Graphical mastery
With feet firmly on the ground you’ll need to choose your weapons wisely. In multiplayer you’ll become accustomed to the maps and know immediately which gun to favour, in the single player missions you’ll probably stick with your favourite weapon throughout. The accuracy and variety weapons to choose from ensure that there is a gun for every occasion. If you like a bit of close up action you’ll choose a gunner and machine-gun, if you like to snipe you’ll choose a marksmen and sniper rifle, the variety of weapons available offer choice and versatility, a trademark of all Ghost Recon games.
The guns aim works better when lying down or crouching, although the targeting reticule moves around even when you completely still. If equipped with a sniper rifle, you’ll soon be perfecting those headshots despite the slight movement on your viewer.
Click for larger imageThe missions in GRAW follow a set routine, you're dropped to the ground by helicopter, creating dust storms on the barren environments, you'll need to find the rally point, choose your teammates, achieve a set number of objectives, such as rescuing the Mexican president, and then head for the extraction point. The missions are well-structured and, although some people may moan about the whole game being set in Mexico City, they are exciting and have enough variety to ensure you'll never be bored.
There is no game on the 360 that comes close to the graphical mastery that you'll experience throughout GRAW. Despite intense firefights and immense maps, the graphics remain consistently brilliant. Floating debris caused by the powerful blades of the Apache helicopters drift by, in sunlight you'll be aquainted to superb lighting and shading techniques, as the whole area becomes emblazoned with the hue one sees on a hot sunny day. Explosions befittingly create dazzling firework displays of utter destruction The towns accurately reflect a war torn country, travelling on the Apache helicoper and copping a panoramic view of the cities gives the game an authentic feel, creates tension, and thrusts you firmly into the eyes of a soldier.
The graphical details of fairly un-important stuff, such as water and rain, have been given the closest attention. The sea appears to be alive and the rain buckets down leaving you feeling cold, heavy and wet. Such are the accuracies of the graphics that they drag you in, and immerse you in a full war-like experience. The environments are also destructible, you'll be able to blow up cars that are shielding enemies, unleash a barrage of bullets from your M60 into a glass shop front, or shoot a barrel with a sniper rifle to witness real-life effects.
The whole atmosphere of GRAW is built around these next-gen graphics and the oustanding sound of the game.
The sound and music in the game shifts depending on your locality within the game, or the situation in hand . Stand amongst a pile of polluted dustbins and you'll hear the sound of flies buzzing, shoot at a static car and you'll hear the car alarm ringing around deserted streets. When entering areas where enemies are located, your heart may skip a beat as the music changes to the sort of intense, sounds you'd hear in a high budget war movie. Even the sound of your soldier, laden with smoke grenades and weapons, running through the billowing smog of war, is uncannily accurate.
Armed vehicles such as tanks create thunderous claps of sound and explosions reverberate around the walls, the highways and the industrial arenas, making GRAW an extreme audio experience.