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Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter Review
Jon Wilcox
13/03/2006
Ubisoft's tactical military shooter makes its Xbox 360 debut with explosive results...
The second wave of Xbox 360 titles is already beginning to show what Microsoft's next-gen console is capable of. EA's Fight Night Round 3, Ubisoft's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion are a trinity of titles in particular that are bringing next-gen graphics and gameplay to an audience yet to be truly convinced by the machine. Set in the sprawling metropolis of Mexico City in 2013, Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter develops upon Ubisoft's well-established military shooter like never before to create an experience like no other on the Xbox 360 to date.
First off, GRAW is one title that we've really been looking forward to over the past twelve months. Early footage of the game really left a lasting impression as to what the various development teams across the Ubisoft Empire were trying to achieve, and despite having to wait a little over three months since it missed its original Xbox 360 launch window, our anticipation levels haven't subsided.
Following the theft of a Railguard IX intelligence device from a downed spy plane over Nicaragua, Ghost Leader Captain Scott Mitchell finds himself in Mexico City hunting down the location of the device. At the same time the US President, Canadian Prime Minister, and the Mexican President are in the Mexican capital to sign a join security agreement. It goes without saying that it doesn't take long before all hell breaks loose, with a rogue element in the Mexican armed forces attempting a coup d'etat. Reunited with the rest of the ghost team, it's up to the player (as Mitchell) to deal with events as they unfold over the course of three days.
At its most basic level, Advanced Warfighter follows a similar structure to its predecessors; players control a four-man group of special op soldiers through a series of missions that rely on strategic thinking in order to survive. Such a description is however far from conveying how much of a leap GRAW is for the franchise, and not only because it appears on a next-gen console. The entire single-player campaign takes place in Mexico City, enabling the developers to focus on creating perhaps the most realistic representation of a living city in a videogame to date. It never feels like a set, with Ubisoft's multinational teams of studios building every type of district you can think of from glass lined skyscrapers to plazas, low-risers, and slums. There's an immerse level of detail to the game that helps to bring the city and the situation to life, although the coup has meant that the 20 million plus inhabitants of Mexico City stay in doors throughout the game.
Despite the city setting, the developers have been rather crafty in ensuring that the player doesn't go wandering where they shouldn't. Each of the game's dozen missions (including the training mission) is broken up into sub-missions with their own objectives. These take place in areas that can be over 250 metres by 250 metres in size, which is more than enough when confronted by a barrage of bullets and artillery shells. Reaching the edges of these areas however causes static to display on the HUD, and a warning appears that Mitchell is leaving the battlefield, and his duties. That's not to say that the level design is linear, far from it. There are a multitude of routes through the gameworld thanks to alleyways, sideroads, and destroyed vehicles that ensure players can snake their way through the battlefield rather than just being guided through the game.
The ghosts themselves are kitted out with the Integrated Warfighter System (a complete armed forces technology currently in development by the US military), which has enabled the developers to introduce several new features into the series, not least the CrossCom. Incorporated into the ghost's monocle, the CrossCom allows intelligence updates, news feeds, and footage from the other ghosts, to be displayed. In addition, the HUD also identifies ghost team members and differentiates them from enemies and friendly vehicles. In terms of the game, it means that players will never find themselves visiting a command centre during the course of events; there're out in the field until the situation ends, which only increases the already high sense of immersion created by the game. By not having a physical command centre, ammo drops and US ghost trucks are used to add ghost members to the mission and top up the ever decreasing bullet levels. With the intensity of missions generally reaching a peak towards their end, such drops are vital if players are to avoid finding themselves facing a barrage of enemy fire with their health at a low ebb. When occasions like that do arise, GRAW can easily change from being a challenging and immersive experience to one that's quite frustrating. The use of ghost trucks also means that the missions flow neatly into one another, especially when loading sequences are short and sparse, allowing players to take in the full extent of the Mexican coup without ever being pulled from the game.
Prototype weaponry such as the MRC-LW rifle, which is equipped with a camera so that soldiers can see around corners without risk, also make their debut in the game together with a raft of other semi-automatic rifles from the present day. Certain missions also call for the heavy use of a sniper rifle, and once again there's a choice between a few, as well as a bazooka. The other ghosts carry their own specialist weaponry depending on the role they play (Grenadier, Automatic Rifleman, and Marksman.)
From the instance that the story unfolds high above Mexico City in the ghost's Black Hawk helicopter, it's hard not be impressed by the visuals on offer in Advanced Warfighter. By setting the game over three days the developers have been free to show off their abilities to create missions that take place from the early morning, the heat of midday, dusk, and through the night. Blooming effects spill light over the rooftops whilst HDR adds a high level of realism to the bright sun overhead, and with the city increasingly looking like a war zone, the amount of smoke and its representation is nothing short of impressive. Character models and their animations are exceptionally natural and flow realistically, with extra visual details such as dust plumes caused by bullets hitting a surface, the sight of tracer fire whizzing past Mitchell's head, and tyres that deflate when shot bring another level of depth and immersion all adding an immense sense of depth. With that being the case it's slightly disheartening to see the appearance of certain visual details that we thought would be left in the current-generation such as stencilled shadows, and some low quality textures on objects including wood, rusted metal, and tree trunks. Shattering glass is a given in active areas of gameworld, whilst others in buildings on the periphery merely crack; of course it doesn't affect the gameplay but it does raise the odd eyebrow when such things like that are noticed.
