GRAW 2

Another game which I got on the cheap recently is Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2. GRAW 2 is another tactical FPS in the Tom Clancy franchise. The Ghost Recon series is based on the premise that you are a soldier in an elite squad of special forces unit called, surprising enough, Ghost Recon. As a member of the elite Ghosts, you are generally sent behind enemy lines on missions where utmost secrecy is required (hence the Ghost designation). What makes the GRAW series different from earlier Ghost Recon games is that GRAW is set sometime in the future which opens up funky new technology for your elite units.

Storywise, the game picks up right after the events of GRAW. In short, Mexico and the USA are about to sign a joint security agreement which will allow the US to officially send troops into Mexico. Certain rebel elements aren't happy about this and try to disrupt proceedings via the use of some stolen nukes. The US aren't going to let anything disrupt the signing of the joint security agreement hence the Ghosts are sent into Mexico on a black ops mission to deal with the rebels and the stolen nukes.

Like Rainbow Six: Vegas, GRAW 2 is very much focused on tactical gameplay. If you want to succeed, its important that you move your team into position before opening fire on the enemy. And just like R6:V, this equates into great gameplay particularly when you evaluate the situation and successfully plan out how you and your squad will attack the enemy. Although this is a good game, there are a couple of issues which prevent it from becoming a great game.

First off, GRAW 2 is surprisingly easy. Even on the hardest difficulty setting, I found myself breezing through the singleplayer campaign. Provided you take your time and play strategically, the enemy just doesn't provide much challenge. In fact, the only time I found myself challenged on the singleplayer campaign was when I was replaying the game and trying to get headshots using minimal number of shots fired for a higher score. The extra time it takes to aim for the head and not miss means that I'm exposed for longer and hence more likely to get shot.

The other problem with the campaign is that it is unbelievably short. Granted, this is just a guess, but I estimate I completed the singleplayer campaign in six hours or less. This is frankly piss poor considering most other FPS games are in the region of 8-12 hours. To be fair, I knew this going into the game as most reviews did comment on how short the campaign is.

The third problem is the multiplayer. Just like with R6:V multiplayer, the multiplayer portion of GRAW 2 is disconnected from the singleplayer. However, for GRAW 2, the disconnect is different in nature. The problem with R6:V multiplayer was that it felt like a different game from the singleplayer campaign as it devolved into a run and gun game. The problem with GRAW 2 multiplayer is that it is literally a different game.

You see, the problem arises because the multiplayer portion of the game was developed separately from the singleplayer portion. And it really shows. For example, cover is a hugely important part of the singleplayer campaign. But in the multiplayer mode, the cover mechanism is missing. Another example are weapons with sniper scopes. In the singleplayer campaign, you need to hold your breath to aim properly. In multiplayer, again, this mechanism is missing.

The problem with this is that the gameplay in multiplayer feels completely different from the singleplayer. Having said that, you have to give credit to the developers of the multiplayer portion as, unlike R6:V, despite the differences from the singleplayer mode, multiplayer doesn't feel as much like a run and gun game. The biggest reason for this is probably the fact that the maps in GRAW 2 are relatively large and not set indoors which means that a proper strategy is still more important than a fast trigger finger.

Despite the above problems, I do have to say that this is a good game. Considering that I got it for only $120 (second-hand), the fact that it has a short singleplayer campaign isn't such a problem. Overall, a thumb's up from the Meister - but only if you can get it for cheap!