Sorry to all the positive reviewers but play GRAW for a proper tactical game as this is closer to mindless run and gun.
Where GRAW is closer to a sim, I would barely call this game tactical and think it is closer to a run-and-gun FPS. In GRAW the tension is built up by moving slowly and gun battles are short and intense. If you get hit then there’s a good chance you are dead. The minimal soundtrack also helps build the atmosphere and the overhead map lets you plan the positions and movements of the team easily and intuitively. This is all spot on and done just to the right level as I must say I hated games like Rogue Spear where the planning was just tedious and over detailed.
I find in Vegas I just don’t care about the missions that much. In GRAW, while the team mates hardly have ‘personalities’ and you can complete missions even if you lose some of them, you just don’t want to do it that way and you always feel that you want to keep everyone alive. The interaction with the team characters is deeper in Vegas – they talk (and actually look different!) – but all you can do is move them to somewhere within view and hope they point the right way and do the right thing when they get there (which to be fair, for the most part they do). By the time you play GRAW for the second or third time you feel confident enough to move the team in pairs way out of visual range using the tactical map and helmet cams to keep and eye on the action but you don’t do this in Vegas. It is basically a linear conveyor belt and the use of tactics is limited as both team mates operate as one so you need a helping of luck to get through tough areas which limits the point of any tactical plan. Tagging enemies is good though and room take downs can be sweet but another spoiler is the dreadful Call of Duty 2 style health system where you can get shot to ribbons but if you manage to take cover just before dying, presto you are all better again after a few seconds. Another gripe is that the checkpoints are too far apart in Vegas and I hate those weapons crates as you have to visit them repeatedly to re-supply when reloading a scene to start a section again. GRAW is again more realistic where you kit out at the beginning of a mission and you had better watch the ammo level before the next equipment drop. In Vegas the baddies also spawn at trigger points as you progress like a Doom type shooter and some sections are so difficult that it gets tedious re-trying. So far I am only on the first casino level where you have to get up the stairs in the central atrium using smoke for cover etc but it is a difficult section and as ‘tactics’ barely work I am not sure if I can be bothered to play much more.
Final gripe is the language as while I don’t have a big problem with profanity in general I do hate this in all games. What with the Vegas setting, all the swearing in this game just gives it a GTA tacky feel that feels very cheap and I am surprised TC even lends his name to it. I must admit that the scenery in GRAW was pretty dull but its ‘silence’ gave it a much classier feel. My only hope is that they haven’t spoiled the formula in GRAW2 as I can’t see me bothering with Vegas for much longer.
Okay, I'm an impatient moaning whinger but there you have it. You can give my reveiw negative feedback, I don't care. Now, GRAW for a fourth time...?