Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter
- March 10, 2006 19:19 PM PST
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Although it misfires in some instances, Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter explodes on the Xbox 360 with enough action on Live to keep even armchair generals busy for hours on end.
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War is Not Ugly
It's the near future and the U.S. (as always) is still looked upon as the world's police. This time, Mexico calls in help as its government is being overthrown by trigger-happy radicals. Answering the call, the U.S. sends in the Ghosts, a special operations group that has the combined characteristics of today's Special Forces and Rangers units. In short, your objective as Ghost commander is to guide your team to infiltrate high-risk areas and then blow tons of stuff up. And blowing stuff up never looked so good.
Military incursions should always look this fine. The Tom Clancy franchise has always stayed true to its realistic presentation of modern-day combat, and Advanced Warfighter is no exception. The game's visuals is its centerpiece, a direct and effective invitation for all Xbox 360 owners to see why their system currently reigns champion in having a powerful graphics engine. You actually feel like you're in a gun-downed urban sprawl of Mexico City, complete with towering office buildings, hillside shanty towns, and unwelcoming resident neighborhoods. Other graphical eye pleasers that shine include slick visual effects like gun fire and exploding armored vehicles to your team's detailed fatigues. Truly, Advanced Warfighter's visual presentation is a force not to be reckoned with.
Control Yourself, Man!
The visuals may be on target, but Advanced Warfighter's controls in the single-player campaign bites the bullet. It's been an unfortunate and ongoing theme in the Ghost Recon series, yet the wonky control scheme still hasn't been fixed. Your teammates still walk in front of you while you're busy firing off rounds, and for some reason, your comrades neglect to automatically find cover once fired upon. They'll even sporadically move directly into a hot zone on their own without your command.
The frustration continues when you need to direct a tank or helicopter. While the element of commanding ground and air support adds to gameplay depth, juggling between that and your teammate's movements is just too much for your fingers -- especially when gun fights are occurring in every direction. Additionally, when using night vision during evening missions, your line of site is completely gone. This mode may be a representation of an authentic night vision experience, but in the game, it translates to limited maneuvering as everything is just a blur without any detail. Where's the fun in that?!
The Buddy System
The online play is what saves this otherwise trying experience in Advanced Warfighter. A plethora of game modes--from the usual capture-the-flag and deathmatch to team co-op campaigns--offer hours of Xbox Live action. The multiplayer maps are large enough (and fully detailed) to accommodate 16 trigger-happy players at once, without any sign of slow-down or loss of frame-rate. Working together as a team with awesome firepower at your fingertips never gets boring.
Truly, if it wasn't for the multiplayer mode, then Advanced Warfighter would have been a marginal soldier with only the visuals to back him up. If you're not on Xbox Live yet, then Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter is a good reason to sign up and get connected. Don't get left behind in this war.
