Tom Clancy Ghost Recon Advanced Warfare 2

Anybody played this series? I guess I'm painstakingly behind in my military style games, because I've been SOCOM-centric for so long. But since I really don't like to play online, and the latest SOCOM entry will be exclusively multiplayer (and not done by Zipper, Interactive), I've been looking elsewhere.

Rainbow Six: Vegas gave me the spec-ops fix.

Now I'm looking at GRAW:2 for the PS3.

I'm sure XDCX has played it (or previous incarnations) before, so let me hear what y'all think...

I downloaded the demo of GRAW 2 from the PlayStation Store this morning, and it's pretty freakin' awesome. I didn't play the original GRAW because apparently the PS2 version sucked, and I don't have a 360. The only other game I've played in the series was the first Ghost Recon for PS2. The graphics were atrocious, but it offered some pretty good tactical/squad based action.

Judging from the demo I played through, I don't think you can go wrong with GRAW 2, JJ. I'll probably be picking it up when it comes out. If you haven't already, go ahead and download the demo from the PS Store.

TBH, I downloaded the demo from the PSN store, and wasn't impressed. The controls didn't feel tight to me, and I didn't like the recon vehicles. I don't know, maybe I was spoiled by Vegas, but I found GRAW2 to not be in my tastes. I'll give it another go, but my least favorite part was what I found to be a completely retarded crouch system. Instead of assigning it to a button/trigger, you have to run into an object to crouch. It seems a bit asinine to me...

I actually liked the cover system. It seems more natural (and intuitive) to just walk up to a wall and automatically take cover, rather than pressing a button.

As for the controls, you gotta remember it's still an unfinished build. After a few play-thrus, I got the hang of it. And I like the fact that you can scout ahead with the UAV.

I gotta admit though, I also prefer R6: VEGAS at the moment (my brother picked it up, and it's addictive.)

I'll still check it out when it's released. I'll let you know what I think.

We'll have to play online with R6V then...

I picked the game up today, and I gotta say, the demo REALLY didn't do the final game any justice.

The controls have been tweaked, so they're more responsive, the graphics have been given an extra coat of polish, and you're given a tutorial at the beginning to help ease you into the game.

GRAW 2 isn't as fast paced as most military shooters I've played, but I'm digging the more methodical approach that it brings to the table.

I'll give my final thoughts once I finish the single-player campaign and check out the online multi-player.

Thanks man...the demo really turned me off to the game. I hope the final build is more impressive.

Well, I completed the single-player campaign. I also played around a bit online. So...now my final thoughts.

As far as tactical military shooters go, this is the crème de la crème. There's virtually a countless number of options and tweaks you can do in the online suite, and the single player campaign is top-notch. This is classic Tom Clancy.

I'm not gonna go into details about story and all that, as it's not really necessary for my final thoughts. What I will say is that the gameplay is top-notch. There's a great weapon selection, and you're also given access to a ton of support vehicles throughout the game. You don't get them all at once, but they're smartly placed across the entirety of the campaign; ranging from chopper support and tactical air strikes to being able to scout ahead with your UAV.

The AI is superb in the game, especially that of your teammates. In most games, you can send your guys to cover, and they'll just stand out in the open and volunteer as product testers for the enemy's ammunition. In this game, at one point I purposely sent my guys out into the open where there was NO cover, and a crap load of rebels, and they smartly retreated behind the nearest cover position and layed down suppressing fire. Your teammates will also call out hostile positions when they spot an enemy. If there's a rebel hiding behind a red car at your 3 o'clock, your teammates will tell you exactly that. You can also hold down the R2 trigger and see through your teammates POV, basically allowing you to see in two places at once. In fact, with ALL of your support options (M1 Abrams, Air Strike, et.al) you can use the R2 trigger to view from their POV. It adds an extra layer of strategy.

The enemy AI ain't too shabby either, especially on the harder difficulty settings. After completing a mission, you can go back and re-play said mission to increase your ranking and unlock extras. I re-played one of the later missions on the 3rd hardest difficulty, and it was BRUTAL. After hiding behind cover and not peeking out for a while, the enemy started lobbing frag grenades at my position, forcing me to seek cover elsewhere. And on this particular difficulty setting, cover is ABSOLUTELY essential, as the enemies will be aiming for your head a lot more than on the easy setting.

The cover system is great too, I think. I know you didn't like it too much in the demo, JJ, but it really becomes natural after about 10 minutes.

There's also a very large amount of guns you'll have access to throughout the game, ranging from sniper rifles and rocket launchers to an assault rifle with a camera on it that you can fire safely from behind your cover position without exposing yourself (my personal favorite).

The biggest downside to the single-player campaign is it's length. A determined player could plow through the campaign in as little as 5 hours. It took me roughly 3 days (an average of 3 hours a day.) So even at 9 hours, it's still relatively short.

With the single-player coupled with the online-muliplayer, this game gets my highest recommendation. But if you're just looking at it for the single-player, my recommendation comes down a bit.

All-in-all, though, I really don't think you can go wrong with GRAW 2.

Overall, I give it a 10/10.

Nice! Yeah, I've been replaying the demo, and come to enjoy it quite a bit more than I have previously. The only thing deterring me from buying this title is the single player campaign, because as you've mentioned, it is quite short, and I don't usually play online.

Unless of course we could team up?

That's definitely something to look into.