Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter

"GRAW, yeah sounds like what you say while trying to play this game!"

I know when you look down the list here you see a lot of 10's and 9's and you probably bet that I just do not like Ghost Recon or the Xbox 360 or something and that is why I am giving GRAW such a low score but let me assure you this is not the case. A very dear friend of mine owns the machine in question and I have enjoyed playing Tom Clancey's games with him since the days of Rainbow Six for the Nintendo 64 but this game just does NOT live up to my expectations.

Story |1/10|
So...Get this...There is this crazy guy with a Nuke right?...Yeah I said a Madman with a Nuclear Weapon...But get this, he is going to threaten the civilized world with it right? And GET THIS, he is going to use a group of Mexicans as his underlings to push forth this plot of world domination...
Ok the story-line for this utterly blows. Typical mad terrorist with a nuke...but he is in MEXICO! Mexico has to be one the most harmless countries in the WORLD. No offense to the Mexican people but their country has seen better times and going to war is not high on their list of priorities right now. Moreover, I would think that our special forces could walk ALL OVER a group of poorly trained Mexican extremists...This plot is not only overdone but really implausible.

Graphics |8/10|
The Graphics for this game get a lot of acclaim. I have the X-Box 360 hooked up to my 52" Wide Screen LCD so if there is anything great about graphics I will know it in a heart beat and this game is not that "stunning". Its graphics are clear and fairly crisp. You can find enemy's heads and see them rather well even in the distance. The explosions are alright but nothing spectacular or unbelievable, though I will throw in a point for nice fire effect on burning targets. The real falldown comes two fold. One; the game is set in Mexico City...What does this mean? It means brown...Drab dusty brown EVERYWHERE...On you, on them, on the buildings, on every vehicle...Just brown. Not a scenic local. Two; because this game decides to break with tradition you cannot see your own gun in First Person view and it is also harder than HELL to see any thrown objects you or others launch. This means grenades may as well be invisible and you cannot tell what you are holding from moment to moment without checking your HUD. Why Ubisoft, Why? Oh and...um..Every enemy unit looks IDENTICAL...What is this the Attack of the Clones Ubisoft?!

Sound |10/10|
If this game has ANYTHING to care about it is the sound. The music is sort of whatever but that is not important. What is important is the beautifully detailed sonic environment. You can easily hear how far away and in what direction firing is coming from. You will hear vehicles moving around, flies over garbage, the wind through the allies, trees rustling, waves crashing, it is AMAZING. The environment is brought to life for your ears unlike anything I have heard before. So if you want a really sound emmersive game this one does have that in spades.

Gameplay |4/10|*
If this game has one strong weakness besides its story it is its gameplay. You are asked to command a squad of troops which can sometimes include vehicles of different sorts from Helicopters to Bradlys to UCAVs. To do this requires memorizing just the right set of buttons, aiming with precision to give just the right order, and then praying your men can carry out even the simplest of tasks without getting killed considering their seeming lack of a brain. I feel more like I am trying to perform Fatalities from Mortal Kombat II than ordering my troops around with how difficult all those commands are, especially when you are UNDER FIRE! As if that part was not bad enough this game also has the joyous distinction of being one of the first supposed Next Gens to still feature stupid kills. You can die by...Getting shot twice in the foot or hand...I have seen people who live perfectly productive lives missing a whole arm let alone their hand people! Why is it SO HARD to have realistic damage? If you get shot in the FOOT you should stumble and hobble a bit not DIE. Better yet though your enemy will snipe you with an AK47 from distance at which you look like an Ant through its rather missing scope. But wait, there's more! The guns lack any sort of personality whatsoever. Each weapon except the Bazooka is essentially the same gun as any other gun in its class. They do not even have the SAW with its wonderful 200 round suppression clip...Sniper Rifles can be all but useless considering you will be fighting hordes of enemies with AK47's and Carbines in tight quarters. Likewise things like Suppressive weapons are useless because if you don't hit your target right away two bullets in your right butt cheek will see you face down in the dirt in no time. There is no stealth at ALL in this game so don't even worry about silenced weapons. They know where you are, they know what you did last summer, and they are coming to get you!

Summery: This game does not even live up to the gameplay or storyline of the Rainbow Six's or Ghost Recon's of the X-Box and while its sound is AWESOME and its graphics are pretty good this is just not a very good game and a really poor flagship for the series on the new X-Box 360...

Rent or Buy? I IMPLORE you to rent or borrow this game before buying it. Take a good long firm look at it before you decide to spend money on it and if you still like it then go right ahead but otherwise don't waste your money.

*I have not gotten a chance to play this game on-line and I can imagine that MAYBE with 16 players working together as a team it just might be a lot more fun to play and fairly cool. If that is the case then maybe this game can save itself as an On-Line Multiplayer game only but normal Multiplayer and Single Player modes are just rather poor.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 08/29/06