G.R.A.W

Ok Play.com lets be friends again, let’s put behind us the fact that you took three months to post me a hard drive and a headset for my 360; loosing one headset in the process. Let’s not dwell on this especially when you dropped off a copy of Ghost Recon 3 this morning.

Since Dan first introduced me to the Tom Clancy range of Ghost Recon game’s I’ve been pretty much hooked. I first tried the game after moving from Operation Flashpoint, it did not have the same hook at OFP but it was a great first person shooter with some classic online play.

When I switched to Mac’s I took a copy of Ghost Recon with me, however the news of a second version was on the way. When I went to the Games Stars Live show the playable version of GR2 was for me the game of the show; forget Halo2! I was a bit disapointed to hear that the PC version of this game was shelved as they wanted to concentrate on the new version; Advanced Warrior.

Today Ghost Recon Advanced Warrior hit the shelves and here is my take on it:
First off I really can not stand the whole G.R.A.W. thing, feels more like Tony the Tiger, just stick with GR3 or something. Anyway that aside I had seen some pictures of the game play and it looked to be sticking with the whole, visior HUD style display. This was tried in the last Rainbow game and for me it never worked, I hated the whole highlighting of the enemies and the micky mouse feel of things. True to word this is in the new GR game and after a bit of time it is growing on me, in fact now I do love the feature and miss those red highlights.
The game itself has moved on from it’s frantic first person shooter roots, it is now… well a conbination of Ghost Recon, Full Spectrum Warrior and bit of Operation Flashpoint thrown in for good measure. You will find that you spend more time peeking from around corners and using the cover of objects more in this version. The way you move your team is very similar to the Full Spectrum Warrior game, select a position and direct them, the icons are very similar. The ability ot collect fallen foe’s weapons is a function along with the new addition of directing extra vehicles/equipment such as APC and the new drone!
The game itself is ruled by the very clever hub of the game, you can find some more details on the background of this here. The HUD offers such a great deal of information in such a unique way, it has taken the idea from picture in picture and once you get used to in it really creates a great environment.
The whole game itslef is set in a Mexican suburb, as you progress through the levels you do get the chance to look back accorss the skyline and see where you have come from, really giving the game a feel of a true for the city. Lighting is another majoy player in creating the evironment in this game. The details of the sun and the lighting in each level is simply amazing, you even get sun blindness as you move from daylight to shade.

The single player side of the game is addictive and really drags you in, most of the missions start with you on your own and then when the crap hits the fan you get you team mates and really start to clear up.

The online playing is where the game really opens up, so far it is the best online game for the 360 (well in my opinion) There are the usual online game modes for solo play but now the game supports co-op campaign play for upto 16 players. There are special maps and campaigns for the multi player online play.

Of course there are problems with the game, otherwise you would never buy another. One of my biggest problems is with all the peeking and hiding behind objects when you go to shoot from cover you find the charactor not so repsonsive. This makes the game feel a little bit slow in that respect but then I found the second version of the game a lot slower than the first. I think it is a healthy trade off for what the game delivers.
Of course with is a Ubisoft developed game and where previous games such as Rainbow6 were stunning online with Xbox Live the second Ghost Recon was a bit of a let down with games loosing connection and booting players at random. Whilst I’ve not had a lot of play time I have been booted twice from games, not a great start but hopefully this might have something to do with the amount of people hitting Live to play this game.

Final views are if you have a 360 this game is well worth a look, even if your not really into first person shooters, it is that good really. However with FightNight Round 3 released on the same day this could be a hard challenge.