Fat Ninja

I spent quite a few hours with the GRAW 2 multiplayer demo last night, so I figured I’d post some impressions right quick. On the surface, the game handles much the same way GRAW did, so the learning curve in that regard should be nil for any experienced player. That’s not to say that GRAW 2 is identical to its predecessor, though.

Graphically speaking, GRAW 2 shows marked improvements in texture detail, visual effects, and, particularly, in the game’s lighting engine. Textures are a lot more tactile in appearance, and it really brings GRAW 2’s multiplayer closer to delivering the visual excellence found in the solo campaign. There’s still a noticeable gap there, but UbiSoft has taken notable steps in their efforts to bridge it.

Expect heavy resistance…

GRAW 2 also has a lot more little visual bells and whistles going for it. Explosions look phenomenal with their billowing fireballs and shimmering heat waves. And while small things like spent shell casings collecting at your feet and rolling down hills don’t necessarily impact gameplay, they really contribute to the atmosphere of realism that GRAW 2 is pushing for.

Other visual effects have a heavy influence on your gameplay experience. GRAW 2 features some of the most dynamic lighting effects I’ve seen in a game. The dancing shadows of tree branches sway along the jungle floor and against the sides of buildings are not only beautiful to watch, they can make picking camouflaged opponents out of the shade-dappled landscape a real challenge.

The result is a much more measured experience. Where GRAW ventured into the run-n-gun territory that was more the domain of Rainbow Six, GRAW 2 seems to be trying to bring the franchise back to its roots by once more making stealth and patience skill factors without sacrificing the fast-paced brand of play that the series had started to move towards with Ghost Recon 2 on the Xbox.

This warehouse may as well be the O.K. Corral

The medic skill brings a new dynamic to the gameplay, reinforcing the importance of teamwork while helping to make GRAW 2 even more immersive. There’s a new kind of challenge found in saving a fallen comrade amid a hail of enemy fire, and a genuine sense of triumph in the appreciation of a team-mate that you just saved from exile to spectator mode. Ultimately, though, the medic ability will really only impact matches with limited or no respawns. Let’s face it; saving a team mate who’s just going to respawn is a wasted gesture that’s not worth the risk.

But it’s not all roses, folks. My gripes are fairly minor, but they nonetheless can cause some potential in-game aneurisms. First and foremost, the fact that these highly trained, equally lethal soldiers can become hung up on ferns and shrubbery is, I’ll be frank, ridiculous. The first time you run into it, you might think to yourself, “That’s kinda lame.” But when you get mowed down because you got stuck trying to strafe through some vegetation then you and I can talk about the true nature of its suckage.

GRAW 2’s Co-Op Mode Is No Joke

I also don’t like how time-consuming it can be to switch my rate of fire, but this isn’t an issue that’s unique to GRAW 2. Like GRAW before it, switching your rate of fire in GRAW 2 is a matter of holding down the A-button and selecting it with the D-pad. Surely, the act of going from single-shot to burst is fairly instinctual to such an elite unit as the Ghosts, yet it takes what, in gameplay terms, is a palpable eternity. On a personal note, I really wish you could earn points for being a successful medic, as I think it’d really encourage players to stick their necks out for a team mate.

Still, gripes like these are overlooked fairly easily when measured against everything else that GRAW 2 promises to deliver. On the adversarial front, new game modes like “Takedown” offer a completely new experience for the franchise (Think “Team Deathmatch” with a purpose). On the cooperative front, unforgiving AI and tough objectives should make for a much more challenging campaign this time out. With its release slated for next Tuesday (expect it in stores on Wednesday), this week couldn’t go by any quicker. Thankfully, I have the demo, Crackdown and the forthcoming Alien Hominid to help eat up the hours and days.

Share This