Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2
Developer(s)	Ubisoft Paris Red Storm Entertainment (PS3/X360) High Voltage Software (PSP) Grin (PC)
Publisher(s)	Ubisoft
Designer(s)	Christian Allen
Composer(s)	Tom Salta
Series	Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon
Engine	YETI (PS3/PSP/X360) Diesel (PC)
Platform(s)	Xbox 360 Microsoft Windows PlayStation 3 PlayStation Portable
Release date(s)	March 6, 2007 Xbox 360 NA March 6, 2007 AUS March 8, 2007 EU March 9, 2007 JP July 12, 2007 Microsoft Windows AUS June 28, 2007 EU July 13, 2007 NA July 17, 2007 PlayStation 3 & PlayStation Portable NA August 23, 2007 AUS August 23, 2007 EU August 24, 2007 JP November 8, 2007
Genre(s)	Tactical shooter
Mode(s)	Single-player, Multiplayer
Distribution	Optical disc

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 (GRAW 2) is the sequel to Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter. It expands on the game play of Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter and is the fourth installment in the popular Ghost Recon tactical shooter video game series, published by Ubisoft.

The game takes place in 2014, immediately after the events of Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (GRAW), just south of the Mexico-United States border, and deals with the conflict between a Mexican rebel group, Mexican loyalists, and the U.S. Army for a time span of 72 hours. A wide array of location types are included, featuring mountains, small towns, urban environments, and a large hydro-electric dam just north of the border.

Gameplay

Xbox 360 and PS3 versions

The game play is similar to the first GRAW, although some new features, like Eternal Eyes, have been added to improve gameplay. This makes the direction of friendly units much more accurate and effective. The squad A.I. is improved, with fewer problems occurring than in the last GRAW. Units will actively seek cover and descriptively call out targets (i.e. "behind the red car", or "under the green roof"). The game also features Crosscom 2.0.

PC version

The PC version gameplay is vastly different from the console iterations, and plays out more similar to the original Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon, taking place from a first-person perspective and requiring the use of advanced tactics, and to some degree micro-managing of team mates. Developed by Grin, and built on their proprietary engine called "Diesel 2.0", only a few in-game assets such as voice-overs and Cross-Com and Narcom videos remain the same. The overall story is also the same, but missions play out in a completely different manner. Overall game play has remained largely the same from Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (PC). The game also features Crosscom 2.0.

Crosscom 2.0

Crosscom 2.0 is the latest version of the Crosscom technology that was first featured in Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter.

One significant change is the addition of the improved Crosscom system, a battlefield information interlink between all friendly units, that now allows a full screen view of what any unit is seeing, and the ability to direct their movements from there or tell them to take out a specific target. It also adds many new commands including "Recon" and "Assault" modes. In "Recon" mode the AI will not attack the enemy unless they come under direct fire, which makes it easier to sneak past or set up ambushes for enemies. They will also use suppressed (silenced) weapons when available. The "Assault" mode makes the AI engage at will.

Team Selection

In this release, the player can select each NPC to bring along for each mission rather than choosing a preselected team, as in Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter. Choosing the correct teammates plays an important role as certain teammates perform better on certain missions (e.g., choosing the anti-tank gunner to combat enemy armored vehicles). This decision is aided by an Intel screen that gives the player his objective and a rough estimation of the amount of enemies the team will face. Each time a new mission is started or the player regroups with the command vehicles over the course of the mission, the player will receive new Intel and can choose new teammates and rearm. Another feature is that the Riflemen have a different Assault Rifle each.

Multiplayer

Unlike the first GRAW, players in the online multiplayer mode can be "downed", or critically injured, instead of killed. This gives teammates the opportunity to heal a downed teammate and prevent the other team from getting the point, although downed players can be shot and killed by players from the opposing team before they are healed. Characters can now "slide" into a crouched position while running, just like in the first GRAW. The ability to use cover like in the singleplayer mode has still not been added to the multiplayer mode. In multiplayer the player can choose from four weapon classes, including Rifleman, Grenadier, Automatic Rifleman, and Marksman. Choosing the rifleman class makes the player more proficient with rifles, the automatic rifleman more proficient with machine guns, and so on. Another new feature added to multiplayer is full-screen cross-com. As in singleplayer mode, the player can hold down the right button and bring up the fullscreen view. This can be used to view friendly players' views as well as the Drone, but cannot be used to give commands or manually fly the drone.

