If you didn’t play the first Full Spectrum Warrior game, then Ten Hammers will come as a bit of a surprise to you. Ten Hammers may be a military game set in a war in Central Asia, but it is not the first-person shooter that you might expect it to be. Full Spectrum Warrior began life as a training aid for leaders in the US Army that emphasized the tactics required to succeed in urban combat situations and this genesis has resulted in a unique tactical military game that is more of a real-time strategy game than it is a squad-based shooter.

Your squad under fire

Ten Hammers takes place in the fictional Central Asian nation of Zekistan, a war torn nation that could easily pass for Afghanistan or Iraq. The story really takes a backseat to the action, though, as you’ll find yourself in one mission after another that requires you to make your way through hostile urban environments. The manner in which you do make your way is what sets Ten Hammers apart from other military games. Rather than controlling an individual soldier you are put in control of a four-man fire team. You issue movement orders to the team as a whole by using the left analog stick to designate the destination and then pressing a button to give the command. Your team then moves on its own to the new position where it will await your next order. Combat is handled in a similar manner – you use an onscreen circle to specify a fire sector and your team will then attempt to take out any enemies in the area on their own. The object here is not to take out all of the enemies on your own lone wolf style, but rather to out-maneuver your enemy and gain an advantageous firing position without unnecessarily endangering your team.

If you played Full Spectrum Warrior this will all be familiar to you, but you’ll find some new features in Ten Hammers. You now have the ability to use the special skills of each of your team members on an individual basis. The leader and rifleman can be used as a sharpshooter to pick off an enemy as he pops his head from behind cover. After selecting the leader you are given a scope view that you use to designate the target. You do not need to aim the shot – just point the leader in the right direction and indicate when the shot should be taken. The gunner can be ordered to lay down heavy suppressing fire on an enemy position to allow the rest of the team to advance. The grenadier can fire grenades at enemies behind cover, through windows, or to out small buildings or obstacles. It’s a little strange that the game only gives you partial control over this type of weapons fire – if it is simulating tactical command than this is too much control and if it instead wants to add more of an action element to the game then it is too little. As it stands it just adds extra steps to actions that need to be taken under fire and unnecessarily complicates things.

Ten Hammers gives you more flexibility in your battles than the original game thanks to a few new features. You can control multiple teams and quickly switch between them with the Y button, making it easier to suppress and advance. You can even split your four man team into two teams of two, which is useful in situations where you want to direct your fire from multiple locations. You’ll even be able to take control of an armored vehicle, which will effectively become another fire team for you, accessible by switching to it with the Y button. Vehicles are controlled in the same way as fire teams – you move the cursor to the desired destination and issue a move order. Firing is more complicated, and more so than it needs to be, as you need to switch to fire mode, select the fire zone, and then issue the fire order before the main gun will open up.

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