Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 (GRAW 2) is a tactical shooter video game developed by Ubisoft Paris and Red Storm Entertainment and published by Ubisoft. It was released for Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable. It is the sequel to Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter. High Voltage Software developed the game's PlayStation Portable version, while Grin developed the PC version.

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2
Developer(s)Ubisoft Paris
Red Storm Entertainment
Publisher(s)Ubisoft
Designer(s)Yann Masson and Christophe Pic
Programmer(s)Olivier Didelot
Artist(s)Avlamy Ramassamy
Writer(s)Benjamin Haddad
Composer(s)Tom Salta
SeriesTom Clancy's Ghost Recon
EngineYETI 
Platform(s)Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable
ReleaseXbox 360
  • NA: March 6, 2007
  • AU: March 8, 2007
  • EU: March 9, 2007
Microsoft Windows
  • AU: June 28, 2007
  • EU: July 13, 2007
  • NA: July 17, 2007
  • WW: July 15, 2008 (Steam)
PlayStation 3 & PlayStation Portable
  • NA/AU: August 23, 2007
  • EU: August 24, 2007
Genre(s)Tactical shooter
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

The game takes place in 2014, immediately after the events of Tom Clancy's 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

Much of the gameplay remains the same as it did for GRAW - emphasis in GRAW 2 is on the player doing the bulk of the fighting as Scott Mitchell, while relying on tactical combat instead of arcade run-and-gunning to overcome opponents. Like before, weapons featured in the game are either based on actual models (such as the FN SCAR) or are hypothetical prototypes, with the player able to command friendly units assigned to help them, from their own squad, to drones, tanks and aircraft. Like its predecessor, GRAW 2 features two different versions; while both the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 versions are essentially the same title, and the Microsoft Windows version features many differences to these, both maintain the same story. In addition, both games feature a new and improved gameplay element - Crosscom 2.0 - a few new weapons (including sub-machine guns for secondary weapons), the ability to have a medic in the squad when commanding a squad, and new friendly units to control, including a two-man squad of Loyalist troops, the MULE Drone, a Little Bird attack helicopter, and Far Support (Airstrikes for Xbox 360/Playstation 3, Mortar/Artillery Support for Microsoft Windows).

Crosscom 2.0

Crosscom 2.0 is an improvement on the original system introduced from the previous game, giving players more direct involvement in a combat situation as well as more control over friendly units. The most significant improvement to this is an information interlink between all friendly units, which now allows players to get a full screen view of what any unit is seeing. Furthermore, players can use this perspective to plan out orders for units and even directly control the movement of some units as well, such as the MULE.

Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions

Much of the game play is similar to that of the Xbox 360 version of GRAW, although some new features, like Eternal Eyes, have been added to improve gameplay, making the direction of friendly units much more accurate and effective. The squad A.I. is also improved, with fewer problems occurring than it did in its predecessor, with squad members actively seeking out cover and descriptively calling out targets.

Microsoft Windows version

Much of the gameplay plays out differently to that of the console iterations, and more similarly to the original Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon, but remains largely the same to the Microsoft Windows version of GRAW, in that players play in a first-person perspective, must micro-manage team mates with greater use of squad tactics, and have more situation awareness of enemy activity. 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. While some of the missions featured are similar in objective structure to those of the console version, they play out in a completely different manner.

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.

Story

Setting

The game takes place only a couple of days from the events of GRAW, with missions set in and around the countrysides of the cities of Ciudad Juárez, Mexico and El Paso, Texas. The story itself spans a period of three days, much like GRAW, with locations ranging from anything including ruined urban streets, mountainous valleys and roads, a quarry, a bull-fighter arena, a hacienda, and a border crossing site between Mexico and the United States.

Plot

Despite the downfall of Carlos Ontiveros and his coup in Mexico City, rebellion across Mexico continues unabated, spreading civil unrest across the country and into other Latin American countries, including Colombia, Honduras and Panama, with the Panama Canal effectively shut down by the rising insurgency in Latin America. Although having only recently returned to the United States, Captain Scott Mitchell is given new orders to return to Mexico with a team of the elite Ghost Recon force, and continue fighting against the rebellion, which recently entered the Mexican state of Chihuahua and the bordering city of Ciudad Juárez. General Joshua Keating, the Ghosts' commander, informs Mitchell that, apart from preventing the rebels from directly assaulting U.S. soil, he must also investigate recent intel that suggests that the new leader of the insurgents, Juan de la Barrera, a man opposed to the signing of the North American Joint Security Agreement (NAJSA) and to American involvement in Latin America, is in possession of a dirty bomb of either nuclear, chemical or biological origin. Keating further adds that due to Congress not wishing to take any military action against the rebels, along with current international treaties between Mexico and the U.S., the Ghosts are legally non-existent across the border and thus cannot be provided much support until America can legally enter the conflict.

