Advanced Warfighter 2 PC Hands-On

We take the all-new Ghost Recon for a spin, in the unique PC version of Advanced Warfighter 2. Or should that be Advanced Warfighter 2: Ghost Strategies, perhaps?

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By Adam Doree

In an age of gaming where companies' shareholder demands frequently force publishers to rush out ports of console games to PC, or develop the same vanilla title for ten platforms while ignoring the unique potential benefits of each, applause must surely go to Ubisoft. With the exception of a couple of shoddy Wii launch titles, these guys know it makes sense to tailor gaming experiences to different platforms. And there's no better example than Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2 for the PC, which is a completely different game to the recently released Xbox 360 title.

It would be something of a cop-out for the publisher to simply convert the console version, released earlier this year (and also set to turn up near identically on PS3 in August), and stick in an extra level for the PC edition. But instead, working again with Stockholm-based developer GRIN as they did on GRAW1 PC, they've turned in a custom experience for PC gamers that differs greatly from the acclaimed console GRAW2 release.

To be quite honest we think the problem with GRAW2 for the PC is that it shares the same name as the console version. These days it's practically illegal for games not to have a subtitle of some sort, as franchises spiral into one hapless spin-off after another, so it might have been better to call this 'Advanced Warfighter 2: Ghost Strategies' - or something. Because those who've finished GRAW2 on 360, or who are waiting out for the PS3 version, will assume this is the same game on PC, while PC gamers will move on to something they assume is better suited to their taste. Calling it something different, amazingly, indicates it's a different game. If it weren't for our guy at Ubisoft clearly telling us this is completely different to the 360 game, we'd have ignored it altogether - but it was vital for us to see the difference, and it's vital to communicate this to you. So, Advanced Warfighter 2: Ghost Strategies it is, then...

Upon first booting up this final preview version of the game, it's difficult to say whether these differences are good or not. Action is now first-person (rather than the third-person action found on the console game) which you may think signals faster, more intense military shooting gameplay, but in fact the pace of the game is a lot slower and more strategic. However, like the original GRAW for PC, which was also different from console GRAW1, it quickly becomes clear that they've done the right thing - and this time the results are even more refined than before. The game's overhauled graphical style - markedly different from the clean-cut console visuals with a new, more visceral, overcast flair - certainly seems to prelude a more serious gameplay experience.

The only thing that remains essentially the same to the 360 version, is the game's 72-hour storyline and all of the voice acting and briefing clips. Main character Scott Mitchell, a kick-ass kind of guy leading the 'Ghosts' Special Forces unit, returns to Mexico where the original GRAW was located. Set in 2014, just two days after the events of GRAW1 when Mitchell and his team saved the day in Mexico City, you're taken back to the border around El Paso (Texas) and Juarez (Mexico) where conflict has escalated - something to do with a 'dirty bomb' apparently. I bet it's those escaped cons from Prison Break still on the run!

The idea with Advanced Warfighter is this military concept that better connectivity between all your units on the ground makes a more effective team. Well duh. Think of it as this imaginary Cell processor networking that's never going to actually happen in a million years, but in theory means a lot more computing power if you somehow connect all the Cell processors together though the network of magic. This sort of Kutaragi talk might sound like bullshit to some today, but in the hi-tech battlefield of 2014, this methodology - combined with awesome weaponry, targeting and navigational tools - means a much more potent fighting squad, and you're right in the thick of it.

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