Fat Ninja

It’s been a long wait. At last year’s E3 I was told to expect the next generation incarnation of the Ghost Recon series to launch alongside the Xbox 360. Well, that tune quickly changed. After a poor showing by Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter (GRAW) at August’s X05 convention, the team at Red Storm delayed the game’s release and went to work on resolving the game’s issues. Before long, they were back on track to delivering yet another blockbuster; and they’ve done exactly that.

I can tell you that the weeks leading up to the game’s release were torturous, made ever more agonizing by every single video clip I found of the gameplay. Articles on many an Xbox 360 site relating the glories of hands-on experiences with GRAW continued to toy with my emotions. As I got closer and closer to getting my own copy, part of me began to wonder if the game could possibly stand against my incredibly high expectations. Well, after a weekend with it, I can tell you that it most certainly has measured up and, in some cases, even surpassed my lofty conjecturing.

Looking first at GRAW’s single-player campaign, you find yourself in the role of Captain Scott Mitchell, a hard-nosed leader in the midst of tracking down a recently stolen weapon known as Guardrail 9 in the streets of Mexico City. As you and your elite group attempt to do this, the Prime Minister of Canada, the U.S. President, and the Mexican President have all converged on Mexico City to finalize a trade-agreement between the three nations. Before long, rebel forces in Mexico City launch a daring coup d’etat, killing the Canadian Prime Minister. When the U.S. and Mexican Presidents go missing, Mitchell and his Ghosts are sent into locate the VIPs and help quell the rebellion.

While the story may not be entirely original I found it to be decent enough to set the stage and really engage me. That and I was really just thrilled to find myself playing a truly next-generation title. Like many of the 360 games in my library, GRAW is visually stunning. Incredible lighting effects combine with highly detailed character models and a brilliant recreation of the sprawling urban jungle that is Mexico City to deliver what is, in my honest opinion, the best looking game I’ve played to date.

While environmental textures aren’t necessarily high resolution, it’s easy to overlook when you consider the sheer scope and diversity of architecture that spreads for block upon block in every direction. Character models are just as beautiful in their detail as the environments are in sheer size. Each individual piece of equipment is meticulously recreated, and the animations are fluid and realistic.

There’s just so much going on visually in GRAW that it’d be impossible for me to really cover every little thing that blew my mind at one point or another in my completion of the campaign. Explosions are just incredible, sending flames and smoke out and up in cinematic fashion. Other visual elements go beyond mere aesthetics, contributing immeasurably to the gameplay experience. Dynamic lighting creates a dialating effect when moving from shade to light, causing temporary distortion that makes aiming more difficult. Enemy jamming devices generate distracting static on your avatar’s heads-up-display (HUD).

Speaking of the HUD, GRAW offers a very unconventional take on how we “look” at gaming. Set in 2013, the game gives us a look at the direction the U.S. Military is moving in through the main character’s cutting edge technology. Using a system called the Cross-Com, you’ll have the ability to monitor your situation not only through your own view, but also through that of any allied unit that’s been patched into your network. For instance, each of the three soldiers at your command has a fixed camera attached to their headgear. Through the use of the Cross-Com system, you can see what they see in real time in a tiny window at the top left section of the HUD.

Now, your men are generally at your side, so you don’t often rely on what they see to assess the situation. However, if you get a UAV (a hovering drone), you can send it out ahead to scout and locate enemy positions (which it will mark and designate with red diamonds). You can also use its mounted camera to survey the terrain ahead of you. Unfortunately, in order to be effective in locating hostile combatants, the UAV has to be at a dangerously low altitude, making it vulnerable to enemy fire.

In addition to the UAV and fellow soldiers, you’ll also find yourself directing fire for accompanying Blackhawk helicopters, M2A2 Bradleys, and Stryker APCs. Not only do you tell them where to go, you also assign targets for them. For example, in the first mission you find yourself sorely outnumbered as you attempt to take a trainyard. Just when things seem to be going to seed, you’ll find a Blackhawk on station awaiting orders. From this point on, you can just sit back, pick targets, give the green-light and watch in real-time as the chopper’s gunner mows through enemy infantry, clearing a path for you and your men.

Mirroring the Cross-Com, the upper right corner of your HUD houses the NAR-Com display. While it doesn’t really serve any function related to gameplay, it serves its purpose of driving the game’s narrative by patching in news feeds and communiqués from your superiors. Further enhancing the narrative is the presentation of missions.

Previous entries in the Ghost Recon series have featured very episodic mission formats. That is to say, upon completing a mission, you’d be taken to an after-action report relating your performance. After that, you’d go into a briefing menu highlighting the next encounter. GRAW offers a welcome departure from this format, offering a flowing narrative that transitions smoothly between levels. From the moment you first touchdown on the streets of Mexico City, Captain Mitchell and his men will find no respite between sorties. After completing one mission, you’ll board a Blackhawk for a quick hop to the next hotzone. Without pause, aside from a few, very brief loading screens, you’ll find the campaign from insertion to final extraction seamless.

The end result of all of these elements is a deep single-player experience. The gameplay moves blisteringly fast, and despite your technological advantages, you’ll find yourself hard-pressed to overcome superior numbers and cunning AI on the part of hostile forces, particularly on the “Hard” difficulty setting. GRAW does a great job of retaining its strong traits as a first-person shooter, however the implementation of loose strategy elements keep both your mind and fingers moving to keep up with the frenetic action.

Attached to GRAW’s stellar single-player campaign is the online support that we’ve come to expect from UbiSoft. Visually speaking, the multiplayer is a marginally scaled down version of the single-player, and while it doesn’t deliver the same punch that its offline counterpart does, it certainly is a looker. Maps are diverse, spanning the breadth of lush jungle to concrete jungle. Maps like Boneyard offer fast-paced close-quarters combat in its maze of wreckage, while others, such as Fishing Village provide stretches of open terrain, boxed in by narrow approaches. Each map is unique in its design, and each one demands diverse strategies.

With abundant multiplayer modes and loads of customization options, GRAW is just packed to the brim with replay value; and again, the series just continues to build upon its own success. One welcome addition to the multiplayer suite is the Co-Op Campaign. With a narrative that parallels the events in the single-player campaign, you now have the option of completing objective-based missions with up to 15 friends online. Granted, with only four missions available in the online campaign, racking up the achievement points and completing them doesn’t take all that long; but with more maps on the way and a host of options to tweak in multiplayer, it’s no wonder EA chose to hold off on launching Battlefield 2.

Final Thoughts

If you hadn’t guessed, I’ve really got nothing bad to say about GRAW. As they’ve always managed to do in the past, UbiSoft has once again made good on all of their promises. From the gorgeous visuals, to a compelling single-player campaign, to its committed online support, GRAW has truly ushered in next-gen gaming.

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