Arriving in the mountains outside of Ciudad Juárez, Mitchell begins assisting loyalist Mexican Army soldiers, led by Colonel Jimenez, in punching through rebel defensive lines, eliminating artillery, clearing out a rebel camp, and taking out rebel weapon convoys heading for the city. During the fighting, fresh intel from Keating and Lieutenant Barnes, the Ghost's Intelligence Officer, reveals that de la Barrera somehow came into possession of three stolen Ukrainian Red Star IV nuclear warheads, and plans to combine them with stolen Pakistani-built Kashmira-II missiles, taken from cargo ships in the Panama Canal, in order to strike anywhere in the United States. With this fresh intel deepening the current situation in Juárez, Mitchell continues offering assistance to Jimenez, eventually helping him to secure a heavily defended supermarket. But just as Mitchell's team leaves, disaster strikes when one of the nukes de la Barrera had detonates in the supermarket's basement, killing Jimenez's men just as they were about to search the stronghold, and irradiating the area.

With the nukes now confirmed to be in Juárez, Keating orders Mitchell to link up with some of Jimenez's best men and reach a bull-fighting arena, in order to help safely extract a Mexican journalist who, in exchange for safe passage out of the city to a secure location, agrees to assist the Americans in learning de la Barrera's plans and where he is hiding the other nukes. Whilst the Ghosts are successful in extracting the journalist, matters worsen for them when mercenaries, supporting the rebels in the city, prevent the team from escaping by shooting down Blackhawk 5, their designated transport, and also losing them Mitchell's close friend and the team's runner, Lieutenant Rosen. Despite heavy opposition, the team eventually receive ground extraction from the area, only to be ambushed by the rebels, crashing the transport and killing everyone, except for Mitchell who manages to survive, but loses some of the functions of his Crosscom system. With the assistance of a lone Mexican Loyalist, Mitchell manages to regain contact with Keating, and hooks up with Blackhawk 9 for extraction, new gear, and a patch-fix to his Crosscom. Soon after being extracted, Barnes reveals that the rebels managed to secure Blackhawk 5's crash site before they could, removing both the wreckage and an injured Rosen, in order to manipulate the media and expose America's illegal involvement against the rebellion, thus gaining support for their cause. Keating sends the Ghosts to a heavily secured hacienda to prevent this from happening, whereupon Mitchell and his team successfully destroy the wreckage and recover Rosen.

Shortly after leaving the hacienda, Mitchell receives word from Keating that U.S. President Ballantine and Mexican President Ruiz-Peña finally signed NAJSA, effectively allowing the United States to assist Mexican Loyalist in putting down the insurgency in Juárez and the rest of Mexico. Assisting a second team of Ghosts designated as Bravo Team, U.S. forces and the Ghosts uses the rescued journalist's information to begin tracking down the two missing nukes, yet despite killing de la Barrera in the process, they only manage to retrieve and neutralize one of the remaining nukes. Concerned about where the last nuke went, fresh intelligence reveals that the mercenaries launched an attack on a dam within El Paso, Texas, prompting fears that the nuke will be detonated upon U.S. soil. However, Barnes reveals that the mercenaries' target was actually a highly classified military installation beneath the dam, code-named "Farrallon", that is connected to the United States anti-ballistic missile defence grid. Keating pieces together what de la Barrera was planning - by dropping the grid, he intended to use the stolen missiles to launch the nukes into the United States and any of its major cities, in the hopes it would force them out of Latin America.

Realising time is not against them and that the mercenaries intend to carry out the plan in revenge, President Ballantine, unwilling to destroy El Paso and Juárez to prevent them, asks Mitchell to find the last nuke and neutralize it. Aided by heavy support, the Ghosts head back across the border into Mexico and track down the launch site for the last nuke. An EMP strike, guided in by Mitchell, successfully neutralizes the last nuke and ends the crisis, Mitchell however is severely wounded after the EMP strike. Mitchell is then recovered by Rosen, while praised by Keating and Ballantine for preventing a disaster from happening.

Reception

Reviews of the game were favorable upon release, although the Windows version of the game got lower scores than the console versions. GameRankings and Metacritic gave it a score of 86.59% and 84 out of 100 for the PlayStation 3 version;[1][6] 86.46% and 86 out of 100 for the Xbox 360 version;[2][5] 77.15% and 76 out of 100 for the PC version;[3][7] and 62.38% and 61 out of 100 for the PSP version.[4][8]

As of April 26, 2007, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 has sold 1 million copies on the Xbox 360.[42] It was also named Game of the Month by Game Informer for May 2007.

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.[43] 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.[44]

References
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