Full Spectrum Warrior

The good: innovative concept
The bad: extremely limiting gameplay
If it's true that this game was used by the U.S. Army to train its combatants, then it's of no wonder that they're still in Iraq. Seriously though, Full Spectrum Warrior should have been titled Half-Assed Attempt with its icky graphics, slow-as-a-turtle game pace, and almost non-existent military-ness.

Don't be fooled into thinking that this game is another action-romp through yet another non-descript Middle Eastern locale. Well, actually you do venture into a fictional Middle Eastern locale but there's no hands-on action here. Think of this game as a cross between chess and a really slow-paced game of hide and seek. You'll have control of up to three teams at once and you'll guide them around a bleak, pixilated cityscape. The name of the game is moving from cover to cover and looking for those badly-detailed tangos. Supposedly, you use actual military tactics to flush out terrorists from their hiding grounds including suppression fire, covering fire, and an assortment of grenades, but in practice all these feel limiting and there's no variety throughout the whole game.

I'd have liked it if more military tactics, weapons, concepts made it into the game; then I'd have forgiven its annoying trial and error nature and piss-poor presentation. But, as it is, Warrior just barely breaks the mark of 'experiment' and comes out not nearly good enough to warrant some interest. (2/5)