Review: Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 game

Tactical shooters are an odd genre of computer game. The offspring of first-person shooters and real-time strategy games, Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfight 2 (abbreviated GRAW2), is a child that certainly takes some getting used to.

You play Mitchell, a top-notch soldier who heads an elite combat team called the Ghosts. You and three other men have been dumped in Mexico to stop a rebel uprising that wants to expel every American from Latin America.

You issue commands to your three extra soldiers while controlling Mitchell in first-person mode. From level to level, you'll also take control of scouting droids, tanks and the occasional air strike.

The action takes place in 2014, which gives scope for digital soldier equipment, such as video cameras that allow you to see through the eyes of droids.

Issuing commands slows down the gameplay significantly and it's more than likely you will end up just telling them to follow you. This becomes frustrating as they follow at a distance and don't really help much in a frantic fire-fight; the slower your pace, the more likely you are to succeed.

A tactical overview lets you see the battle zone from a top-down view - a bit like a Command and Conquer layout, letting you place your team in different positions, ready for attack. It is a well thought out addition, until you get killed while looking at the map.

Controlling your men is a bit of a muddle. A co-op multiplayer mode, where each person takes control of a squad member, is far superior, but you'll need to ensure you have a small group of friends who have bought the game and can play it through at the same time as you.

Other multiplayer modes - Deathmatch and Rebels v Ghosts - are fairly good, but there are only a dozen populated servers from which to choose, limiting its appeal. What's more, online play is a lot slower than Battlefield 2, for example, mainly since you can't jump at all or run and fire at the same time. You also can't take many hits before your character is killed off, which makes for an unsatisfying experience.

Graphically, the environment is fantastically lit, using high dynamic range (HDR) to great effect. Dusty air that shimmers in the heat creates a nervous atmosphere, and explosions are very impressive. The game can be made even more detailed with the use of one of Ageia's new Physx cards, which speed up collisions and other physics emulations significantly.

However, the town of Juarez, where the majority of the action happens, suffers from a bland landscape and buildings that look far too similar. We were left with the feeling that the developers simply couldn't be bothered to create a richer gaming environment.

We also took issue with the look of the rebels. Instead of looking like a stereotypical Mexican bandit, with dirty clothes, a moustache and wielding an AK47, every rebel looks identical to the American soldiers.

The cinematic cut scenes that pop up alongside your mission briefing are also rather basic. The rendering looks incredibly dated and there has been no attempt to sync up mouths and voices at all.

Despite all its foibles, the game has some seriously addictive spells. There will be levels in the single-player mode, where youíll leave your team to do whatever they like while you take out 20 rebel Mexicans on your own. The co-op mode is excellent, too, but it requires a lot of strategic planning to bring together three or four friends to play across the internet on a regular basis.