High: Realistic squad-based strategy, easy to learn.
Low: Not allot of change over the original.


Ten Hammers is a bridge over troubled waters, right in the middle of Zekistan, a country about to tear itself apart. And guess what? You’ll be on the ground keeping the peace.

The title of Full Spectrum Warrior: Ten Hammers refers to the Tien-Hamir Bridge, in fictional, war-torn Zekistan; the game itself, though, is also a kind of bridge in terms of genre – a strategy game which looks very much like an action shooter.

Full Spectrum Warrior originated as a tactical training simulator for the US Army and, even in the sequel, Ten Hammers, the emphasis remains firmly on strategy. You are in command of two four-man squads (which can be divided again into two-man ‘buddy teams’). The bulk of the game consists of moving carefully from cover to cover, and either outflanking enemy positions, or attacking them with grenades.

FSW: Ten Hammers does try to make some concessions to a more action-shooter style of play by allowing you to briefly control a single squad member in order to take a specific shot. However, the poor implementation of this feature (which is trying to both be and not be a FPS mode) in effect gives you the worst of both worlds.

The rest of the gameplay is pretty good. The basics of ‘Go there’ and ‘Shoot at them’ are easy to master, and switching between squads isn’t too hard either (though remembering exactly where all your men are at one time takes a little getting used to). There are some frustrating elements, however, such as the limitation of ordering men to positions within your field of vision. Sure: realism dictates that you can’t see round corners without poking your head out. But if you already know there’s cover just around that corner, it’s mad to run out into enemy fire just so you can point directly at it.

The other problem with realism is that it doesn’t always equate to fun. Ten Hammers has enough new challenges to keep fans of the first Full Spectrum Warrior interested, but some people way well find the style of play dull and repetitive. After all, this is not a gung-ho shooter, it’s serious.

The graphics aren’t bad – buildings and terrain are nicely rendered, and soldiers and civilians alike move realistically. But there is nothing in the graphics department to rival other current titles, and as such Ten Hammers feels like it’s behind in the looks department.

As if to try and compensate for its fairly average visuals, the game has an interestingly chopped up storyline. And by “interestingly”, I mean “confusingly”. I’m rather a fan of Tarantino films, but the mixed-up chronology here seems fairly pointless. It might be that it fails more because of the execution than because of the idea – the voice acting is a big let down (you really can’t get away with ambitious storytelling styles if stuff like that isn’t good). Whatever the reason, though: it doesn’t come off well.

Nevertheless, this is a good game. It could have been done better, and it isn’t the kind of game everybody is going to like. But it certainly pulls off realistic squad-based military strategy. And if that’s your bag, then there’s a solid single player campaign that will keep you busy for quite some time, and multiplayer to boot.

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Reviewed By:EG Admin Reviewed On: Sat, 22 April 2006 21:48:33 Read:

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