Close, but no cigar!
So, seven years later, Ubisoft has yet to release a worthy successor! GR:AW was just a complete and utter disaster as far as a tactical shooter goes. Liner, predictable mission design and poor gameplay meant that I stopped playing it within a month of buying it; going back to playing OGR online. Now we have GR:AW2, a somewhat mediocre attempt to revive the "tactical" side of this tactical shooter.
I'll grant Grin that the squad AI has been much improved since GR:AW. Although you still have to somewhat "hold their hand" they are far more capable of performing tasks. The recon mode is also a very welcome addition, as in GR:AW you simply couldn't sneak past anything without your squad mates blasting everything to kingdom come (kind of detracts from the "recon" in Ghost RECON!), now you have the option of sneaking around like a ghost should to get the job done quietly and efficiently.
However! Here comes the bad news...
Mission design... Still not there, confrontations are still predictable with incredibly annoying Narcom updates, with liner routes through the map. I have yet to see a map recreate the vast wilderness seen in many of the OGR maps. One REALLY annoying fact about the game is the way in which enemy infantry spawns. In OGR you started the mission with all enemy forces there in position, allowing you to do effective recon and plan your movements to have minimum contact with the enemy. Using the cross-com you can survey your surrounding environment, which while being a very handy too it makes this error especially noticeable. For instance, checking your right flank everything is clear no visible enemy presence. You move your men to the next building up the street. Up pops the Narcom "Scott, hostiles inbound!", so you pop up the cross-com to find an APC with half a dozen infantry flanking you in the area you just saw as completely clear... This really detracts from the way that you plan your movements, and makes the game appear really arcade in style. For instance some community made missions for OGR focused so heavily on stealth and recon that you failed the mission if you fired a single shot!
This may seem like a complete waste of time, I can see your point, this might seem like a very biased review. However, after three games, two released and one cancelled... Ubisoft has yet to make another game worthy of holding the Ghost Recon title. There are rumors abound of another GR game after a typically Ubisoft style PR stunt on the GR.com site.
If this is true, and another Ghost Recon title is in the works and If your looking for a true tactical shooter, worthy of the Ghost Recon title... don't get your hopes up. If the next game is a real success, then great, I will be pleasantly surprised! Until then though, for a real tactical sim you should be looking more in the direction of ArmA/OFP or the currently in development ArmA2 and OFP2. Hell, you could even go back to playing OGR!