Full Spectrum Warrior: Ten Hammers

Full Spectrum Warrior: Ten Hammers
Developer(s)	Pandemic Studios Mass Media Inc. (PS2)
Publisher(s)	THQ (Originally) Nordic Games (Current)
Distributor(s)	JP Sega
Director(s)	William Henry Stahl
Designer(s)	Richard Wyckoff
Engine	Proprietary engine (graphics), Havok (physics)
Platform(s)	Windows, Xbox, PlayStation 2
Release date(s)	NA March 28, 2006 NA April 4, 2006 (PC) KO June 22, 2006 (PS2) EU June 23, 2006 JP September 28, 2006 (PS2)
Genre(s)	Real-time tactics
Mode(s)	Single-player multiplayer co-op

Full Spectrum Warrior: Ten Hammers is the sequel to the Full Spectrum Warrior video game. It was developed by Pandemic Studios, published by THQ and released in 2006 for the Xbox, PlayStation 2 and Windows.

Storyline

Six months after the fall of the regime, the coalition had established an interim government to transition Zekistan into democracy, but severe problems were also emerging. Various insurgencies began to plague the country and ethnic divisions were again causing sectarian conflict. Across the country, the Mujahideen Al-Zeki, an Al-Afad loyalist group led by Mullah Abdul Hassan began to fight coalition troops in an attempt to re-establish the old regime. Another key faction was the Anser Al-Ra’id, a northern ethnic Zeki faction led by Mullah Qari Ra’id, seeking northern ethnic Zeki independence in the province of Tien Hamir under his rule. The previously peaceful province and its regional capital city, Khardiman, became a focus of the fighting in the country when Mujahideen forces stage an uprising, bringing them into conflict with American forces, British UN Coalition forces, National Militia forces under the control of regional governor Andrei Zakirov and the Anser Al-Ra’id forces. To make matters worse, Anser Al-Ra’id forces soon turn on American, Coalition and National Militia forces. But British forces were able to re-take the Tien Hamir Bridge from insurgent control and US forces were able to re-take most of the city, halting a possible civil war between the Mujahideen, Al-Ra’id forces and government.

The game was divided into four chapters, each chapter containing three missions. The first chapter takes place in present time, while the other three chapters were precursors to the first chapter.

Chapter 1

A rookie fireteam led by Sergeant Thomas Randolph is partnered up with Sergeant Santiago Mendez's veteran fireteam in the Khardiman Campaign, where their assigned patrol areas were attacked by Al Ra'id forces and also serves as an in-game tutorial for the player. Randolph and Mendez's fireteams repel the assault and eventually capture a warlord until they receive a transmission from their commanding officer that a Sergeant Eric Daniels has been calling for help. Randolph and Mendez lead their teams to the Tien Hamir Monastery, in hopes of saving Daniels, only to find the Sergeant's body in a shack instead.

Chapter 2

Two British Army (incorrectly called the 'British Royal Army' in the game) fireteams led by Sergeant Brian Sims and Sergeant Hyde were assigned to take the Tien Hammir Bridge, and got delayed by Sergeant Daniels requesting their aid while heading for the bridge. Both fireteams help Daniels provide aid to his men and repel the insurgency in his assigned post before storming the Art Center and taking control of the bridge.

Chapter 3

Sergeant Daniels and his men were assigned to destroy cranes and weapons stockpiles at the boathouses. Upon destroying the weapons supply ring, Daniels is asked for help by Sergeant Sims to destroy artillery guns in the Tien Hamir Parliament complex before their commanding officer, Captain Smithson, calls in a devastating airstrike. Being indebted to the British, Daniels and his squad decide to head for the Parliament building unofficially while Sims attempts to delay Smithson from ordering the strike. One artillery gun was destroyed, but Smithson already orders the airstrike on the parliament complex before the squad plants explosives on the second gun, with the squad barely escaping the blast intact. Two soldiers were killed in the blast, while several were wounded.

Chapter 4

While Daniels was separated from his fireteam, he attempts to assemble a squad during the Khardiman uprising, eventually finding two buddy teams led by Corporal Hales and Corporal Nunez. With their help, Daniels helps secure a bus so that he can evacuate the soldiers wounded from the airstrike and repels the attempted Anser Al Ra'id assault, only to find out that two soldiers, Corporal Picoli and Private Ota were reported missing. Daniels and his squad eventually push through Al Ra'id territory trying to protect the bus, and managed to extract Picoli and Ota while en route to the Tien Hamir Monastery. Upon recovering those two soldiers, Daniels and his squad fought their way past Al'Raid forces until securing a landing zone in the gardens. During the middle of extraction, an insurgent armed with an RPG attempts to shoot the CH-47 Chinook only to hit a tree instead, and Daniels rushes to eliminate the threat. Upon the death of the shooter, Daniels orders the Chinook to leave without him while he was being overrun by Al Ra'id forces.

