Ubisoft did what I thought was the impossible; they set the bar even higher for future Tom Clancy titles. Advanced Warfighter contains everything a next-generation title needs to have. It shells out a heavy dosage of action and does so at a smooth pace. The graphics are visually beautiful without any bumps along the road. The sound sets the mood for the entire game with a few interesting selections for the soundtrack. Even with all that included the success of Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter all hinged on one thing – the multiplayer. Read on to find full impressions of what I believe is the best 360 game available at this time.

The journey for at me began at E3 last year when I first set my eyes on Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter. I was highly impressed with the quality of graphics they displayed within the videos. The next few months were disastrous for Ghost Recon as new videos showed graphics that didn’t match up to the first batch of videos. The launch of the Xbox 360 came to pass without Ghost Recon available to consumers, but no one cried foul with the immense popularity of Call of Duty 2. Now four months after the launch of the Xbox 360, Ghost Recon finally hits the streets and it’s clear to see why the delay was enforced. From early autumn until now, the game has been improving and garnering attention at every major publication. I was one of those bandwagon riders that rode the coattails of every new screenshot released. Ghost Recon Advance Warfighter is a fantastic roller coaster ride all the way through.

You are pitted in the role of Scott Mitchell, captain of the elite Ghosts. If you have never followed the series, ‘Ghosts’ are an infantry unit that excels at finishing their tasks with high precision, accuracy and accomplishing everything while under the radar. As Scott Mitchell, you are assigned to go on a duck hunting expedition of sorts searching for the leaders of the USA, Canada and Mexico. The search takes place within one of the largest cities in the world, Mexico City. Each and every mission varies from one another. The feeling produced throughout the entire game is that you are performing something heroic. What may be the best trait of Ghost Recon is that the city feels massive, and even major landmarks like Angel Plaza are accurately depicted.

While the city is laid out perfectly, it is also ironically a ghost town. Civilians never run about with their hands thrown up in disbelief. You’ll never have to dodge traffic nor shoot around a pesky pedestrian. The realism of the city is all detailed on the layout and gorgeous graphics. The sunlight will shimmer off the buildings blinding you as you snipe enemies in the far distance. The daylight can be a killer and often churns out a kill or two forcing you start over again – thank goodness for save points! This may sound annoying to the extent that the graphics assist in an easy death, but I feel that the realism actually adds to the experience rather than detracting from it.

The missions are linear, but, you’ll be able to take numerous routes to finish it. Mexico City is littered with back alleys, parking lots, and friendly foliage for stealth. The missions ask you go from Point A to Point B, but never force you to head down one single path. Ghost Recon does enforce players to stay within the battle zone. This implementation keeps the players from running away from the action and makes them stick it out to the end of the firefight. When you do happen to leave the battle zone, whether it be on accident or on purpose, the HUD will begin to fuzz up and the game will ask you to return to the battle zone. Beyond that, the missions often ask you to guard or find one of the leaders from the US or Mexico. These missions I found to be a tad tedious with too much focus on search and rescue. When you have the opportunity to control choppers, tanks and your three squad-mates, you’ll finally get the feel of unleashing a real war on the rebels you are up against.

Commanding your squad is basic when compared to the likes of Full Spectrum Warrior. All your teammates respond as if they are one single person. Difficulties will begin to set in quickly when the missions become more complicated. When you direct your teammates to fire around a corner, often times they’ll face the wrong way. At times when you command them to attack the tank, you’ll accidentally guide them to a location on the map. This forces them from their cover and running through the empty shells as they are fired upon. Not exactly what I planned when at first trying to destroy an incoming tank. The teammates do have accurate shots I must admit. It’s rare that you’ll be able to play through the whole mission perfectly without any hiccups. Whether it is that they didn’t respond, or couldn’t stay out of the line of fire, the AI needs some tweaks to improve on the tactical side of the gameplay.

With all that said about your teammates, there has to be some means of evening out the AI right? Well, I am happy to say there is. The tanks and helicopter air support help even the battlefield out when you have them to command. The tanks can withstand tons of punishment while also dealing it at a fast rate. The helicopters mow down infantry rebels left and right but are susceptible to too much gunfire. When you have control over both the tanks and helicopters, be prepared to watch some of the best action currently available on your Xbox 360. Be warned though, the helicopter will go down in a flurry if you don’t pay attention to its position on the map.

Controlling Scott Mitchell is a synch. Throughout the entire game, you can lean up against any object set before you to gain cover. With peaking around corners, kneeling to peer above the car, or running out of cover to flank the enemy, it’s apparent – you need to be tactical! Now I wouldn’t suggest you run right through gunfire since any stray shot could end up taking your life. I’d suggest finding where the fire is coming from and staying out of harms way for as long as possible until a viable plan is cooked up. Here’s a quick write up of one of my plans.

Step 1: Gain cover, hopefully teammates actually respond this time.
Step 2: Peak head around corner of building to find the renegades.
Step 3: Select smoke grenade to screen the middle of the road to gain better cover.

Step 4: Throw smoke grenade and book it to the other building for better shot.
Step 5: Take shot.

Sure those steps sound simple but it’s easier said than done. During these steps, here are some thoughts that often pop in my mind.

“I wish these idiots would actually respond to me once!.”

“Where’s my grenadier! Someone needs to kill that tank. You guys are good for nothing!”

“I have to heal you? No way buddy! I am leaving you there for making such a n00b mistake. Move on troops, he’s dead in the water.”

