Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter Preview

Tom Clancy franchise has certainly gained a loyal following among Xbox gamers everywhere and who can blame them?  After all the Xbox Live multiplayer action in games like the Rainbow Six as well as Ghost Recon games are still being played on a regular basis.  So it comes to no surprise that the next Ghost Recon game is heading for the next generation consoles like the Xbox 360.

The premise around Ghost Recon 3 once again places us in the near future as an insurgency in the Mexican capital occurs right when the President of the United States is in Mexico City for a North American summit.  During the violent skirmish, news reporters bring some frightening news live on the air (the game uses real actors during news flash cut scenes) . . . the President is missing and presumed kidnapped.  Enter the Ghosts with their cutting-edge weapons and tech tools and enough experience with dangerous situations.  

As the Captain of your squad you must lead your squad through the now deadly streets of Mexico City in search for the President.  Unlike the other Ghost Recon games, this one takes place entirely within Mexico City but, thanks to the next generation consoles, there are massive multiple areas within the city.  It certainly is big enough that the game introduces the new “Cross-Com,” a communication device that uses satellite technology to provide gamers with a full situational awareness view much like the one seen in Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30.  

The demo I saw showed off the Xbox 360 graphical powers that bring us impressive textures, even greater lighting that goes well beyond what we’ve seen in the recent Splinter Cell game and particle effects so realistic that you’ll swear you were watching a movie . . . and all of this is in-game visuals.  We watched as a VW bug blew up from taking heavy fire and the smoke that billowed from it made it hard to spot the enemy through the realistic black cloud.

While we didn’t get a chance to see the multiplayer game in action, UbiSoft assures us that it will not abandon fans of the online multiplayer modes and will even introduce new features yet to be revealed.  Already a pretty impressive-looking game, we can come to expect this one to be yet another fan favorite.  Hopefully this one will be available at the launch of the Xbox 360. 

It will also be available on other platforms.

For All E3 2005 Previews