Epilogue

Depending on the player's actions throughout the course of the game, certain soldiers that survive throughout their respective chapters will have a brief text ending on what happens to them after the events of the game during the end-game credits. These endings are shown assuming that the player kept these soldiers (with the exception of Daniels) alive during the game:

• Sergeant Eric Daniels earned a reprimand for abandoning his post prior to the Khardiman uprising. However, he posthumously earned a Silver Star shortly afterward for his actions in helping the wounded escape.

• Sergeant Santiago Mendez leaves the U.S. Army due to guilt for not saving Sergeant Daniels in time. Mendez becomes a beloved high school math teacher.

• Corporal Andrew Devereux returns to Baton Rouge and opens up his lifelong dream restaurant using various Middle Eastern spices.

• Pfc. Alex Silverman serves a brief unsuccessful stint as a stuntman, only to return to the Army as a Master Sergeant training recruits in Fort Benning.

• Pvt. Asher Shehadi remains in the U.S. Army as a career interpreter in Zekistan.

• Corporal Benjamin Lefkowitz stays in the Army as a career soldier as a way of paying his respects to Daniels.

• Achmed Abdullah, a civilian who aided U.S. and Coalition forces during the uprising, formed various councils and is a beloved and respected citizen of Zekistan, despite being initially resented for aiding the military forces.

• Sergeant Brian Sims returns to Zekistan and opens an orphanage.

• Lance Corporal Jeremy Black returns to London and becomes a darts player and drunkard.

• Private Scott Jensen opens up a church in Minnesota after recovering from sustained wounds during the conflict.

• Private Kyle Martz suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder after being evacuated.

Gameplay

The game features improvements and additions in gameplay. New gameplay mechanics such as splitting up fireteams into groups of two were added. The player is given the ability to position fireteams in interior firing positions that negate an enemy's cover.

The game's multiplayer mode enables you to choose between co-op and coalition vs insurgency forces, and the insurgent commanders have the ability to recruit civilians to their side. Each side can also capture safe houses for reinforcements and field medics. Each fireteam member also had a special attribute. The team leader and rifleman are able to snipe an enemy soldier if a part of his body is shown. The Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW) gunner does the suppressing fire while the M203 gunner uses his M203 grenade launcher. Ability to control armored vehicles such as armored personnel carriers (APC) was added. In some missions, the fireteam leaders can call in air strikes with an AH-64 Apache gunship and also control an armored Humvee equipped with a .50 caliber machine gun.

Weapons

A US Army soldier throws a fragmentation grenade.

In the game a fireteam usually consists of four soldiers: a team leader (scoped M4 Carbine/Heckler and Koch HK33), an automatic rifleman (M249 SAW), a grenadier (M4/M203 grenade launcher or an HK33 with an HK79 grenade launcher) and a rifleman (scoped M4 Carbine/HK33). Their weapons have 2 fire modes: a fire sector and precision fire. When assigned a fire sector, the team will fire at anything within that sector, suppressing enemies. The player cannot manually aim the weapon and the soldiers are unlikely to hit an enemy behind cover. To use precision fire a soldier will have to step out of cover, making him extremely vulnerable to unsuppressed enemies, and use the 'special ability' of his weapon. The scoped rifles can snipe an enemy behind cover, the M249 SAW can suppress a large number of enemies (at the cost of ammunition) and the M203 can launch a grenade over a large distance.

In a few missions the player is able to control the M2 Bradley IFV. The 7.62mm machine gun can be controlled with a fire sector and the precision fire uses the M242 Bushmaster. In one mission the player can also control a captured BMP for a short while, which is very similar to the Bradley.

Also in the player's arsenal are the AK-47, a M2 Browning machine gun mounted on an armored Humvee, the M82 Barrett rifle and the SMAW. These weapons are used by Charlie or Delta team which consist of only 1 soldier each.

Reception

Reception

Review scores Publication Score PC PS2 Xbox Edge 7/10[1] 7/10[1] 7/10[1] EGM N/A 5/10[2] 5/10[2] Eurogamer 6/10[3] N/A N/A Game Informer 7.25/10[4] 7.25/10[4] 7.25/10[4] GamePro N/A N/A [5] GameSpot 7.3/10[6] 7.1/10[7] 7.3/10[6] GameSpy [8] [9] [10] GameTrailers N/A 8.1/10[11] 8.1/10[11] GameZone N/A 7.8/10[12] N/A IGN 8.2/10[13] 8/10[14] 8.2/10[13] OPM (US) N/A [15] N/A OXM N/A N/A 7/10[16] PC Gamer (US) 78%[17] N/A N/A The Sydney Morning Herald [18] [18] [18] The Times [19] [19] [19] Aggregate scores Metacritic 70/100[20] 71/100[21] 69/100[22]

The game received "average" reviews according to video game review aggregator Metacritic.^[21][20][22]

References

External links

• Full Spectrum Warrior: Ten Hammers at MobyGames