 Review By: Jared Black |
Developer: | Red Storm |
| Publisher: | Ubisoft | |
| Genre: | Squad-based FPS | |
| ESRB: | Teen | |
| # Of Players: | 1-4 (2-16 System Link and Online) | |
| Online Play: | Yes | |
| Accessories: | System Link, Xbox Live (online play, leaderboards, content download) |
Purely from the standpoint of technical prowess (how good the lighting is, how detailed the textures are, etc.), the game is a visual knockout. Signs with small lettering that would've been illegible on Xbox are now crystal clear, and fancy effects like bump-mapping are all over the place. Even more impressively, every smooth surface that should be reflective is now reflective, and while it isn't always a true reflection of that object's surroundings it still looks incredibly realistic. Many items are also destructible, most notably cars, meaning that the cover that's serving you well one minute may not even exist the next. In several instances, I took out multiple enemies by simply blowing up the car or other object they were hiding behind, and it didn't feel canned like it has in the past.
Of course, most of the pre-release graphics hype focused on the game's use of HDR (High Dynamic Range) lighting, and indeed it does look spectacular. Ubisoft cranked up the yellows and oranges, which really convey how hot and bright the sun is in virtual Mexico City. Aside from simply looking awesome, it also has an impact on gameplay. Turn towards a glass building with the sunlight bouncing off it at just the right angle, and the effect is near temporary blindness. Moving from a dark to light area (or vice versa) also nicely simulates the effect doing so in real life would have as your eyes adjust to the light. All told it's really impressive, and I can't wait to see how it works in the next Splinter Cell.
Unfortunately, all of that graphic goodness does come at a price - pop-up. In some of the areas more crowded with objects, there is a lot of pop-up. Sections of buildings, as well as smaller objects such as crates or trees, will appear out of nowhere as you turn around or zoom in to snipe. It doesn't occur in the immediate area surrounding your character, but it's still within your line of sight and thus noticeable and distracting - especially when you're scanning the distant horizon looking to shoot anything that moves. I realize that this is likely due to the incredible distance you can see (and the sheer amount of objects that must be drawn by the game's engine as a result), but I would've gladly traded a little less detail on the horizon for less pop-up. Oh wait, I'm sure Dodge, Axe, and Nokia wouldn't have liked it if Ubisoft used slightly less detailed textures far off in the distance for their in-game billboards.
My only other complaint with the graphics is that the night vision, which now supposedly incorporates both thermal imaging and image intensification, is in reality all but useless in most circumstances. Fortunately, the game never makes you totally rely on it so it never becomes a big issue.
Pop-up is a minor issue however when compared to bugs. In fact, the single-player portion of GRAW alone makes it one of the buggiest games I've ever played. The biggest one occurred at the beginning of the Bulldog mission, where you must rescue a VIP in a downed helicopter. What's supposed to happen is the game forces you to go left by giving you the "leaving battle zone" message if you go straight, which if ignored for a few seconds leads to the player failing the mission. However, the first time I played it I went straight…and did not get the "leaving battle zone" message. I was able to follow the road for a while through streets that looked suspiciously devoid of enemies and detail (you're only supposed to see them from afar while flying over them), and eventually reached an underground tunnel. Naturally I followed this tunnel, and eventually saw a forest area at the end of it. My curiosity fully piqued, I headed for the forest like a moth to the flame…and fell straight through the ground. It was there that I got a beautiful view of the underside of Mexico City as seen to the right of this paragraph, and eventually had to restart the mission.
Unfortunately that wasn't the only bug, as I ran into others as well. Most of the rest occurred in the Guardrail IX mission, where I saw a number of "black monoliths" appear out of nowhere. They were actually supposed to be cars, but instead the car models had glitched and turned into solid black shapes that grew or shrunk (stretching far into the sky) based on the angle I looked at them. Not only were they distracting (and amusing), but they also had a detrimental impact on gameplay as on several occasions they suddenly showed up and blocked a shot I had on an enemy. In another instance, when being picked up by chopper I was warped directly to it, where it then flew directly through a number of buildings and other objects before taking me to my next destination. So far I have been unable to recreate any of the bugs I encountered the first time around however, so perhaps simply rebooting the system would've fixed them before.
Bottom Line:
Despite some glitches and minor annoyances, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter is a stunning example of what the Xbox 360 is really capable of producing and should finally quiet any critics that think the system isn't that big of a leap over the previous generation of consoles. The new graphic tricks used, such as HDR, have a very real impact on gameplay and look gorgeous even in standard definition. Additionally, the Cross-Com adds a new layer of strategy to the series, and I couldn't see the "live" feeds it uses working nearly as well with the limited horsepower the original Xbox provides.
Much like the near-future soldiers this game portrays, the Ghost Recon series continues to evolve in ways that keep me excited about the future of the franchise.
| Pros: | Cons: | Final Score: |
|---|---|---|
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| 8.5 |
Posted: 2006-04-03 16:50:55 PST