Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter

The finest game released for the Xbox 360 so far?

As in Ghost Recon 2, you can play multiplayer maps in adversarial or co-operative form. In GR2 we used to have great fun ramping up the difficulty and taking on as many AI troops as North Korea could throw at us via a co-op firefight game. You can set up games like this now in GRAW, with all manner of different game modes on offer to play with, or against friends. The number of options available is very impressive; you can edit or create your own game types tweaking all manner of separate features.

One the of more important aspects of the GRAW multiplayer setup is that of classes. Players can choose to be a Rifleman, Grenadier, Marksman or Automatic Rifleman. You aren’t limited to carrying specific weaponry but a Marksman for example will be more accurate with and quick to reload a sniper rifle than a Grenadier would. The multiplayer modes work very well indeed and have resulted in something I’ve never seen before, my friends list showing 40 or so people on line, with nearly all of them playing the same game – GRAW.

Online play isn’t without problems. Just as in GR2 you may often find yourself kicked from a match after the map has loaded for no discernable reason. The fault isn’t entirely Ubisoft’s. Many people are running servers catering for more players than their broadband connection can handle. But the game really should have had some sort of connection test and guide system to help hosts set up rooms that will work well for their connection without kicking players. Once in a stable room the play works very well, I’ve hardly seen any lag or major problems in rooms with a reasonable number of players in. And in my experience of playing a lot of GRAW online is that fellow players are having more fun with this game than anything else they’ve played on Xbox 360 so far.

So there we go. It’s a fantastically fun and intelligent game from Ubisoft. I suppose we should spare a few words for the visuals. They’re great, but you know that already. There are plenty of details and flashy effects to create a very convincing Mexico City and it’s environs. The lighting is especially good. GRAW is one of the best looking games you can play today. The multiplayer game loses some of the flashier lighting effects to create a smoother faster paced experience, but even then it looks better than most other games you could mention. The sound too is very atmospheric, great use of surround and meaty samples make for a good workout for your surround system. Some friends have reported the occasional graphical glitch in both multiplayer and single-player games but I’ve not witnessed these personally.

Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter is every bit as good as I expected it to be, there are a few nigglest that prevent this game getting the very highest mark, however in my mind it’s the best use of the Xbox 360 yet. If GRAW is as well supported with extra maps and content as Ghost Recon was, this is one of those genuine cases of a game you’ll be playing until a sequel comes along.

This review comes courtesy of our friends at Boomtown.net .