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Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter
Stepping up and causing
a ripple in the opening shots of the Xbox 360 first wave of titles,
Ghost Recon Advanced War Fighter is very much an awesome game. The
visuals, the sounds and action all make for a most electrifying gaming
experience. Not too say there are not a couple of things in the game
that can give a player cause for pause, but these minor complaints by no
means derail GRAW in anyway. After getting into setting up my team for
an ambush on a small group of enemy transport armor from the top of an
over pass bridge, I just soon forgot about any small gripes I had about
this amazing game. From the first visual of the city stretching out in
front of me in the day time sun to the very first satisfying spectacle
of an exploding transport vehicle I was hooked in.
Those who want to simply do the run and gun gaming as they may have done
in some other titles may find this game not to their liking at all. The
term "cover is your friend" comes to mind when the bullets start flying.
GRAW does a pretty good job at simulating a full out fire fight so much
so that if you don't use cover to your advantage your going to be
hearing the command screaming over the radio that there is captain down
and the mission is scrubbed.a lot.
First of all for those that have never heard of the Ghost recon series
let me do some introductions and then explain the latest mission details
for this latest and maybe the best so far.Ghost Recon. First off, as
the name implies, the player takes command of a group of elite soldiers
who are called The Ghosts. This team of soldiers get all the tough jobs
and they insert deep within any area of conflict, even though the name
implies mostly recon there is more than a few gun battles to be had.
In this latest game, Ghost recon Advanced Warfighter (Or GRAW), there
is some major conflict brewing and soon comes to a head in Mexico D.F. (Districto
Federal). The Ghost Recon team is ordered in with a joint operations
team designed to capture some Mexican military officials who happen to
be selling technology to some rebels in Columbia. Here is where things
hit the fan as they say. The US President and the Canadian Prime
Minister and the Mexican President are all in the Metropolis the sign an
agreement. This is a policy that is designed to control illegal
immigration and the movement of drugs and terrorists in this hemisphere.
Right in the middle of this very public signing the leaders are attacked
by Mexican soldiers. The Ghost recon team is scrambled and ordered to
meet with Secret Service agents that are protecting the U.S President in
order to secure his safety and get him extracted. With the Mexican
leader in enemy hands as well it is up to the Ghosts team to get in
there and kick some butt in a loud precise military manner.
This time around what's
really cool about all of this is of course the weapons, but this time
around other than calling in a mortar strike like other Ghost recon
titles. there are support assets in certain missions, these include
Helicopters, fighting vehicles, and a recon drone that comes in real
handy.
One of the things about this game that really get's the player deep into
the experience of the game is the Cross Com system. A rather interesting
command communications system. In the game it's a communication device
powered by satellite technology. The system is attached to the soldier's
monocle, using the system gives a player in command of this awesome team
a situational awareness that is priceless in battle. Using this system
effectively the player will is able to make better command choices both
in movement and in full blown battles. Using the system the Ghost team
can also control and communicate with other remote allied forces, drones
and air strikes. This comes in real handy when you want to have your own
armor clear out an area or an attack chopper take out some pesky enemy
armor.
The game does an impressive job of making the player feel as if the
world is in deed his to walk around in. right up until the point of
going too far off from the mission area. If that happens the heads up
display gets a bit of static feed back and you get to hear some one call
up over the communications that you're leaving the mission zone. Never a
good idea, so keep on to your task. Even with this in place it still
feels like a huge open world. In several maps there are chances to come
in from a different angle and flank the enemy. Or even get an elevation
advantage which is what I used in one of the earlier missions. Gave me a
thrill and I can't wait for more.
The command system is the basic fare. Move forwards (Advance), regroup,
cover fire. Hold fire, weapons free. But there is enough there to make
one feel as if they are commanding troops in a battle zone. There is
plenty of action to go around, but the pace is not as fast as some other
shooters like Call of Duty or Medal of Honor series of games. In this
game one shot can kill the player's character so use of cover, and
peeking and firing from cover is a must in GRAW.
The visuals of the game are nothing short of spectacular, with particle
effects and advanced lighting that put the 360 through its paces and
maybe just maybe hints at some even more spectacular sites to come. A
sprawling city stretches out before the player and heat rises from the
pavement, once in a while dust kicks up in the distance, leaves or grass
even react when bullets rip through them. It's such a solid visual
package it made the wait for GRAW every bit worth it.
The sounds compliment the sites. Gun fire and explosions all are crisp
and bark out to the senses that this is happening now. One of the cool
effects that has been used in a couple of other games to some effect is
the shell shock effect, say for instance a large explosion goes off near
the character.after that blast its as if the world is muffled until the
characters senses come back to them. Very nice. The ambient sound of gun
fire cracking in the distance and a person yelling or even a baby crying
some place in a building all lend itself to give a feeling of eeriness
as you and your team make there way through the deserted streets. No one
ever peeks out in fear past curtains or close doors as the team passes.
In fact you can almost always be sure that anything that moves is an
enemy.. Music is well done and seems to lend itself well to most of the
action and transitional scenes. The only odd music is the rock sounding
music that comes up during some of the helicopter rides, but this is not
really too annoying at all.it just feels a tiny bit off since the rest
of the game is so solid.
One thing as I noted earlier that bothered me is the fact that some
things seem to be scripted and no matter what the player does, the
outcome is decided. I can understand this though for the sake of story
telling and story pace and even instilling certain emotional responses
in the player.. I won't ruin it for those that have not played this game
yet.but I will say that it did involve a helicopter and I tried the
mission three times just to be sure and sure enough, no matter if I
commanded the chopper to go to another area, they would not listen and
thus get shot down. But as I said. Still nothing to make you throw the
game across the room about.
In the end when the call to battle comes up on the XBOX 360, you better
have Ghost Recon Advanced WarFighter at your command. A solid game with
a lot to offer, well worth having in your 360 collection. Not to Worry
though, if you don't have the XBOX 360 as of yet, the game is available
for the original XBOX. It is almost a different game for that version.
In the XBOX version you have one view, first person but you can now see
your gun. Pretty cool. All in all the game for the original version is
pretty impressive when it comes to the visuals so there is something out
there for every fan. But if you want the absolute ultimate experience,
check out the XBOX 360 version of GHOST RECON ADVANCED WARFIGHTER. Play
it on PC, Xbox, Xbox 360 and PS2.
Have fun, play games.
Edwin Millheim
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