Full Spectrum Warrior

[Eclipse]

I know this has been out for awhile, but I picked it up about a month ago and its been festering since. this is my take on the game:

I'm a little upset after attempting to play for the last few weeks. The problems with this game are not in how the core mechanics of the game work or the design of the levels or the abstract representations of cover. The problem lies fully with two very specific decisions: use of save points and the no friendly casulatie ROE.

I'm sorry it doesn't take but a glance into the history of the past 3000 years of war to understand that while tragic, people die in war. So telling me or any other squad leader to in effect capture a city while taking no losses is in a word ludicrous.

Add onto to this the "sitrep" points that force you to replay large chunks of the levels over and over until you remember every enemy location and scriped event until you finally get to the next one and you have a disaster waiting to happen.

The final piece that pushes the game over the edge is the total lack of response your squads have. Case in point, there is no cover from where you are to the cornder of the building you want to move out to. You set one squad to cover your six(alpha) and tell the other(bravo) to move up. Bravo is about two feet from the corner when a target runs around it. Does bravo engage? dive for cover? nope. They keep running right past him. Ok maybe thats an isolated issue one that doesn't come up much. Next case: Alpha is give a bounding move order with a fire sector to suppress a known enemy position. In the process of the move order, the enemy moves out of the cone an advances toward alpha. Alpha does not redirect fire on the target. The target then walks withing two feet of the forward elemts of alpha, who are now blindly watching the empty position, and proceeds to mow alpha down.

If taken individually these design decisions would simply be annoying, but when you add them together you have a recipe for disaster. Unless you enjoy venting at your squads stupidity and replaying 1/3 of a level for the nth time pass on this one.

Graphic: adequate,

Sound: great, but a little heavy on the language, an option would be nice.

Gameplay: 5 (for the core mechanics)

Design: 1 (failure to make product accessible)

Overall: 1 (More like all rough and no diamond)

[Captain McMahon]

Wait until Full Spectrum Warrior: Ten Hammers comes out