Review - Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter (xbox 360)

The year is 2013; the army is staging a military coup of Mexico City. The Canadian Prime Minister has been killed, The Mexican President is in hiding, the US President is missing, and Tom Clancy's long running Ghost Recon is making it's next generation debut. You take the role of Capt. Scott Mitchell, commander of an elite group of covert operators called The Ghosts, and armed with the latest in military technology, your mission is to take care of a deposed Mexican general, and put things back the way they should be. Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter is the first game for Microsoft's fledgling Xbox 360 system to truly scream "Next Gen!", and rightly belongs on any action fan's shelf.


Developed jointly by Ubisoft Paris and Ubisoft's Red Storm Entertainment studios; Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter (GRAW) really pushes the series beyond what has been seen on the PC and consoles before now. Technology wise, the game is a marvel of game design; it brings elements to the single player game that haven’t been seen in the crowded third person shooter market in the past. It also provides for a near seamless game play experience. Gone are the standard fare, Return of the Jedi-style briefing screens complete with bleep bloop computer readouts and holographic maps that have become so tired in the tactical shooter genre, and say adios to those between level cut scenes, all have been replaced with in game briefings and an extensive heads-up display to keep you oriented. Nothing breaks the flow, the game continues to feel like one seamless experience, and keeps the urgency ratcheted to the max, throughout the duration of the runtime. When you leave one area, you jump onto a Black Hawk, you watch the city move below and lay down some fire in some instances from the Hawk's mini-gun, then you dismount at your destination with naught but a 2 second black screen, day turns to night and then to day again throughout the duration.


GRAW uses a 3rd-person, over the shoulder view by default, similar to the precise aim mode in splinter Cell or the view in Resident Evil 4, but you can switch the camera to left or right shoulder at will, you can also switch to a classic "gun-less" first person view a'la the original Ghost Recon, but I feel that 1st person heavily restricts your view, and hampers situational awareness, it's really there to silence the old school fans of the series I figure. Movement wise you're looking at the now traditional dual analog config, with a number of bells n whistles. The first time you click down on the left stick to crouch or lay prone while you happen to be in a full run you're in for a treat. Your character convincingly slides into the crouch position or drops foreword onto his stomach. Weapons and such are also realistically portrayed, the attention to detail is astonishing, soldiers will cradle their weapons in the crook of their arms while low crawling, and will roll left or right to retrieve spare ammo or grenades while prone, it's a subtle touch, but it adds greatly to the realism. The controls are functional, and beautifully smooth, this game plays like a dream.


Mission objectives are outlined using an interface tool called the cross com, which essentially is an LCD device that overlays tactical information in your field of view. You'll get objective markers which outlay where you have to go next, as well as enemy and friendly positions, and other tertiary locations. It may sound daunting, but it's really very user friendly. You can also bring up a tactical map, a 3-d representation of the current mission area, and see precise locations for all of these markers in a 3-dimensional space. You can perform recon using either your squad mates, or the military's Cipher drone. Send either of these elements ahead, and as enemies are spotted they'll appear as markers both on your HUD and your tactical map. It makes things much easier than rounding the corner and being taken down, and believe me, any help is good help, as this game is a difficult bitch, especially on the "Hard" setting (which is a ton of fun if you're looking for a game that keeps you on your toes). Despite the difficulty, the game never really falls into the "Trial and Error" rut that plagued some of the previous entries, you genuinely feel that when you get owned (and you will get owned), it's because you fouled something up, not because the game is punishing you. The missions are also not your average "go here, do this" missions either. The structure and objectives are dynamic, and can change amidst the chaos without a moment's notice. Squad mate control is handled very well, simply tapping on the cross pad will issue orders to either your squad, your Cipher drone, or one of the support units you may pick up along the way (like an M2 Bradley APC or a Black Hawk Helicopter) Issuing orders is a breeze, and the AI does a great job of following your instructions, or holding their own when you're hands off. Yes, your boys may sometimes run into a firefight, but it usually feels like a natural foul up rather than any fault of the AI, and Incapacitation is handled quite well. You're given a minute or two to get to your downed squad mate and patch them up before they expire, but if someone dies, they're gone.