Ok, so maybe my thoughts aren’t always so positive and the results seem to always result in a teammate dieing, but the fact of the matter is – be prepared to put your thinking cap on. Snipers will be in a skyscraper above hiding in the sunlight picking off your teammates. Anti-Tank units will hide behind buildings to pop out to destroy your artillery. Grenades will pop out of nowhere and, well, the end result from a frag grenade isn’t a happy one. The number one thing to concentrate on is making sure you are behind good cover. There aren’t any med-kits out there to give you full health spontaneously.

The single-player campaign will take you about 8-10 hours depending on how many deaths occur during your missions. If you are that great of a marksmen and leader, you could possibly finish the campaign in 5-6 hours. With 12 missions, counting the training, you may not end up playing through Ghost Recon beyond twice. Playing through it twice will guarantee you a majority of the achievements for your gamer card; once on normal and the other on hard. The bulk of the replay value is found in the multiplayer. I skipped out on Ghost Recon 2 so this is the first time the Ghost Recon series has offered me split-screen action; boy, am I in heaven!

I want to cover offline multiplayer first. Advanced Warfighter supports four-player split-screen and 16-player system link. Modes of play include standard deathmatch, capture the flag, territories, and even co-op. Co-op! I must be mistaken right? Technically I am correct although there is a catch. The co-operative campaign isn’t necessarily for the single-player campaign you played. The multiplayer campaign is a total 180 from the singe-player you are accustomed to. Ubisoft took it in their hands to create new levels to play through for multiplayer. The levels are accessible through all multiplayer modes but the campaign portion has objectives such as protecting the treasury, search & rescue missions and even recon. The campaign portion isn’t as enjoyable as the single-player campaign but you can’t blame Ubisoft for trying something new. Besides campaign options, you can play co-op through elimination, objective and territory modes; hardly miniscule if you ask me. Why not call 16 of your friends over with 360’s to system link to play one big co-op game over a LAN? The possibilities for Ghost Recon seem limitless for endless fun.

Now moving on to online fragging – it’s a little of both sweet and sour. All the offline multiplayer options are available online but this time you will be dealing with obnoxious strangers rather than friends. Ghost Recon employs a new respawning system that allows players to select their spot they want to spawn at and also five seconds of grace period to run away from spawn campers. This not only helps out the process of respawning to keep players from camping but it does create some new problems. If you are hunting down the opposition and stumble upon an enemy that just respawned, you’ll unload a clip hoping to kill him but those five seconds are brutal. There is no indicator over the enemies to verify that they just respawned. Thus, firing away ammo is useless and when those five seconds are up and you are trying to reload, they can finally fire upon you without any restraint.

Besides that minor encounter, I have found Ghost Recon pleasant online for the most part. Finding games takes quite a bit of time. When you finally get into a lobby, you will want to stick around. Most players do happen to stick around around after matches to create some intense rivalries over a few matches. I must forewarn, though, that the time to find a game takes quite a bit and if you get past the time, you’ll thoroughly enjoy yourself fragging strangers across Xbox Live.

The game’s sound is an excellent all-around category. All the guns sound authentic and each one has their own unique effect. If you unload a hundred clips from the M60, you’ll hear each individual shot fired in rapid succession. The grenades will explode right before you and you’ll begin to lose your hearing for a few seconds. When enemy tanks fire upon your cover, you’ll not only feel the vibrations through your controller but you’ll hear it loud and clear through your speakers. Ubisoft has inserted music through the single-player campaign to give it more of a feel that the matter at hand is urgent. The music usually is rock themed and gives you the feeling that you are about to unload several rounds of shells into your enemies, but often the music kicks in after you just accomplished that feat.

Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter is one wild ride that you’ll only get the full experience out of on the Xbox 360. The graphics are stunning, the sound is exhilarating, multiplayer is a homerun, and the single-player couldn’t be anymore entertaining than it already is. There isn’t a better game out on the Xbox 360 that delivers the full package such as Ghost Recon. The only few gripes I have are minor – I am hoping that through the Xbox Live Marketplace, Ubisoft delivers some updates. Updates that I am crossing my fingers for include a few new maps, the ability to change the difficulty of the bots and their class (all the bots carry 36K rifles) to diversify the opposition you are facing. I can imagine that the co-op would be even more competitive against the computer AI if those options were available to the crowd currently playing Ghost Recon. If you are finally buying your Xbox 360 after the shortages have begun to disappear, I recommend Ghost Recon be your first game you buy. It’s a purchase you won’t regret.

Gameplay: 9.4
An intense single-player campaign all the way to the very end will keep offline players yearning for more. The teammates need some sprucing up but that’s hardly an obstacle.
 
Graphics: 9.8
The single-player graphics are phenomenal. The multiplayer graphics aren’t as beautiful but stand up perfectly fine with what’s currently on the market.

Sound: 9.5
Hot dog, I couldn’t get any more real than what is already presented. Actually yes it could, take out the rock-themed soundtrack that plays after every mission completed.

Difficulty: Hard
Players will possibly moan and groan about deaths. Players will possibly whine and cry about a teammate dying. One thing that will for sure happen is that they will be satisfied with their $60 for buying Ghost Recon.

Concept: 8.5
Nothing exactly brand new here. It’s a Tom Clancy game about a future military conflict, not hard to imagine. The selection of Mexico City is brilliant for the setting. Korea and Russia were getting tiresome and overused I must say.

Multiplayer: 9.2
The multiplayer is excellent. The ability of taking your friends online via split-screen (four players max as guests) is great. Add in some new maps and the ability to tinker with the computer AI, and I will be even more delighted.

Overall: 9.3
Ghost Recon is a must have 360 game. No ifs, ands or buts, Ghost Recon is a purchase for any FPS freak.