Games are created by Xbox Live and PlayStation Network users and can be up to 16 players, common game types are headquarters 8 v 8 or headquarters 5 v 5 pistols only. Split Screen is available on the console versions, which supports up to four players.

Plot

The game begins in Ciudad Juárez, one day after the events of the first GRAW, where rebel activity has caused civil unrest throughout Mexico. Despite the death of Carlos Ontiveros in the first game, the insurgency has continued under the leadership of Juan de la Barrera, even spreading into other Latin American states, including Colombia, Honduras and Panama where rebel forces have effectively shut down the Panama Canal. The Ghosts are sent to Mexico by General Keating to investigate claims that the rebels are in possession of a dirty bomb, as well as prevent the rebellion from directly assaulting United States soil. Politically, the U.S. Congress hasn't decided to take full military action against the rebels, so legally the Ghost Team "doesn't exist". Immediately after arriving in Mexico, the Ghosts are put to work destroying a sizable rebel position guarded by two large artillery pieces, enabling additional American forces to reach the main battle-zone. Shortly thereafter, Mitchell aids in an aerial attack against a rebel supply base from Blackhawk 5, annihilating two enemy weapons convoys in the process. The Ghosts also learn that de la Barrera has obtained old Ukrainian Red Star IV nuclear warheads. Combined with several medium-range, Pakistani-built Kashmira-II missiles stolen from cargo ships in the Canal, the rebels now possess the ability to destroy any major city in America.

With the WMD threat confirmed, the Ghosts travel to Ciudad Juárez to search for the nukes, and link up with loyalist Mexican Army troopers led by Colonel Jimenez. Aided by Mexican armored vehicles and American fighters, the Ghosts and their allies clear out much of the rebel presence from the city, neutralizing several checkpoints before crushing a rebel stronghold in the local marketplace. As the Mexican troops advance to secure the marketplace, however, an underground explosion rips through the district, killing the loyalist vanguard and flooding the area with deadly radiation. Mitchell's Team gets pinned down by a group of Rebel Tanks and is forced to call in an Air Strike to take them out, effectively destroying the Americans' claims to not having any involvement in the conflict between Mexican and Rebels forces. Realizing that the market held one of the missing Red Star IV's and containment was lost, Keating orders a retreat. After linking back up with Jimenez and his soldiers, intelligence arrives suggesting that a local journalist with inside access to the rebel leadership knows the location of the remaining two nukes, and is willing to come forward and assist the Americans. Working with Jimenez's most elite troopers, the Ghosts destroy a series of anti-aircraft batteries and hold off a devastating rebel counterattack, enabling the journalist to be extracted safely, and the information she holds preserved. With all other assets devoted to protecting the reporter, Mitchell and his squad link up with Blackhawk 5 in front of a local church for evacuation.

Disaster strikes when Blackhawk 5 is crippled by enemy RPG fire and brought down, and the Ghosts, now cut off from rescue, are forced to defend themselves against a group of heavily-armed and highly-trained mercenaries assisting the rebels. Barely escaping the immediate warzone via Humvee, the vehicle is hunted down and destroyed by a rebel Havoc helicopter, killing the driver, PFC Provenanzo and incapacitating Mitchell's team members. Mitchell manages to escape aboard Blackhawk 9 with the aid of a Mexican soldier, before providing air support for the American salvage convoy sent to recover Blackhawk 5. Having captured both Lieutenant Rosen (Mitchell's friend and field runner) along with the remains of the helicopter, the rebels attempt to use this victory as a propaganda tool, claiming that the Americans were behind the deaths of the Mexican soldiers killed at the market place. Unfortunately for the rebels, the Ghosts shut down their attempts at media manipulation by destroying the Blackhawk wreckage (removing the evidence of the American loss), before storming a heavily-defended, mercenary-controlled hacienda to rescue Lieutenant Rosen, weathering a powerful reprisal from mercenary reinforcements before they can be extracted.