Then there's the multi-player portion of the game, which is deep and robust enough to be a stand alone game that’s all its own. All of the typical modes are there - your standard free for all and team based death matches, capture the whatever, king of the hill, all that jazz. Like the single player game, where the multi excels is in what it brings to the table that hasn't been seen before. What’s the best of the bunch? How about 16 player co-op against a swarm of AI opponents? Far from the typical bot-matches of Timesplitters or Perfect Dark, this puppy is a fully featured 4 level campaign that can take up to 4-5 hours to play through completely. These suckers are HARD, you'll need a crack team of players here, and the experience is always a blast. Throw real-time speech with your teammates with your snazzy Xbox Live headset, and this thing is just amazing. Not only the best multiplayer experience on the 360 right now, but one of the single best multiplayer games to ever grace a console. It's that good! Some of the control features of the single player game get the axe, but the multiplayer game play is tuned a little faster and a little more ruthless, which renders some of the more methodical control aspects useless anyway. Rest assured what's needed is there, and what isn't is left in the single player game. You can also play some great scenarios using the standard multiplayer options - nothing like you and 4 or 5 of your buddies trying to wipe 40 hostile troops off of a large map in under 10 minutes with no respawn options. Intense? You bet your ass! If someone gave me a choice between this and Halo 2, I’d pick GRAW 10 times out of 10.


Graphically speaking, GRAW is a showcase for the next gen. All of the snazzy effects you've heard about and can't pronounce are in full effect. Mexico City looks downright gorgeous, baking in the equatorial sun, or under cover of darkness. Textures look photo real, and lighting effects are stellar throughout. Characters are well detailed, with fully bump-mapped uniforms and excellent animation throughout. The transitions from run to walk, to prone positions etc are all seamless. You won't see any robotic or stiff movement. The environment also wears under the weight of firefights, bullet hits send fragments of dust and brick, wood, or whatever spraying in a realistic fashion, bullet holes appear on virtually all structures, windows shatter, and best of all, explosions look downright gorgeous! The first time a stray grenade impacts with a parked car and sends it flipping end over end in a stunning display of smoke and flame, you'll be floored. Take a look at the palm trees swaying gently in the breeze, or debris shuffling around the vacant streets of Mexico City, or notice that you can see the machining of metal pattern on the inside of your sniper scope when doing a little headhunting, and you'll understand just how fantastic a job was done with these visuals! Physics are applied to all objects as well, making death animations and the disruption of stationary objects look equally awesome. The multiplayer game does take a slight hit graphically, losing the mad high dynamic range (read "blinding sunlight") lighting of the single player game (which makes sense considering the multiplayer shifts location to Guatemala, and features a more overcast look), but still looks excellent, one level takes place on a few ships in dry-dock during a nighttime rainstorm, and my god it looks incredible. To split hairs, it's a little bit of a drag that weapons are rendered as a single object, which makes reloading look a little fake, as character models grab invisible clips and insert them into weapons visibly holding magazines already, but this is nitpicking of the highest caliber, the game looks bloody amazing, probably the best looking action game available on the 360, and truly a next-gen spectacle.


Audio is every bit the equal to the graphics. The 5.1 sound is beautifully separated, sharp enough to puncture your eardrums, and employs all sorts of neat effects. The way a grenade explosion, or standing too close to a firing tank, causes the sound to drop out, reverberate around you, and whine slightly is perfectly executed, the rattle and hum of gunfire is near perfect, not too overbearing, not too subdued. Even silenced weapons have a wonderful effect. The streets of Mexico City in the single player game resound with environmental noises which, even though the city is all but deserted thanks to the fighting, make it seem alive. Music doesn't play a huge role, but when it does come into play, it does a great job of drawing attention to itself, particularly cool is how they use licensed music in some of the helicopter runs, starting as an adrenaline pumping soundtrack to set the scene, fading "into the game" as such, sounding like it's coming from a ghetto blaster or something tucked under one of the Black Hawk's benches while the crew chief issues orders or shoots the breeze, then blaring back to life. The orchestral stuff that appears throughout the game is your standard fare Tom Clancy military thriller stuff, which is to say it's great, if not entirely original. Voice acting ranges from solid to excellent. This one is a great showpiece for an expensive home theatre setup.


Bottom line, there's really not too much to complain about. Yes, it's still a third person tactical shooter, if you didn't like Socom or Ghost Recon 2, you're probably better off ignoring this game's existence. On the other hand, if you like playing a bit of soldier-boy alone, or online with friends, it just doesn't get any better than GRAW. The weapon load outs are extensive, and the technical aspects of the game are unparalleled. If you own an Xbox 360, and you're an action gamer, you need this game. If you're a huge fan of the whole Tom Clancy military shtick and you don't own an Xbox 360, well, you need to get one, and you need this game!


Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter is rated "T" for Teen. It's not overly gory, but yeah, you shoot people. 8 year olds shouldn't be fighting a war, online or off.