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GRAW 2 Preview
Author: Ryan GarsidePublished: 29th January 2007
This is a recon-based mission with the emphasis on stealth. It looks pretty solid and all the elements described above appear to fit together well. Our demonstrator sends his squad mate in low to spy out where the enemies are, whilst he heads up the side of a mountain, takes out a sniper and starts scanning the entire area. Vertical gameplay, we’re told, will play a much bigger role and you can immediately see why. Not only do you have the advantage of being able to snipe down onto your opponents but it’s also easier to command your other troops from up high. We’re shown just how clever and effective the Ghosts really are.
That isn’t to say the enemy is really stupid. Later on, as we enter the main part of the mission, the two Ghosts get pinned down by an enemy who has taken up a similar vantage point from across the valley. All of a sudden his shots seem to be pinning the ghosts in whilst his own team mates regroup and try to counter-attack. It all helps add to this feeling that you’re playing in something that is close to reality.
It's coming right for us
We were then shown The Dam mission. The opening scene was like something lifted straight from the set of 24 – “The enemy has a nuke and if that goes off on that dam, millions of people are going to die!” I just wanted to belt out a Bauerism: “PLEASE! YOU HAVE GOT TO TRUST ME!”Fortunately, I contained myself. The focus on assault is clear from the start, all of the squad are set to assault and are fighting their way towards the dam. Wave upon wave of bad guy gets splattered to the ground as the Ghosts shoot, snipe, grenade and destroy everything that comes at them. Watching it, I realised how close games are getting to creating an actual cinematic, interactive experience – it really had that Hollywood feel.
Overall the game still looks stunning, despite running on exactly the same engine that powered GRAW 1. For those of you who have invested in a PhysX card, there’ll also be a better implementation. The developers didn’t demonstrate that (what we saw was all software) but did promise that gamers would notice some rather cool animation effects on the clothing. You’ll also find that unlike in the last game, merely shooting something like a car won’t make it explode; you’ll need to hit it with some high explosives.
Play together
The company also has big plans with the multiplayer, admitting it was the area that was possibly lacking most in the original game. So what is GRIN going to do? It is introducing a new game mode imaginatively named Assault versus Recon. As the more intuitive amongst you have probably guessed this pits a team of players in recon mode against a team of players in assault.Rather than make this a typical team deathmatch foray, the guys have decided to make it so that the assault team have more rugged weapons, more basic equipment, but can infinitely respawn. The recon side are far better equipped but only have one life, and are tasked with destroying the three spawn points of the assault team. It sounds a very interesting affair but will very difficult to balance effectively.
Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 looks set to keep the series progressing. Whilst probably not having the same impact as the original, this game looks set to cement the series place in gamers hearts. It’s currently at around the 70% completion mark, with a planned release date of sometime in March. Check back then for our in depth review.
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