With the intelligence gathered from both the Mexican journalist and Lieutenant Rosen, the Americans finally have the location of the last two nukes, back in Ciudad Juárez. Destroying additional enemy anti-air defenses around the site, Mitchell leads one team of Ghosts to secure the exterior of the target building while a second unit of Ghosts, led by Derrick Parker, assaults the site directly. As Mitchell and his team bravely battles off a strong force of rebels, Bravo Team secures one of the nuclear weapons, but are stymied by de la Barrera, who escapes with the last warhead. Fighting through a densely-packed urban warzone, often faced with rebel APCs, machine-gun nests and anti-tank units along with the mercenaries, the Ghosts eventually punch through the enemy lines and kill de la Barrera, removing the rebel leadership, but do not find the last nuke. The mercenaries have taken it and intend on using it against America in a final act of revenge.

U.S. intelligence finds out that the mercenaries plan to take the nukes to El Paso, Texas in order to destroy a large dam and the city around it. The dam turns out to be on top of a major American military installation where the mercenaries successfully hacked the U.S. anti-ballistic missile defense grid, leaving the country vulnerable to nuclear attack. Discovering that the nukes are not, in fact, in El Paso, the Ghosts return to Ciudad Juárez, fighting through the last, desperate enemy forces to discover the last warhead has been armed and installed in one of the Khasmira-II missiles. Mitchell and his team end up pinned down on a balcony overlooking the launch site. With little time to spare, and President Ballentine unwilling to destroy the entire city in order to neutralize the threat, the Americans try to use an EMP missile fired by air support to disable the launchers. However, Mitchell and his team are still in range of the blast, and General Keating hesitates on authorizing air support with friendly soldiers in the blast area. Keating tells Mitchell "Son, I can't ask you to do this," but Mitchell says "Sir, it's why you sent me here, you know this is the only way." An American fighter fires the EMP missile, eliminating the threat but catching the Ghosts directly in the blast. The view cuts to Mitchell falling back by the explosion, with faint voices from Mitchell's crosscom. Lieutenant Rosen's Blackhawk can be seen from this view, and while Keating and Rosen plead with him to stay alive, President Ballantine thanks him for saving the nation. Rosen's chopper hovers over Mitchell, Rosen appears on the crosscom saying "Soldier, you're going home" and the game then cuts to the credits.

Mitchell and his team survives, as he leads the JSF Forces in Tom Clancy's EndWar and some of his former team members serve as battalion commanders, which takes place after the events in Advanced Warfighter 2. His survival is also confirmed in another Tom Clancy game, H.A.W.X., where the player provides close air support for Mitchell and his team in several missions seven years after the events of Advanced Warfighter 2.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores
Aggregator	Score
GameRankings	76.86% (PC) 86.23% (PS3) 63.73% (PSP) 86.25% (Xbox 360)
Metacritic	76% (PC) 86% (PS3) 64% (PSP) 86% (Xbox 360)
Review scores
Publication	Score
Game Informer	8.75/10
IGN	9.1/10
Official Xbox Magazine	9.0/10

As of April 26, 2007, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 has sold 1 million copies on the Xbox 360.

It was also named Game of the Month by Game Informer for May 2007. As of December 2009, the game has MetaCritic scores of 86, 76 and 84 for versions on the Xbox 360, PC and PlayStation 3, respectively.

Controversy

Controversy surrounded the game when the Mayor of Ciudad Juárez, Héctor Murguía Lardizábal, criticized the game for trying to scare tourists away from going to the town. Chihuahua's governor José Reyes condemned the computer game for insulting Mexico and its people, calling on all authorities to seize the game if it were sold on Mexican soil.

External links

• Ghost Recon, an external wiki
• Comparison video/screenshots with and without PhysX