Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter is, simply put, the ultimate epitome of next-generation games on the Xbox 360 to date.
User Rating: 10 | Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter X360
Ghost Recon has been a great series since it was released in 2003. The console versions were basically ports of the PC version that came out before it. There have been numerous Ghost Recon updates on the Xbox (i.e. Summit Strike) that have made Tom Clancy a recognizeable name, but not good enough to make newcomers to the genre want a copy so badly. Now, in March 2006, their latest installment, Advanced Warfighter, is the pure definition of a sequel; it looks better, plays better, has a lot more depth, and was built for the Xbox 360 since day 1. For those of you not keeping track of GRAW since E3, let me get you up to date; you play as Scott Mitchell, the leader of a three-man squad, called the Ghosts, and a relentless soldier who shoots first and asks questions later when on the battlefield. Your mission in this installment is to go south of the border into Mexico City, find the president, and safely extract him to the safety of the U.S. The noticeable update in this new Ghost Recon title is the graphical one. Scott Mitchell and the other Ghosts are modeled so perfectly, that you won't think of playing a game for a second. The enemies also look just as impressive, especially in HD. But character models are nothing without impressive environments, and impress they do. The amount of detail given to the world around you is riveting and evocative. Simply put, if you don't have an HDTV, you will be impressed; if you do, you will be immersed. The audio, just like the graphics, have been given a significant boost for the next generation. You will hear the chatter of your teammates telling you what is going on in the current mission. If they are telling you that someone is dying, they need you to go over there pronto! The gunfire sounds realistic and you can not only hear the shots being fired, but also stopping when they hit the wall. Simply put, the audio is the same as the graphics: best experienced on HD. But impressive graphics and audio are nothing without good gameplay, and on that front, GRAW not only delivers that main course, but also gives you a few good desserts as well. The main hook of GRAW is, of course, the brand new Cross-Com feature. The Cross-Com may seem more like a gimmick than a revolution as a first impression, mainly because you can see where your next objective is and who you need to shoot or help. But once you go deeper in, you will see that it impacts the gameplay so severely, that you wouldn't be surprised if it was in all tactical shooters to come. In one mission, your Cross-Com is perfectly fine, allowing you to find your next objective point. But later on in that mission, your HUD will go all FUBAR on you, screwing up your sights and making it required to turn on your heat vision while you destroy the jammer. The only thing that i can say about the controls is that they are classic Ghost Recon, with only a few tweaks made to the already excellent control system. But the changes they did make made the controls go from excellent to perfect. As great as the single player game is, the Ghost Recon series has always thrived on one thing: multiplayer. Not only has the multiplayer been given a next-generation upgrade (i.e. 16-player co-op), but it is, by far, the best multiplayer experience EVER, co-op or not! The negative? Well, there is only one thing that may be a turn-off to many newcomers: the single player game is too short. This is a remarkable thing that any Ghost Recon fan will ever hear: the single player game is actually fun to play! So far, this is the best game in the series ever, and putting it on the Xbox 360 gave it a full advantage. Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter is, simply put, the ultimate epitome of next-generation games on the Xbox 360 to date. This is where the Xbox 360 is starting to destroy the PS3's competition! You heard it here first! 
