Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2

So that's the CrossCom, which is a big change. The locale is really a smaller change. You start out the game in Mexico, which looks as it did in the first game. But the storyline takes you to different places in the States, as the terrorists try and get their footholds in, so you get to see some different things as you progress - some suburban areas, for one. There are also some more spectacular maps, with deserts and mountain ranges.

What's particularly neat is that the game has got a new day and night cycle built into the engine, which means that the environment will change around you as you play. If you're fighting in the evening, you can watch the sun set around you and your task might even get harder as the light falls. The sunset effect is awesome, and provides a breathtaking backdrop to some of the action. It really shows off the power of the graphics engine in the game.

Multiplayer shenanigans

A lot of the multiplayer in GRAW2 is standard stuff. It follows the Halo 2 model of including every mode and the kitchen sink. There's standard death match, last man standing, team deathmatch, zone control... as well as the ability for you to mix and match up different criteria to create your own game types.

There's also a new mode called Takedown, where each team has an officer. If you're an officer, you get three times the points for everybody that you kill, but the downside is that the enemy gets 10x the points for killing you, and your position is highlighted on the map at all times. Your simultaneous power and vulnerability makes for some interesting play dynamics.

One of the best things about GRAW2 is the fact that the gameplay is varied. There's a mixture of outdoors sharpshooting and tactical manoeuvring, whilst there's also indoors carnage too, up-close rough stuff. This makes it a great online game.

Not all plain sailing

It's fair to say is that if you didn't like the first game, there's really nothing in this one which is going to convert you. This is more of the same, and if you didn't like the first course, don't bother coming back for the second. Another problem is that the difficultly level is really up and down. Some bits are really quite easy, and you can get through them, have a good time and feel like you've got tactical play nailed. Then, you just hit one bit of one mission that seems insanely hard, and you feel like giving up. This was a problem with the first game, and it hasn't entirely been resolved now.

We would also like more scenery in the game - more places to go, more truly diverse things to see. One of the things we enjoyed most about Splinter Cell: Double Agent was the fact that Sam Fisher gets to do all sorts of stuff, go all sorts of places. There are levels in Antarctica, levels in China... Whilst this game pretty much takes place along the Mexico / US border, it would be more interesting if there was a little bit more variance to show off the power of the Xbox 360 console a little bit more.

With that said, GRAW2 is undoubtedly an accomplished and fun game. It's slick, makes some good changes from the original, and gives tactical gaming fans more of the same action they loved the first time out. Another successful mission for the Ghosts.