A few days ago, we brought you our initial impressions of the single-player component of Ubisoft’s highly-anticipated Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter. Generally, we follow up our Out of the Box articles with a full review that touches on all aspects of the game, but I’m going to be doing things a bit differently this time around. You see, while most of the games that we review feature nearly equal amounts of single- and multiplayer content, Advanced Warfighter is a bit different. You’ll probably be able to beat the highly enjoyable single-player campaign in 8 to 12 hours (depending on the difficulty setting), but it’s likely that you’ll never tire of playing the absolutely addicting multiplayer mode. With that in mind, most of this review will focus on that aspect of the game, but we urge you to check out the Out of the Box article.

For those of you that have an aversion to clicking on links, here’s a brief synopsis of what we had to say about the single-player campaign: it’s awesome. You’ll play as Captain Scott Mitchell, a Ghost team leader who’s been tasked with leading his men into Mexico City to rescue our president, quash a coup, and save the world. The single-player game features a number of interesting additions to the series, including a controllable spy drone and the CrossCom system, which helps the player keep track of what’s going on during the often chaotic combat. The game looks beautiful thanks to some high dynamic range lighting effects, and it features some of the best presentation we’ve seen in a long time. Plus, it’s challenging enough - even on the normal difficulty - that you may feel like playing it more than once. Even if you only play the single-player game, there’s a good chance that you’ll feel like you’ve gotten your money’s worth.


Alright, enough with the single-player jibber-jabber, let’s get down and dirty with the multiplayer aspects of the game. As was the case with the previous titles in the series, the game places a heavy emphasis on the multiplayer action, offering players an amazing variety of gametypes, maps, and customization options. While you can take on your buddies via system link or splitscreen, Xbox Live is where you’ll find some real action. Nearly everything about the Live play is excellent, although initially I wasn’t impressed by the matchmaking system. Attempting to join a game by selecting Quick Match proved to be futile, as you’d be put into games that we already under way. After a bit of experimentation, I found that the best way to get into a game was to do a Custom Search and select a game that was still being setup. Sure, it takes a bit longer to complete the search, but you won’t have to wait around for everyone else to finish playing.

Of course, if you don’t feel like hopping into someone else’s game, you can always create a game of your own. Setting up a match is quick and easy, and I was impressed by the staggering number of customization options. You can essentially set up any type of game that you can imagine, tweaking every aspect until it’s just the way that you want it. You can set kit restrictions, limit the number of respawns, change the enemy density, turn off (or on) drones and helicopters, or have the game make you a sandwich. Actually, that last option might not be in there, but you get the point. When players logs on for the first time, they can also customize the look of their avatar, changing their headgear, camo pattern, and facial structure. If you thought Halo 2 gave players a lot of flexibility, you haven’t seen anything yet.

While there’s an insane amount of customization options available, the developers made sure that the same basic game modes that we all know and love can be played with minimal setup. Elimination, Territory, and Objective (all three have Solo, Team and Co-op variants) are the basic modes, and you can select different types of games for each one. For instance, the Siege gametype in the Team Territory mode features no respawns and a single zone that must be defended, while the Hamburger Hill gametype has a central zone for players to fight over and will let you respawn infinitely. Given the game’s emphasis on customization, it’s not surprising that you can tweak all of the set gametypes to your heart’s desire.

It’s unlikely that you’ll ever tire of the excellent competitive multiplayer action, but you can always switch things up a bit by playing cooperatively if you want something new. There are a number of Co-op modes available, although the centerpiece is undoubtedly the wholly separate campaign that takes place in Nicaragua. The campaign complements the single-player game well, offering up some different types of terrain and locales. However, I had the most fun with the standalone Co-op gametypes, in which you and your buddies team up against a seemingly unending (you can change the density to your liking) flow of enemies. While playing a Territory game last night, we had to defend a spot for 10 minutes, mowing down nearly 200 enemies before we were finally overwhelmed by their numbers. By the end, everyone was screaming into their headsets, firing wildly into the crowd of rebels, and having the time of their life.


Amazingly, this was one of the first Xbox Live titles that I’ve played that didn’t seem to have any technical glitches or major issues when played online. Usually, playing an Xbox Live game on the day it’s released will result in a fairly crappy experience, whether it’s due to lag or drops or a lack of competition. However, I’ve been playing Advanced Warfighter since it hit stores shelves, and I’ve yet to be kicked out of a game or experience any noticeable lag. My only qualm with the technical side of the game is the fact that the host duties won’t be transferred to another player if the host decides to quit abruptly. Maybe I’ve been spoiled by Halo 2, but I feel like this is one of those features that should be included in every multiplayer game.

Although much of the multiplayer game’s action is the same as that found in the single-player game, there are a few noticeable differences. You’ll instantly be able to tell that the graphics in the multiplayer game aren’t as impressive as the stunning, effects-heavy visuals you’ll see in the campaign. This is largely due to the fact that the developers had to make some sacrifices to ensure a smooth, lag-free experience on Xbox Live, although you’ll likely be too busy dodging enemy fire to stop and admire the texture on a rock. Still, that’s not to say that the multiplayer game doesn’t look great, because it does. Grass sways in the breeze, sandy beaches look shockingly realistic, and the character models are excellent.