I need the Saints to beat the Bears. I will update this when the game is over in a little bit:wink:

P.S. Who do you think will win?

The year 2006 was unprecedented for Ubisoft's Tom Clancy series. Next-gen gamers, specifically Xbox 360 gamers, received three great iterations of Ghost Recon, Splinter Cell and Rainbow Six. With each game advancing in gameplay, tactics, and graphics, it's also become clear to this reporter that the Clancy games are becoming closer in play than they originally started out. What exactly is it that separates Ghost Recon from Rainbow Six?

It's a good question, one that Ubisoft's Paris, France, and Red Storm teams will answer with Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. For those who missed Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 1 last March, Ubisoft's game revamped the Ghost Recon series with functional high-tech gadgetry, gorgeous graphics, and substantial 16-person multiplayer and co-op play. It was nearly a year ago, but GRAW shined mightily because it exemplified Ubisoft's drive to due away with the clunky mission-story-mission-story formula, and replace it with seamlessly blended real-time cutscenes that remained continuous throughout the game. Gamers actually felt like they were part of the landscape, the mission and the team in a way that wasn't possible on previous-gen systems. GRAW also changed gameplay tactics by adding the cross-com, slimming down the team, changing environments by heading into Mexico City for a more urban assault.

This year's effort is different. The dev teams don't have to worry about creating tools. They're already done. With GRAW, they're actually refining and improving the tools to improve the graphics over last year's game. There is one less dev team working in the game (Ti-wak), and the Paris and Red Storm teams are fully knowledgeable about the do's and don'ts on Xbox Live and with Achievements -- they'll have some different obstacles for PS3, depending on how Sony's online strategy evolves. GRAW 2, then, is, in essence, the game they really wanted to make the first time around but with fewer time and technological restraints. Ubisoft's teams have focused on improving the tactical use of peripheral technology, such as the expanded use of the UAV drone, an addition terrestrial drone, the MULE, the addition of helicopter AND jet fighter air support, and the help of an additional class, the medic, who can heal your entire team (including yourself). And, for those diehard lefties out there, GRAW 2 will support standard controls, Legacy and southpaw controls. Yippi-kai-yea, mother-f*****.

There is more to the game than that, of course. The storyline continues the action from GRAW. It's 2014, less than one year after the quelled rebel assault of the Mexican president in GRAW. The ghosts return to encounter a military threat that takes place along a newly-built wall between Mexico and the U.S. in the U.S./Mexico border towns of Ciudad Juarez and El Paso, Texas. (The conflict takes place in each city and the suburbs in between them.) The ghost intel learns that a powerful Mexican rebel force has re-gathered and is headed toward the wall, with full intentions of destroying it and entering US territory. The ghosts are given 72 hours to assess the threat and stop it. Seems like a huge task, but with a border that's 1,900 miles long and an enemy that doesn't play by the rules, is it even possible at all? With returning character Captain Scott Mitchell in charge, players will fulfill single-man missions, team missions, and full-on war combat missions using multiple forces.

At Ubisoft's preview event last week held at the numbingly cold Dogpatch Studios south of Market Street, a handful of reporters attended to observe a real-time demo and play the single- and the multi-player game. The game ran on the Xbox 360; the PS3 version wasn't there. But due in March for both Xbox 360 and PS3, GRAW 2 already looks fantastic. To be honest, its looks are a little deceiving. The visual improvements are subtle on one level, huge on another. At first look, you'll initially see very little. The character models are slightly more detailed and the vehicles all look decent, but if you look closely at the environment textures, you'll see a marked difference. The variety and detail is impressive. The first couple levels I played didn't really show off the changes I had hoped to see. By looking closely, improvements in shadows (you'll see full, complete shadows), transparencies, and a torrent of special effects (heat blurs, lens flares, particles, animations) will slowly show themselves.

It takes a while. I kept playing until I was finally able to see the real visual changes. I jumped into a helicopter. Just like old times, it swooped me into the air and I began my torrent of metal hail upon an escaping Mexican caravan. Then came the carnage and the blowing up of things. Oh what fun! These explosions are dope, killer, insanely intoxicating. You really haven't seen a great explosion until you've seen these. Really. The particle system is physics based now, so explosions, flying dust and dirt, fire, smoke grenades, etc., all behave according to a consistent physics model. As the levels progress, you'll find that the visuals are actually incredibly enhanced. Watch these movies and you'll see what I mean. One of them is a three-minute segment that shows off the new support -- air support. Ready for some massive jet bombs to come in and wipe out a gaggle of enemy tanks? Oh yes. You'll see particle streams of smoke and debris flying all over the place, physically changing the air and sky around you. The air looks like the aftermath of a July 4th blow out, only these rockets are a wee bit bigger and create far more destruction. Look forward to seeing these cities explode part by part in front of your very eyes.

Enhancing all of this extreme exploding goodness is a new level of destructibility. When you blow up cars and tanks, they go boom in a big, big, big way. Parts will fly, streams of smoke will cover the sky like flowering ghost-like plumes and the ground will shake. Of course, enemy shots stream through the air leaving whitish-goldish streams. You'll see the game from a first or third-person perspective and Ubisoft has enhanced the view to show a little rumble, a little roadie cam action, if you will, giving everything an unsteady feel. I instantly got used to it, but it adds to the overall intensity of the atmosphere. In short, the graphics get better and better as you play, and the bigger the weapons you have, the more insanely cool destruction you can cause and watch in HD, next-gen bliss.

