Explosions are appropriately spectacular
The main level we played was set in an arid mountain region in North Mexico, where the 'future squad' US Army have found a terrorist base and have sent your team in as a pre-emptive strike on their operations. The usual pre-level briefing cutscene (played out in the helicopter on the way to the drop point) filled us in on the objectives, which basically involved destroying key targets with bombs. The four soldier squad system from the first GRAW returns, You play as the Sargent, and you can customise your team to have medics, snipers etc at your disposal. For those who haven't experienced Ghost Recon before, it plays out like a cross between an espionage game like Metal Gear or Splinter Cell and a standard 1st/3rd person military shooter, with some almost RTS like tactical features. Generally you'll send your team off to cover or attack a certain target, while you perform the main task yourself. At several points we'd get our squad involved in a firefight on one part of the map, while we'd sneak the Sargent around the side to plant a bomb while the enemy was distracted. All this is accomplished through a variety of gameplay tools, some returning, and some new.
Team view can be quite useful
A major new feature is that the 'team view' camera system from the first game has had a major upgrade. Originally only available as a small 'picture in picture' view (which also returns), the vision from each of your squad member's head mounted video camera can now be viewed full screen, although in a lower quality, near black and white video feed (to make it seem realistic). Not only this, but all of the HUD information from the main view is now available while looking through the squad view – so you can pinpoint enemies and get topographical information directly from your squad mates' position. While sometimes it feels like you're playing as four players at once, in the right circumstances it's a very useful feature. Another major addition is that of an air bound drone robot, which hovers over the game map at all times. It usually stays out of visual range of the enemy, but you can order it down to scope out an area and gain information on the environment – but stay too long and it will be spotted and shot down. The information from all these sources is collated automatically on an overhead map, and pretty soon you can have a clear picture of where everything is, upon which you can decide your tactics. Surprisingly, this information overload doesn't become overwhelming, and the features are mapped logically to the controller. Within minutes we understood how to do everything, and could just get on with the tactical and action side of things.
Using the drone makes the game even more RTS-like.
Apparently the GRAW team set themselves the task of topping the graphical showcase Gears of War in the visuals department, and while it's hard to say they have, GRAW2 certainly looks quite good. Up close, man made objects like tanks and buildings look excellent, and are often pretty convincing from a realism standpoint, and character models and animation are also top notch. We'd have to say that organic environments still have some way to go before they look entirely realistic (in all games, not just GRAW2), as hills, grass and rocks still look a little 'clean' and 'game-like' most of the time, especially from a distance. That said, there are some excellent environmental effects such as a particle laden sandy wind, good explosions, fire and smoke, and quite good real time lighting and shadows. We'll be especially interested in seeing some more urban environments in later builds of the game. Sound wise it seems just about what we'd expect – gruff Americans and decent effects and environmental noise.
Overall, we were impressed by the game's scale and detail, and the genre bending mix of gameplay styles means the series is somewhat unique. But while fans of the first will definitely like the improvements made here, if the first wasn't your cup of tea then it's unlikely the sequel will change your mind. GRAW2 is due out early March on the Xbox 360, with PlayStation 3, PC and PSP releases to follow later.
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