With AI that makes GRAW challenging from the beginning of the game, enemies are very unforgiving throughout the events in Mexico City. Not content with just standing there and getting shot by the ghosts, enemies in the game are more than adept at self-preservation. Hiding behind cover and actually trying to flank players really helps to create a sense that these soldiers are real. It can be argued that the AI of the ghosts themselves is perhaps not quite as sophisticated since they seem to enjoy getting in the path of a bullet, but at the same time they too reflect an intelligence that's a requirement to surviving the mission. Players can order the other ghosts to take up certain positions by using the crosshair if it's within sight, or use the virtual map to order them to positions elsewhere in the area. They can also be told to take an aggressive Assault stance, which will make the ghosts fire on any enemy once visual contact is made, or a Recon stance telling them to hold fire until shot at. As with its predecessors intelligent use of these commands is nothing short of crucial in order to successfully complete a mission, and thankfully the new system is fluid and responsive enough that it never detracts from the game. Controlling Mitchell himself is a very fluid and natural experience with covering positions, rolls, and diving for cover highlights in a system that allows players to easily take on the role. It would have been easy for the control system to get bogged down and confusing, but the development teams have evidently worked hard to ensure that the experience is about as intuitive as it could be.
Although the rest of the ghost team accompanies the player as they make their way through the events in Mexico, there are missions where Mitchell is alone in the urban jungle. Such missions can be more challenging, especially during the night, where night-vision goggles are a must. In addition to the ghost team however, Mitchell also has access to UAV drones, which can fly over an area and detect enemy placements, and on occasion, tactical control over Abrams tanks and Apache helicopters. A few sub-missions also take place at the mounted gun in the Blackhawk helicopter. Flying around the streets of Mexico at low altitudes, mowing down packs of enemies and vehicles, they help break up the gameplay enabling players to just aim and fire without having to concentrate on tactics. Such missions also help players to take in the sheer scale of Mexico City below, which retains its realistic qualities from the air.
Just as impressive as the gameplay and the visuals is the audio of Advanced Warfighter, which surrounds the player with layers of sound from the overwhelming explosion of a building through the to more subtle sound of flies buzzing around Mitchell's head in the heat of the sun. As with the visuals, there's a real tangible sense of immersion created by the sound developers that won't fail to impressive gamers. Key sequences also feature emotive music, which really conveys the backs to the wall state that players will find themselves in, and the seriousness of their situation.
Amongst the superb experience of the single-player campaign, there's only one real disappointment, and that it's length. Having reached the final objective and looked at the stats, the GRAW experience in Mexico lasted around nine and a half hours. Obviously that excludes the number of times that the ghost team died and had to restart from the previous checkpoint (which given the ferocity of the enemies in the game occurred on more than a number of occasions) which stretched the playtime out a bit, but to complete the core gameplay in under ten hours was a bit surprising. Extending the gameplay of the campaign are the Xbox 360 achievements that require players to go through the Mexico experience in the self-described 'ultra-realistic' Hard difficulty, which ramps up the opposition's skills beyond that of any normal human.
Beyond the single-player campaign lay multiplayer options that could make GRAW a very addictive experience in the coming months. A four mission co-operative campaign for up to sixteen players tells the story of a second ghost team in Nicaragua as they track down more members of the Mexico City coup, whilst solo, team, and co-operative gametypes set across ten maps look set to provide Xbox 360 gamers with the sort of online experience that they've craved for in the last few months. Addictive and compelling, not to mention tense, the online gameplay draws players in, in a way that is rarely seen in shooters today. It's not even that the game features many new gametypes, in fact most rely on well-established modes such as Elimination (Deathmatch) and Hamburger Hill (King of the Hill), but it's been so well executed that none of that matters.
Varying in size and environment from beaches and fishing villages to junkyards through to a shipdeck and temple, there are maps that cater for any size party from two to sixteen. All have been incredibly well designed so that games of cat and mouse through alleyways, or stand offs across a shoreline will no doubt have a very popular lifespan. It's worth noting that certain aspects of the single-player campaign have been removed, most notable the covering action and the ability to slide on one knee but most (including the UAV drones) are present. Not much of a problem, however the lack of those two abilities do raise questions as to their omission. What is perhaps more noticeable is how different the two modes (single and multiplayer) feel from one another. They're both intense experiences that gamers will love, but the multiplayer does feel far less dependent on tactics - even in the team games.
As with the single-player game, the multiplayer modes have also enabled the developer teams to include present day weaponry together with some of the more futuristic munitions of the campaign. Continuing with the intensity of the single-player campaign, GRAW multiplayer can be both high tempo and more calculated; there's a wide variety in sub-gametypes (with Ubisoft estimating around 1300) to keep gamers amused in the coming months, and with the co-operative campaign described as "Chapter 1" we can expect updates to appear in the coming months.
Anonymous
Date Added:Mon 29th Jan 2007 13:42
Glyndwr
Date Added:Mon 27th Nov 2006 23:46
Anonymous
Date Added:Tue 17th Oct 2006 12:11