Ubisoft Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 review

Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 is quite a rarity: a game previously released on a games console that hasn't just had a lazy PC conversion.

Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 on PC is a different game to its Xbox 360 sibling. PC gamers are sure to appreciate the greater emphasis that's been put on the tactical elements of this first-person shooter.

You play as the leader of a squad of US soldiers sent in to quietly resolve insurgent attacks in Mexico. There are no heroics and each fight must be carefully planned out in advance. A top-down tactical map lets you give instructions to your computer-controlled squad mates, who act them out in real-time once you give the order. Use of cover and stealth is essential, as copping a few bullets means death. There are no health packs and ammo is in short supply. You can play on if you lose a couple of your team, but if your character is killed the mission is over.

There's a massive difference between the easier difficulty settings and the harder ones. On the former, you can play the game almost solo with the rest of the team trudging patiently behind you, which is too easy. On the hardest setting, it can be one shot, one kill, and your enemies are all-knowing and numerous. Precise placement of the other ghosts is essential. It's the way the game should be played, but it's very taxing for a casual or impatient player.

It's more thoughtful than the average first-person shooter, but it's also a little characterless. Your comrades and enemies behave like machines - either sluggish and stupid, or near-psychic crackshots. They possess some artificial intelligence, but it's purely functional and not remotely capable of making them behave like real people.

The setting and plot are simply window dressing, put there to link suspenseful scenes of combat. Mexico doesn't feel like a real place, just a virtual-reality simulation. There is a storyline, but it's all just tedious blather about your next objective. It's at its best in networked or online multiplayer, where your squad consists of real people. This generates more atmosphere and a greater sense of teamwork.

Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 is an improvement on the previous game, but it has all the hallmarks of a churned-out sequel, with tick-box improvements instead of grand changes. It all works fine, but it's not quite as exciting as it should be. During the current shooting game drought, however, this game certainly fills a hole. It is a very polished affair, and the harder difficulty levels will make satisfying demands on parts of the brain that other first-person shooter titles leave untouched.