Genre: Tactical Squad-Based Shooter
Developer: Ubisoft
Publisher: Ubisoft

Those seeking the first game to ever look photo-realistic need look no further; Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter's visuals could easily be mistaken for a photograph or a movie, at least in spots. High resolution textures, amazing modelling, and constant use of Shader 3.0 and HDR make for the most graphically sophisticated 3d game I have ever seen. The only downside is the apparent lack of anisotropic filtering, which certainly hurts the illusion of reality to some degree.

I don't much care for Bob Dylan or American teenie-bopper alternative, but if you can excuse the lousy intermission music between missions, you will find the best sounding game ever, the video game equivalent of "Saving Private Ryan." In Dolby 5.1 especially, the explosions and gunfire are nightmarishly realistic. When a tank blasts through a wall fifty yards to your left, and your character's ears are practically bleeding from the sound (your character's ears actually ring from loud noises in this game!), you will know you're in aural gaming euphoria.

GRAW plays much like a first-person shooter, in that mouse look is accomplished with the left analog stick and WASD functionality is via the right stick. What sets GRAW apart is the wall stick mechanism and the pacing of the level design; wall stick/look has been done in other games before, but not with the robustness that GRAW offers, and not so intuitively. Like all the Ghost Recon games, squad mates and vehicles, including huge battle helicopters and tanks, can be moved to a spot, told to attack enemies, or commanded to fall back in retreat. The mechanics are on the simple side, and friendly AI isn't the best, but it does give you some sense of being the man in charge.

GRAW is a fantastically designed game from all standpoints. Technically, it is probably the most advanced game I have played to date. From a gameplay design aspect it is very well done. There are only a few drawbacks; the campaign is very short, less than 10 hours. And while the missions are very fun, the game doesn't provide any real motivation to go back and play again. The multiplayer is a little lack-luster also, as many of the core gameplay tenets (such as wall-stick) are eliminated, making for a glorified FPS deathmatch experience. All the same, GRAW one of the best games on the 360, and one would be remiss to not pick up a copy.