THQ's Full Spectrum Warrior (FSW) was a diamond in the rough during 2004's summer drought, a very enjoyable real time strategy adventure that brought the genre kicking and screaming into the third dimension. It also plunged us into the war on terror, as we commanded our soldiers and navigated them through hostile Middle Eastern environments. Therefore, since the original fared pretty well at retail, it goes without saying that it deserves a sequel and THQ and developer Pandemic Studios have delivered. Full Spectrum Warrior: Ten Hammers contains everything fans loved about the first game except it features significant gameplay improvements, the type that may catapult this title to greatness.

Much like its predecessor, Ten Hammers takes place in the war-torn Middle East, a land that is rife with insurgents looking to put the big hurt not only on its own people but the foreign militaries occupying their home. You play as a squad commander and you lead groups of soldiers down city streets and through narrow alleyways taking out terrorist scum. It's an RTS, so you won't actually be pressing any triggers or lobbing grenades. Instead your men do it for you. All they ask is that you don't stupidly position them, because if any die their demise will spell doom for you and the mission (of twelve) that you're trying to complete.

While the original FSW's gameplay was pretty spot on, Pandemic isn't content to rest on its laurels, which is why the game's developers have been busy pumping Ten Hammers full of new features. For starters, there is a plethora of different army guys for you to control, including U.S. Ranger Forces, U.S. Light Infantry, and Multi-National U.N. Coalition Forces. In fact, you'll be in control of a whopping 32 soldiers broken up into the following four fire teams: Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, and Delta. Variety is, of course, the spice of life, so it'll be interesting to see what equipment each soldier carries, and, as you probably already assumed, all of the weapons and vehicles are authentic.

Ah yes, vehicles. This time around you can control mechanized units such as HUMVEES and Bradley Tanks, complete with machine gunners, and this should go a long way to giving this game even more variety and depth. You can also enter buildings and place snipers in the windows, enabling your teams to capture the high ground and thus gain the advantage, though they can be just as effective splitting heads from behind cover. You have a lot more options this time around and your men are much smarter, so if you place a sniper behind a car, he can shoot through an empty window.

The game's story is told through the eyes of soldiers from different countries, allowing you to see the war from various perspectives. You're actually told how the story ends as soon as you boot up the single-player campaign, much like Ubisoft's Brothers in Arms or the film Pulp Fiction, and you'll need to go through the entire game to see how you arrived at that point.

More thought has also been given to the soldiers themselves, as each of your team of 32 has a back-story. They'll even react to your actions, and there will be tons of dialogue giving you their assessments and providing positive or negative feedback. Their emotions can also get the best of them, so if they see something graphic they might vomit or cry their eyes out. Also, if you neglect to care for your wounded (this time you can send a single soldier to save a downed man instead of ordering the entire squad to go), he'll die and be replaced with someone else for the next mission, a feature that should go a long way to instilling within us a greater sense of responsibility.

If you played the original FSW then you know that situations can escalate in a hurry. One wrong move, and you'll be writing letters to your men's families. Pandemic obviously wants you to learn from your mistakes, which is why it's put in place a replay system that'll allow you to see where you screwed up. It should be a valuable tool that'll help us map out strategies and plan our next attack, though the improved A.I. aren't going to make things easy. This time around enemies are unscripted, meaning you'll never know what to expect when you restart a mission. They'll also re-spawn from certain points around a map, so if you retreat and run back the way that you came, there will be a fresh set of bad guys waiting for you.

In addition to the robust single-player campaign, there are also various online multiplayer modes. You can play through the entire game with a friend or battle multiple opponents as you pit your squad against the best of the best of the best. If you elect to team up there will be numerous objective-based missions to complete. However, if you'd rather make your online opponents eat hot lead there will also be several versus modes. Either way, Xbox Live, the PS2's online network, and PCs around the country will be lit up with gunfire and massive explosions.

The first FSW was no graphical slouch, but the sequel bests it visually, but just slightly. While the character models look the same, the environments appear to be much larger and more detailed. The varied locales are full of burned out cars, billowing smoke, debris, splintered wood, busted street signs, smoldering buildings, and other objects, and all of the jeeps, tanks, and other vehicles look superb.

Unlike last year, we're not going to be treated to a new Full Spectrum Warrior this summer because Ten Hammers isn't going to be released until early 2006, which is a quite a bummer, but since this game already looks very impressive, Pandemic will use the upcoming months to ensure that this kick @$$ sequel turns out to be one of the new year's biggest hits. Strap on your gear, load your rifle, and plan the attack. There's a world to save!