operations
in Afghanistan and Iraq, thousands of ex-Taliban and Iraqi loyalists have crossed
the borders of Zekistan seeking asylum, invited by the nations dictator, Al
Afad.

It’s not long before the terrorist training facilities and death-camps that
the U.S. removed from Afghanistan were up and running with full sponsorship
of Al Afad’s government. After warnings and UN security council resolutions,
NATO votes to invade Zekistan and depose Al Afad, eliminate the training camps,
and stop the ethnic cleansing of the Zeki people. Pakistan grants the U.S. access
to their airspace, and the operation begins. For several straight nights, carrier
groups USS Carl Vinson and USS Ronald Reagan in the Arabian Sea launch thousands
of sorties to take out air defense, armor, and bases. Before the dust even settles,
Infantry and Armor from seven NATO nations begin to land at the captured Zeki
bases. The land invasion is underway, and thats where you step into Full
Spectrum Warrior.

FSW is not a third person shooter, rather more of an RTS (real time strategy)
game. But unlike RTSs such as Starcraft and Warcraft, you are seeing it from
your 2 squads perspectives, not from above. Switching between Alpha and Bravo
teams, you must effectively use cover and watch each others backs as you make
your way through the streets and alleys of Zekistan.

Gameplay

You have two teams that must not lose a man. In order to get your soldiers
safely to their objectives, you must use cover and use formations to advance
through the streets. Cover can amount to most anything, from the corner of a
building, to a car in the street, to a discarded couch out on the curb. Some
cover such as buildings is not degradable, but you better not try to stay alive
behind a couch for too long! Don’t get too comfortable behind non degradable
cover, because the tangos have the same options. When one team becomes pinned
down by the enemy, you must use the other team to flank them and take ‘em out.

Moving your teams safely is paramount. Laying down suppression fire will keep
the tangos heads down while you move your non firing team, but you will burn
through ammo much faster than using regular fire. Teams can rush to there new
location, where they all move forward at once in a line, but weapons are not
sighted in on enemies. Bounding involves issuing a command where two soldiers
move forward first, weapons sighted, while there two teammates provide cover
fire. Once they reach the destination, they then cover for the last two men.
Deciding which move to use when under multiple fire sources is key.

Your teams consist of the Team Leader (TL), Automatic Rifleman (AR), Grenadier
(G), and your Rifleman (R). Your men are the finest trained fighting force in
the world, and will always obey the team leader, though they might have some
interesting comments to say back to you. They will concentrate there fire on
the target you designate, but you can also setup individual fire areas for each
if stuck out in the open. Pulling the right trigger will show you the fog of
war, areas your men are not covering become hazy and let you know where you
are vulnerable from attack.

Your HUD will show you the soldier selector in the lower left corner, the info
bar lower middle, and your formation icon for movement in the lower right corner.
Ammo is shown over the soldier selector, and compass waypoints and objective
info is shown at the top middle and right of your screen. Frag, smoke, and M203
grenades are available to both teams, but in limited supply. Certain missions
also allow you to call in airstrikes and mortar fire to take out enemy armor,
but don’t be standing too close, or you too will be annihilated!

Control

The Y button is used to switch between Alpha team and Bravo team. Individual
soldiers can be selected by the D pad. The right thumbstick controls the camera
around the selected team. Left trigger zooms in while still allowing full camera
movement. The right trigger displays the 3D fog of war, blurring the area your
team is not covering at the moment. The black button brings up your GPS, that
shows a top down map of your surroundings, any known enemies, and your objectives.
The left thumbstick will bring up the movement cursor, which you place where
you want the team to move to. Once placed, pressing A will order your team there.
The B button will cancel any order, or if held down command your team to take
cover.

The X button will bring up your fire sector, a yellow circle that you move
over your target and then press A to fire upon. Holding the X button will allow
you to bring up grenades that can be selected with the D pad. These include
frag, M203 grenade launcher, and smoke grenades. Bounding moves are accomplished
by setting the movement cursor, pressing and holding A which brings up a fires
sector where you want covering fire to go while moving, and then pressing A
again. This allows two men to move forward first under cover fire, then the
remaining two to join while they are covered. This sounds complicated at first,
but must be mastered to keep your men alive. Ordering suppression fire involves
pressing X to bring up a fire sector, putting the circle over the enemies to
be suppressed, and holding the A button. This allows your team to unleash so
much hell on the enemy that they stay ducked with their heads down, allowing
you to move your other team. As mentioned earlier, suppression fire burns through
your ammo at a much faster rate, and bounding is the safest way to move through
enemy territory.

While in the GPS, pressing the X button will allow a passover by a helicopter
recon flight, that will target enemy positions to the GPS. Also, pressing the
white button allows situational reports (sitreps) back to the commander. Sometimes
he will order you to report in, indicated by a flashing red light on the team
leaders radio. These are usually your save points during the game.

Graphics

Soldiers in the game look very much like there real life counteparts. The detail
on the uniforms is a great touch, even including one soldier that was a New
York City policeman with NYPD on the back of his helmet. Eniviroments are dusty
and have a real middle eastern flavor to them. Clipping issues are nearly non
existant, and draw distance is pretty good. These aren’t the best graphics the
Xbox has to offer, but they get the job done superbly. My only real complaint
is when you’re behind degradable cover, whatever it is comes apart in blocky
pieces. 480p HDTV support is in the game for those lucky enough to have one.

Screenshots Temporarily Unavailable, Sorry.

Audio

Audio is presented in Dolby Digital, with positional sounds working great.
Weapon sounds are very realistic, and your soldiers have some foul mouthed dialog
that will keep you pretty entertained. Music in game consists of an orchestral
score. Sorry, no custom sound tracks here.

Replay Value

Xbox Live and downloadable content are sure to have you coming back for more.
Once through the single player missions there is a variety of cheat codes available
in our cheats forum to bring different gamplay to you soldiers, including the
full U.S Army version of the game, be sure to check them out!

Overall Score

Overall Score: 8.5/10 [not an average]

Additional Comments

I would like to dedicate this review to the memory of Ronald Reagan, 40th President
of the United States of America who passed away this week. A great American
with a vision of freedom and liberty to people of all nations.

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