You're probably wondering about the multiplayer. We can't talk about it yet, other than to say it's back with more options than ever. It will support 16 players and provide a side-story-based co-op set of missions. It will be hawt. Come back in a few weeks and we'll spill our guts. Like with GRAW, Red Storm Studios is handling the multiplayer portion of GRAW2, while the single-player game is in development by the Paris, France team.

For those familiar with GRAW, the sequel plays with similar if not entirely the same controls and mechanics. But I will say that after having played Rainbow Six Vegas I felt completely and utterly flabbergasted when I first took the controls of GRAW 2. The cover system remains the same as last year; rush up against an object and press, and you'll loosely stick to it. Use the shoulder buttons to switch the sides. Nearly everything else is the same, though again, if you played Rainbow Six Vegas, you'll have to remember that the D-pad commands your ghost team, not the left trigger. The UAV drone and the MULE function just like commanding your ghost team, only the new mechanic enables you to see from their perspective.

The newly added MULE and the new Cross-com are quite nice. Quite nice indeed. Seeing from the UAV drone perspective is extremely cool. Press a button to switch to the drone and then hold another to stay in that perspective. If you can't figure out why seeing from the drone's perspective is a huge advantage, you'll need to re-take basic military strategy 0.1 again. In GRAW, the drone could be commanded via a real-time map to any spot, lowered to identify enemies, and then commanded to rise again to keep out of danger. This drone works the same, only now you see top-down from its perspective. The risk-reward of seeing from its perspective, however, is that when you see through its eyes, it descends into firing range. Yes, you'll be able to spot and identify enemies that show up as red diamonds, but they can shoot at you too. By simply letting go of a single button, the drone then quickly ascends out of danger, and you'll then switch back to Scott Mitchell's perspective.

The MULE looks slow and cumbersome, but contrary to its looks the vehicle is actually fast and rugged. The MULE is the equivalent to the UAV drone on land. It looks like a small, dull metal bomb with wheels. By using the cross-com to switch from your teammates to the UAV to the MULE, you can command it to any road surface on the map. The vehicle serves as a mobile weapons and ammo cache. So, for instance, you can switch to a more appropriate weapon, a sniper rifle, if you're stuck in a long-range conflict. Just stand behind it and press a button and pick and choose weapons. You can use it as protection, too. It's tall enough to crouch behind, so if you're in a bind it will keep you alive. At least for a while, that is. The MULE does take damage. So if you lose it, it's adios amigo. All of the cross-com support enables players to see from their perspectives -- the drone, the helicopter, even the MULE. You just can't shoot or kill anybody from those perspectives. In other words, you can look, but you can't kill. With one exception, all of the commanding and killing is done from your team leader's perspective. The one exception? When you're seeing the field from your squad's perspective you can actually command them from cover to cover. It's nifty. I'm telling you, watch the video.

GRAW 2 returns the series, at least a little, to its roots. The first PC game was far less arcadey and far more tactical. It also took place in wide-open spaces requiring long-range combat. GRAW 2 takes place in a mixture of environments. First, while in the cities, the environments are more populated than before. The cities won't look like ghost towns. More people and more animals will appear on screen to populate the landscapes. Outside of the cities, you'll find more rugged terrain. Mountainous environments and barren deserts comprise the remainder of the landscapes. In the first three missions I played last week, I encountered mesas, caves, multi-tier environments, and dozens of snaking roads on ridges and large hills. The terrain is far more vertical than before, forcing smarter, more tactical play. Enemies are camped out all over the landscape, forcing you to use cover and find a strategy to progress. And with the UAV and MULE at your side, scouting out the territory is far easier than before.

What makes this sequel more engaging than last year's game from the artificial intelligence perspective is the new level of aggression. The enemy AI isn't always standing around. It hides out, waiting for your arrival. When confronted, it takes cover and quickly flanks. If you stand around in one spot, you're in trouble; so it tries and appears to imitate human behavior better than before. It also uses bigger weapons. In one scenario, I reached a mesa upon which I scouted out a massive enemy camp. As soon as they encountered me, they hurled mortal shells and small bombs, forcing my team and me to move. Your own team's AI is also stealthier and smarter too. You can set it to aggressive or recon mode. In recon mode, the same side AI will not shoot until shot at, cutting down on its clumsiness and likelihood to die a stupid death. Your teammates also will chatter more, indicating where they see enemies. Ubisoft is introducing a compass to the game, so your teammates will give coordinates for each new enemy they see, pointing out if one is behind a red car, a gray building or a set of bushes in the northwest region. Each time they spot an enemy, it appears as a red diamond on screen.

The newly added medic can be commanded to give aid to any team member, including you, and he carries up to seven med kits at a time. To be honest, he's not nearly as efficient a killer as the other ghosts, but again don't fret. Given the amount of gunfire and the volume of enemies you'll see onscreen at once, he'll be a great help. You can only imagine how helpful he'll be in a multiplayer game.

So, is GRAW2 just more Vegas? Hardly. In a nut shell GRAW2 is the complete vision that Ubisoft had of GRAW from the beginning, and it's also one hell of a graphic powerhouse. The bigger, more vertical landscapes, the increase in technological support, and the overall tactical finesse of the game separates it even further from its Rainbow Six brethren, which is still focused more on indoor, close-combat SWAT-like gameplay. GRAW2 also displays the greatest explosions known to man, and for gamers, sick and sad as that may be, that's something real special.