This means war!

Originally recruited by the military to create a War Simulator for the then covert operation of training the soldiers about MOUT combat even in their vacation, Pandemic's Full Spectrum Warriors is a true war-time simulator. In short, FSW is a no-relation-with-Hollywood game. Infact, a look at the trailer would change your ming about Half life 2 being the king of all games.

MOUT, or Military Operations on Urban Terrain, is becoming the only kind of battlefield available today. This is either because of the fast growth of cities or becuase of civilian insurgencies that is plaguing our planet. MOUTs are thousands of times more deadly than a desert or open field operation. A Soldier's fear of MOUTs spring from the fact that they have to walk, eat, shoot and take cover in the enemy's own backyard.

The game is set in contemporary times at a place called, not coincidentally, Southern Zekistan, a fictional country experiencing the real world problems of ethnic cleansing and terrorist sponsorship.

Everything about FSW is different from the run-with-your-guns-ablaze kind of FPS that is prevalent today. For starters, in some operations you don't get to shoot a single bullet. Just command your men to do so. The game is based on real life scenarios and expect you to act like you are in one. The game is more of a soldier's fodder than your normal FPS gamer's.

Though I am yet to buy the game, which I doubt I will, the laurels and accolades that it had received is simply awesome. The game's trailers and screenshots are also a must see. FSW excels at all levels: graphics, sounds, physics, game play, user interface, voice acting, realism....

Saying that this is the best war game is an understatement. In the game, you can employ all the tactics and strategies that you would employ in the real world. The website provides a list of tactics that can be tried out in the game. Some are like providing "for the effects" gunshots while your team mate runs accross an open space, moving in "Stack-formation" along side a wall or a vehicle, using smoke grenades and coverfire to block out the enemie's sight, searching for weapons on enemy dead bodies with two soldiers covering you and a third soldier guarding the body, and the list goes on....

The above tactics apart, the game also supports a wide variety of strategies. Since the game relies on realism, don't expect to see Soul cubes and UFC Plasma guns from DoomIII.

And talking of weapons, something has to be said about the game's physics. Taking cover behind structures is what you will be doing a lot. Expect the same from the terrorists as well, only the terrorists will be sitting in their own house cooking some home-made bombs in their kitchens, to lob at you when you pass by their windows. While taking cover, the "stack formation" comes in handy. But don't expect your cover to remain forever. Building's walls chip away naturally, as bullets and bombs wear them out. Also, don't stand too close to your cover wall, lest you want the concrete chips inflict damage to your face. Bodies too behave naturally to bullet wounds.

Unlike in contemporary games where you are either alive or dead, FSW characters can become injured in the spots where they are actually wounded. Enemies fight even till all they can do is pull the trigger. But as soldier or seargent, depending on what you are, you are supposed to help out other soldiers that are wounded. One of General Patton's many quotes comes to my mind:

"The point is not to die for your contry,
The point is to make some other bastard die for his"


Another war game that was recently released with much controversy is "Shellshock: Nam'67"
The game's cover says :

" "The fear, chaos and atrocities" of our country's (US) involvement in South-East Asia "

and infact, the above statement about summarizes the entire game. What the above statement seems to miss are heads of various men and women on stakes, men being beheaded, diced, sliced, smashed, etc, watching your fellow soldier writhe in pain as he is caught in a vietnamese booby-trap, captured vietnamese soldiers and farmers committing suicide and a lot more common violence, only in close-up.

The game, according to the makers and some critics, is filled with the same fear that US soldiers faced in vietnam. Booby-traps galore, along side headless bodies lying in a pool of blood. And if that ain't gritty enough, you can return to base camp and visit the local brothel.

Your life in the vietnam camp is spent watching the above mentioned visuals in gritty detail, coming back to the base camp and then going back to watch them again. So you will find yourself spending more time in the basecamp.

The base camp is more closer to home than the paddy fields of vietnam. Some 67's radio hits blares from the bull-horn speakers. You can buy a cool one from the bar and sip on it while listening to a DJ. You can also check out the hospital to "visit" the nurse there.

Realism and bringing out the truth behind wars aside, truly, do we need such games? After all these years of playing sugar-coated games which potrays death as a mere delay before respawning, how much of a shock will these games be? With the Doom series getting the blame for bringing gore and violence into teen minds, where will these games be?

All those ethics and morals apart, would you be buying these games? Most people don't want to invest in no-fun games. But times are a changin, with "Counter Strike" like games coming to the front, maybe everybody will get these war simulators and play someday.

But until that day, if you enjoy button bashing action games, then these simulators are not for you. Though I am not sure about "Shellshock:Nam'67", the visuals and other realisms of Full Spectrum Warrior are nuff reasons for buying it.