Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 Preview

For many people GRAW marked a turn around in the state of Xbox 360 software. The launch line-up back in December 2005 was by no means poor, but the months that followed brought little to get excited about. But a barrage of titles headed by Ubisoft's stunning next-gen debut for Ghost Recon meant March 2006 was a great time to be a new Xbox 360 owner. It's been less than a year, but I got to play a few of the early levels in what is shaping up to be a great sequel and an essential game for GRAW fans.

Heroic soldier Scott Mitchell is back, although he hardly went away. GRAW 2 picks up almost immediately from the end of the original Xbox 360 hit and he is once again working to halt the rebelling Mexican forces. They've hauled up in the town of Juarez, located right on the US border, and have plans to invade Texas. This is obviously a huge problem for the United States so the best soldiers are sent in to sort out the situation. It's all very GRAW.

Initial impressions suggest the gameplay has remained largely untouched, with players of last year's game unlikely to need too much assistance. The cover system and squad controls are intact, as is the little window in the corner of the screen that lets you switch between controlling team-mates and vehicles. One difference this time around, though, is the ability to control gadgets like the flying scout drone via a full-screen view. This is true of all vehicles and team-mates, making tactical play a lot simpler than before.

Completely new to GRAW 2 is the MULE. This is essentially a ground drone that carries weapon supplies and doubles as moveable cover. It too can be controlled directly using a full-screen view and can be sent into dangerous situations to pick out enemy locations. As in the previous game, these locations are sent to your HUD, allowing you to take the best position on the battlefield in order to safely take down the enemies. This job is made all the easier thanks to the new wall-piercing sniper rifle - meaning you don't even need to be able to see enemies in order to take them out.

Although the gameplay is still fairly slow-paced, you rarely get time to sit back and take in the often gorgeous visuals...

The opening few levels are all set in the fairly barren Mexican town, where barely standing brick huts and hills are all you'll see for miles. It's fair to say that it's not the most exciting game environment, but things soon get interesting. One early objective requires you to hold position on a bridge that's swarming with enemies and soon after you'll be running for cover as air strikes repeatedly bombard your position in a sunken construction site. Although the gameplay is still fairly slow-paced, you rarely get time to sit back and take in the often gorgeous visuals - explosions and new smoke effects being a particular highlight.

As good as GRAW 2 looks at certain points, the opening levels pale in comparison to the more urban environment that ended my time with the game. Hopefully these more heavily built up environments play a larger part in later levels as there's only so much that can be done with hills and blowing smoke. Considering the improvements made to the engine that powered the original game, there's little reason to doubt that the final game will be among the best looking 360 titles on its release.

The helicopter gunship sections that cropped up from time to time in the original are also back for the sequel. As with most other aspects of the game, these play out in similar fashion to before, although you can now use counter-measures to draw away enemy missiles. This adds a smidgen of depth to proceedings, but the gameplay is still pretty arcade-like and makes for a nice change from the stop-and-pop nature of the on-foot gameplay.

What's also nice is the new Medic class. In the original you were be in charge of keeping all members of your squad alive. In GRAW 2 a medic has this job, meaning you can concentrate on shooting bad guys instead of frequently having to run into danger to save people. The medic's inclusion in your squad does have a negative impact on your overall firepower, but in later missions this option is bound to come in very handy.

With only a handful of levels under my belt it's hard to tell if GRAW 2 will better the original, but there's little doubt that it's going to offer another compelling tactical action experience. Multiplayer will also play a big part in the overall package, but we'll have more on that next week. If you're yet to give the Xbox Marketplace demo a whirl, it features one of the opening levels and is well worth a look. Thankfully the wait to get hold of the final game won't be too long, as GRAW 2 for the Xbox 360 is scheduled to hit retail on March 9.