When Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter was first announced for the Xbox
360, it looked like a pretty ambitious project. Ubisoft was asking a
lot out of the engine to have the game set entirely within a sprawling
metropolis, complete with advanced lighting and particle effects, as
well as lots of picture-in-picture video screens on the heads-up
display. The early video and screenshots looked fabulous, so it was
disappointing when the game didn't quite make the release of the system
late last year. The wait was definitely worth it, though, as Advanced
Warfighter isn't just the best-looking game on the Xbox 360, but also,
arguably, the best game in the series. To help you get through these massive battlefields, the game lets you
control not only a three-man support team, but also support vehicles,
as well. Robotic UAV recon units, for example, can scout ahead and
detect enemies that may be lurking. The enemies, as well as your
objectives and teammates, are marked digitally on your HUD, so you can
track them even when they're not in your line of sight. You'll do a lot
of fighting in this game from extreme distances by shooting with scoped
weapons, so the plain markings on your HUD often come in handy. At
various times throughout the game, you'll command tanks or armored
vehicles, as well as helicopter gunships. You can only command the
tanks to move forward or backward, as if they're on rails, but they
make for a good source of movable cover. Gunships are great for support
fire, as you can command them to take out distant targets without
getting into danger yourself. These support vehicles aren't invincible,
though, so if you run your tank into a rocket-propelled-grenade ambush
or send your choppers into machine-gun fire, they can go down.
When Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter was first announced for the Xbox
360, it looked like a pretty ambitious project. Ubisoft was asking a
lot out of the engine to have the game set entirely within a sprawling
metropolis, complete with advanced lighting and particle effects, as
well as lots of picture-in-picture video screens on the heads-up
display. The early video and screenshots looked fabulous, so it was
disappointing when the game didn't quite make the release of the system
late last year. The wait was definitely worth it, though, as Advanced
Warfighter isn't just the best-looking game on the Xbox 360, but also,
arguably, the best game in the series.
