Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2 [X360]

Although it may seem strange on the outside, Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter is an acquired taste. If you were new to videogames, at first glance all the gear and weaponry would make you think that all hardcore gamers would love the the Ghost Recon series. But even now, after Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter sold more than 775,000 units last year, it's still one of those love it or leave it games.

Originally designed for the PC, Ghost Recon was a far more simulation-style game, with precision targeting, one-shot-and-you're-dead situations and a lot of quiet time hiding in the grass. The IGN PC guys used to love this series. Now, in general and because they're PC snobs, they think the series isn't as good. They usually say that kind of thing when a console game switches to the consoles and because they're bitter and jealous. The series didn't get worse; it changed. In part it's become a little easier, but Ghost Recon has become more palettable too. In part it's more reliant on gadgets and tools. It's faster paced, though the the single-player game is still quite tactical. Overall, Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 fuses both the console and the PC mentalities into a hefty whole. The result is still an acquired taste, but instead of drinking sketchy home-made brew, you're drinking Guinness.

First, I'll be straight up, I finished the game. Yes, this is a GRAW 2 preview, and I won't pass any judgments on it in this article, so you won't get a score from me. But the single-player campaign is similar to last year's effort with a few new punches pulled. Special attention is paid to newly improved gadgets and military tools, strangely over-the-top dialogue, a whole lot more vehicular support, and a range of different landscapes. The main thing is that GRAW 2 shouldn't be perceived as the breakthrough game last year's effort was. Last year's game ushered in the next generation of the series. GRAW 2 is more or less a refinement of last year's game, with all sorts of tweaks to AI, graphics, story and gameplay flow. I hesitate to call it GRAW 1.5, but it's more or less all the good things from last year, plus a bunch more. You'll feel familiar with it right away, and you'll notice lots of little changes as you play. Nothing massive has changed its path, but just like the previews I wrote earlier in the year, the game starts slowly and gradually reveals its new feathers.

One of the first situations where I opened my eyes and said, "Oh sh*t!", came about 45 minutes into the game. With my team of three ghosts, the four of us passed across a bridge into a Mexican village square and all of a sudden we were attacked, out-numbered and cornered. The first time through I died because I just didn't know where to go without being shot. The basic layout had me pinned behind a burnt-out car while my ghosts hid a little ahead of me behind columns supporting a circular veranda. Just when I caught up to them and scouted out the situation, my health swindling from green to yellow to red, I saw about eight Mexican rebels in the courtyard. I commanded my team to find closer cover and attack, but they resisted because the cover wasn't good enough. I thought, "Hm… that's smart. I put them in danger and they refused." That's bad military discipline, but it's life-saving behavior. So I peaked around the corner, and in another second the situation had changed from one I thought I could handle to one that blew me away. In addition to the eight guys taking pot-shots at us, a tank drove in and started hurling shots at us. The shots rang out with speaker-rattling base notes, the camera shook, and particles and debris flew every which way.

I kept trying to figure out a way to beat this bad-ass tank, but even a grenade launcher wasn't going to work. After about a minute of deliberating and trying to pick off the solo soldiers, the Narcom (the upper right-hand HUD screen) blinked on to inform me of newly acquired air support. Air support! I had heard about this! What do I get? How does it work? The message ended, and on my Cross-com I noticed there it was, jet fighter support. Holy sh&t. I scrolled from my ghosts to air support. Hell yes. I checked the tactical map to see if I could control the plane from there, but no go. So I popped out and pointed my gun at the tank, pressing up on the D-pad. Sure enough, a red explosion symbol popped up and the command took. Less than three seconds later, and much to my surprise, a US military jet blazed through the sky like a rocket. The bombs quickly arched from beneath it. The screen exploded in smoke and fire, and the sound of a jet could be heard searing the sky in the distance. The whole screen filled with an ascending plume of smoke and particles. A second tank showed up, I repeated the machinations, and just like that, the mission, which just seconds before I had thought a failure, was a success. It took a while to get there, but that was my first real GRAW 2 experience.