Probably the best in series, but it's arguable.
As you expect, you can control the Ghost, but again there is little point in doing this. It was pointless in GR2, pointless in SS, and your battle buddies were so go in GR and Island Thunder that they did most of the work for you. The game improves on the "tactical" side of being a "tactical shooter". This is found basically in the larger urban environment where you can order your ghost to suppress and you flank them. I suppose they took into consideration the "find them, fix them, flank them, f*uck em" motto. You'll view your surroundings through the HUD (head's up display) and your enemies will appear by being zoned by red diamonds. This is interesting feature that is suppose to put the "advance" in advanced warfighter, but I found this to make the game almost too easy, even though it does come in handy for snipers and at night. What's nice however is the ability to take this off and mimic GR2 and SS; you know, not know the enemy is there until they are right on top of you.
This brings me to my next topic – the enemy AI. The enemy AI is just as absurd as you've seen previously; gun fire going off and they will run out for the picking off. They will however find cover and empty a magazine in your direction. You wait for them to reload, and that's when you hit your target. This is the standard tactic; find cover, wait, take out enemy. What IS nice about the game is the influence of heavy engagement – your screen will shake and it will seem a bit chaotic. Of course Scott Mitchell being Scott Mitchell, a little gun fire is nothing he can't handle. This is such a nice feature along with your controller vibrating that is makes you feel a bit more in the environment than what the previous games have been able to do. For example, in the third level there is a massive fire fight outside the American embassy. Your controller is going crazy, and the screen is going nuts. With explosions going off here and there, the sound of enemy voices approaching, it is certainly fun, exciting, and you must admit, a bit frightful. This is something you never got in the previous GR games – an element of suspense.
This brings me to my next point; the game seems much more linier than before. Practically, every enemy is either right in front of you, or within close proximity to your left or right. Being in urban combat this seems a bit strange since you would like to think they would have enough sense to try to out flank you; again, credit that to typical GR AI. Unlike the previous games where you can easily get surrounded, this doesn't seem to be the case with GRAW. What is a nice feature is the ability to control allied armor; some tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles, and an Apache. It's fun seeing a rocket blow up a tank right in front of you, but at the same time you know you be dead as well. There has been a few times where I've been caught behind a wall and an enemy tank is firing at me, and apparently this tank can't blow up a wall. Something that is a bit disappointing especially when you would like to think people play GR for it's somewhat believable combat – I use that however extremely loosely.
Another nice aspect to this game is the ability to play missions where you're in a Blackhawk firing down on enemies and convoys. This is fun, and brings a real sense of enjoyment to a game that is overall extremely good and fun. You get some prototype weapons like you did previously, but if you're like me you, then you'll want to mimic the game as close as "real life" as possible and therefore pick non-prototype or experimental weapons. Oh, this reminds me; if you've played GRAW for the Xbox, and not for the 360, don't worry, the 360 version is a hundred million times better, and doesn't even remotely seem similar to the Xbox version. You get a UAV in some missions and this is such a nice feature. You can scan the map and therefore get enemy intel. You can then find your best strategy to eliminate your target. This is a fun, but time consuming feature. It all depends how you want to play the game.
The game is great, with great sound. It stays true to being a GR game; its arguable that it's the best, but I think it is.