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Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter
Continuing this
brilliant series on PC, 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 are 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, you better have
Ghost Recon Advanced WarFighter at your command. A solid game with a lot
to offer, well worth having in your collection. 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. Play it on PC, Xbox, Xbox
360 and PS2,
Have fun, play games.
Edwin Millheim |
