Full Spectrum Warrior: Ten Hammers Preview

The original Full Spectrum Warrior was initially developed as a tactical military shooter, or to put it more precisely, a combat simulation for the Light Infantry in the U.S. Army. At the outset, people believed that the game would amount to nothing more than a mere replica of the R6 series. The shadow of skepticism lifted as soon as the game hit the market. As it turns out, Full Spectrum Warrior was literarily groundbreaking, despite the thin expectations. Mind you, the game wasn't all that lengthy and I guess you could say it didn't have much of a replay value, but on the whole, it entered the gaming scene with a fresh concept that was welcomed by a majority of gamers. The next installment in the game, Full Spectrum Warrior: Ten Hammers, is handled by the crew at Pandemic Studios, who were responsible for bringing us the original. The development team is working on both the Xbox and PC versions of the game.

Hey, I thought I saw a McDonald's sign a few blocks back!

You think we'll be safe behind this piece of junk?

FSW: Ten Hammers is set exactly six months after the previous game. In other words, players will be fighting in Zekistan (a made up backdrop), in the eastern part of it, to be exact. The subtitle of the game (Ten Hammers) is actually how Western soldiers name the Tien-Hamir Bridge, which connects the North and South regions of Eastern Zekistan. The North and South factions are at war and that's where your team comes in. Squads from the US Army and the Multinational UN Coalition are sent as a resource-stealing peacekeeping force. I must admit, I have my doubts about the plot. The original FWS didn't offer much in that department, but that didn't bother me much. Instead, it was really all about the gameplay, which offered some awesome innovations in terms of tactical combat.

Still, Pandemic will try to make the ride a bit more interesting. The story-driven campaign will have about 12 missions, split into four chapters. To improve things slightly, the developers have opted to avoid regular story telling, hence events won't be unfolding in chronological order. Players must fulfill a particular task and then head back into the past when other crucial goals were still incomplete (for instance, when the Ten Hammers Bridge was still in enemy hands). It's not very novel, but it does sound a bit more promising than the previous storyline.

It's good to know that Pandemic is determined to throw in a whole bunch of fresh elements, including the all-new versus mode which will be playable online in the PS2 version, through Xbox LIVE and via the Internet on PC. We've learned that the PS2 version supports up to four players in online matches, while PC and Xbox versions were meant for eight players. You'll be happy to know that all the 12 missions from the main campaign, will be playable in co-op. Multiplayer matches will mostly be objective-driven. For instance, in one particular scenario, one team has to go on a rescue mission to evacuate soldiers that are inside a helicopter, while the other team plays as one of the factions of Zekistan (of course, their goals will be entirely different). So, you can play as US Coalition or you can choose the insurgents. Either way, it will remain a decent challenge, you can be sure of it. When you play as the Coalition, you have to complete your objectives and also make sure no civilians come to harm. On the other hand, playing with the insurgents means you have a lighter arsenal, but can tempt people to join your cause. Anyhow, the game clearly presents an intriguing multiplayer concept.

This time around the crew at Pandemic also means to change the pace of the game. In order to make Ten Hammers faster paced, the development team had to improve the AI. As I recall, the AI in the previous game sometimes just remained idle, while your squad moved about and planned its attack. Now the whole game is much faster thanks to the new-fangled dynamic AI. Your enemies will think and act continually, so players will be required to work a lot faster than before in order to survive and come out of the fray victorious. Consequently, most maneuvers you used against opponents in the first game, sometimes just won't be enough to achieve victory. Luckily, this is where the new feature comes in. As before, players get to fight with two squads, consisting of four soldiers each. In Ten Hammers you'll be able to split these squads into teams of two, which creates a greater tactical advantage and allows your squad to approach the enemy from multiple angles.

Err... guys, the fight's this way.

Ordering search by twos!

Strategy is, of course, one of the most important components of the game. The outcome of any battle situation depends on how well you coordinate your team. Next to Alpha and Bravo squads, you'll now be able to call on Charlie and Delta to act as additional support during skirmishes. It's crucial how you organize and place your troops around the area. It is also vital that your squad gains control of strategic points on the map. That's why the development team decided to allow players to enter buildings and scout for adequate sniper positions. It's cool that you'll be able to divide your team and spread them strategically across the map. However, the efficiency of soldiers in combat depends greatly on additional support they receive from sqaudmates. If one of your soldiers fires from a certain angle, his accuracy will greatly depend on how well he is covered by his sqaudmates. That opens a huge number of possibilities in terms of battle tactics. At any rate, it will be possible to order your troops to fire from buildings at specific targets without having to switch to them... which makes things a bit easier.

Should things get serious, your squad can always call in airstrikes and additional support, such as Bradley APCs and Armored Humvees. The aforementioned vehicles can be controlled or simply used as mobile cover in wide open areas. Clearly, this is another factor that ensures a wider range of tactics during combat.

At this point, it's obvious that Pandemic is preparing this game for current-gen. consoles. It seems the graphics are basically the same as before, aside from extra code optimizations needed due to additional character models that appear on screen. The designers are also looking to take advantages of shaders to beef up the visuals a bit. Overall, the important thing is that they are making an effort to improve on various segments that made FSW a compelling tactical military shooter. It's also comforting to know that the developers are striving to fix a few blunders from the original (such as the AI glitches).

With all the promised new features and improvements, Full Spectrum Warrior: Ten Hammers seems to have all the necessary elements of a good shooter. You can expect the game to hit stores during March 2006.