Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter

I honestly never thought that Lord of The Rings: Battle for Middle Earth II would be beaten in the ‘longest game title’ war. However with a measly thirty six characters (not counting spaces) it is trounced by the thirty eight character ‘Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter’.

However, the title length probably isn’t the most significant topic to discuss, so I will continue.

This is another game in a long string of games. I’m not exactly an expert on the history of these games, but I think it has something to do with the Rainbox Six series. I played one of those a few years ago at a LAN, but I felt it was very much an acquired taste. I feel the same about this game.

I enjoyed the demo, it comes with one campaign mission and some level of multiplayer support. I only played the campaign, so can only speak for that.

The campaign kicks off from the chopper you can see pictured above, it’s all pretty immersive and it was a good intro. I like the development of the story around the mission. You don’t just appear, you jump out of a helicopter, very cool.

The differences between this style of FPS and my favored Battlefield series are numerous. This game is designed to be ultra realistic, which can be infuriatingly difficult. It’s not long before you find yourself peering around every corner and scanning every rooftop for snipers.

And so you should, because this style of play is exactly what this game is about.

In a world where PC gaming is increasingly focused on internet multiplayer gameplay, it’s nice to see a game which has put a lot of thought into an immersive single player game. You don’t go into a mission alone, you go in with a team. In the case of the demo mission, you start out with three buddies. The aim is to use them efficiently without getting them killed.

If you follow the game’s advice and order these guys around strategically, things become a lot easier. I guess I’m putty in the developers hands.

For instance at one stage I ran into a heavy machine gun emplacement. No matter what I did, I got killed. Then I read one of the games hints. It told me that I should approach it from one direction and have my squad approach it from another. So I ordered them to do this, and as they drew it’s fire, I ran up from the other direction and shot the gunner in the head. Easy.

I enjoyed playing this demo, and I am really finding it hard to find fault. I guess I would have to have played more of this style of game to be able to make a complete judgement, but it appeared to be a really enjoyable, realistic game. If the idea of sitting in a dark room, spending hours moving at about 2 metres a minute appeals to you, then this game is definitely a goer.

Come to think of it, a timed mode would be quite fun. Either team vs team when one team sets a time and the other has to beat it, or single player vs the clock. Awesome.

8/10.