In Ghost Recon 3 Advanced Warfighter or GRAW, you play as Captain Scott Mitchell who is leader of the Ghosts. The Ghosts are the best of the best soldiers and each is equipped with the Integrated Warfighter System (IWS). The IWS gives extra information in your heads up display or HUD which clearly marks on-screen characters with a coloured diamond around the body when spotted. The Ghosts are marked in blue, friendlies in green and enemies in red. In the upper left part of your HUD is the Cross-Com which allows you to see what your Ghost's see in real-time. You can also control vehicles by giving commands on screen or by using your tactical map; you are able to see the field of view of the vehicle you are controlling through your cross-com whether that be a tank or helicopter. The Nar-Com will frequently appear in the upper right of your HUD. The Nar-Com gives you updated video Intel, such as mission objectives from your superiors and can keep you up to date with the latest news headlines. It is these advanced extras that separate GRAW from previous Ghost Recon titles however GRAW is set in the not too distant future and so some progression in combat is acceptable.

The story of GRAW is based around the US, Canadian and Mexican Presidents joining forces to sign the NAJSA (North American Joint Security Agreement), a policy which was designed to control illegal immigration and the movement of drugs by terrorists. During the public signing of the NAJSA document, the three leaders are attacked by corrupt Mexican soldiers. The Ghosts have been ordered to find and secure the VIP's in the midst of chaos.

Gameplay

The game play compared to previous Ghost Recon titles has some more realistic features and plays more fluid. Now, when running you can slide on your knees or dive to avoid fire and get behind cover more quickly. Once you are behind cover you can then press your back up against the wall and scout for enemies by peeking around corners, you can then fire at the enemy with most of your body behind cover. GRAW allows Scott Mitchell the ability to command three other team mates who at supply trucks you will be able to select what class of soldier you wish to have with you such as Rifleman, Gunner, Grenadier and Marksman. Controlling the Ghost team is a breeze and by simply tapping up or down on the D-pad will advance or regroup the squad. You can change the team’s rules of engagement by entering them into assault mode which means they will look out for enemies and automatically engage them when spotted. Recon mode which when enabled will then move the team quietly and means your fellow men will only fire at enemies when attacked first. There are plenty of enemy vehicles in the game which need taking out; you can position your crosshair over it and order your team to attack or go to your tactical map and order the team to attack the vehicle from there (it is advised that you seek cover when using the tactical map for obvious reasons).In the heat of combat and if one of your fellow Ghost's is wounded you can order another member of your team to patch him up or you can walk over to your injured comrade and help him out yourself. You occasionally get to ride as the gunner of a helicopter, from here you can take out multiple enemies and vehicles and get an excellent view of Mexico City.

Graphics

Not much can be said about the graphics, except the fact that they are fantastic. GRAW shines with next-gen goodness as far as I’m concerned and really goes to showcase what the Xbox 360 is capable of at this time. They truly are the best graphics you will see on the Xbox 360 right now. Your team mates and enemies all move fluently and efficiently and when fired at they know to get to cover quickly. When walking around the streets of Mexico and after noticing how realistically convincing it is with the sunlight shining down and reflecting off of buildings and cars you then notice the creases in your character's clothes which is impressive to say the least. After taking all of that in when you encounter a massive explosion in a building, you hear the glass shatter and hit the ground and are left with an impressive plume of smoke coming from the destroyed building. Visually pleasing and generally great stuff! There are some moments of textures being drawn in which you notice if you turn a corner fast but this does not detract from the game play. There are also some clipping issues at times but again these do not detract from the overall presentation.

Sound

The sound is very good with everything that you would expect, explosions, helicopters, weapons fire all sounding superbly convincing; it all works really well to help make GRAW as believable as possible. I love the way when you and your team are walking along towards a rally point and you get blindsided by rebels and immediately the heart pounding music kicks in as your looking for the nearest place for cover. It has to be said though, that its always the little things that impress me the most, like when walking down the back of an alley you can hear gunfire in the distance, a baby crying in a building, police sirens and dogs barking.

Longevity

GRAW will keep you coming back for more way after you have completing the single player game. With more than 10 impressive single player levels, admittedly a little short for my tastes, but it's the experience that counts. I found that when I got stuck on the campaign I'd just go and do one of the earlier levels on hard and then go back to where I left off. There’s an online co-op campaign mode which can hold up to 16 players and is different to the single player. There are currently only 4 co-op campaign missions though, but I am hoping for more via. the Xbox Live Marketplace. If that wasn't enough to keep you busy then there’s also plenty of multiplayer game modes including solo, team and co-op based modes; which can be tweaked to suit your play style. These are available via split screen, system link and of course Xbox Live.

Overall

For tactical warfare fans GRAW is a must buy, the fantastic single player campaign and especially the extensive online multiplayer options will keep you coming back for more. As good as GRAW is it’s not without its little niggles, I did get the occasional game freeze and objects popping in and out, but like I said those are little niggles with the game. The only problem I feel is really worth noting is the drop outs that happen in online multiplayer. Ubisoft will hopefully get a patch out soon to sort that problem out though. If you own an Xbox 360 and are looking for a showcase title that is not only fun to play but looks great as well then Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter is the game for you.