A year has past and already a new GRAW, and though it doesn't define next-gen once again it is well worth the buy.
The Bad: Singleplayer is just way too short and not as challenging as before, and it's only a one man experience
When I first saw this game I very sceptical and really not all that impressed from what I saw to be honest as it looked to be the same game over again basicly, and that singleplayer Demo that Ubisoft put out on the marketplace did not help too much either is it suffered from slow-downs, and graphical problems as some objects were even missing textures, also it wasn't all that fun to play and it ended once it finally let's say began, but oh well it was a demo what can you except? Still Ubisoft would probably been better off not releasing this demo. Later though once it got close to release I saw that it got a bunch of very promising reviews and that the fact that I did love the first game so much. It was actually the first game that showed what next-gen is all about and made me feel that the my decision of getting a 360 was a correct one. So I decided to but all my bad thougts aside and give this game a try, and well...I'm glad I did.
Sure I was indeed right as it's ver much like the first game and it you don't get the same "wow!" feeling that you got from playing the first game though it comes close and that it's very much like the first game isn't all that bad afterall either since it was so darn good. Not everything is the same though, take your cross-com for example as it has gotten some few nice upgrades. Now you can command your squad and allied vehicles trough their perspective in full screen and after you gotten familar doing it for a few hours you will start to ask yourself "why the hell wasn't this in the first game!?", as it gives the combat a better flow to it and a deeper tactical overall structure and since it is a tactical shooter after all this feature is very welcome. Another new addition is that you can now bring a medic along in your squad that can heal both you and your teamates when needed, though he carries a limited amount of medpacks so you can't "abuse" it too much. A new controlable vehicle is the Mule that you can collect weapons and ammo from, and direct it by pointing at the environment or in full screen, you can even use it as mobile cover though after it has taken some rounds it will brake so you have to rely on the normal cover again. You also have a nice set of new weapons, the bazooka had ben replaced my a small homing missile launcher witch makes it easier to take out moving targets as long you constatnly keep the aim at them until the hit. Also the AI of your squad has improved as they call out enemy positions and intelligently position themselves behind cover. There is a downside to all this though as you now have all this set of tools, and that you can get back to full health when needed makes the game abit too easy, the rebels you're fighting basicly doesn't stand a chance and therefore the game feels a bit unbalanced and not as challenging as before, newcomers won't complain but guys like me that likes a good challenge I find it a bit annoying of how easy you can progress in this game therefor I recommend not playing trough it on the new easy mode unless you're totally unfamillar with these type of games then you might be best of playing on that difficulty, to all you others though at least play it trough on medium.
The graphics are very impressive it's on par with the first game and in some cases it looks even better than that, especially the explosions as they make you think that Ubisoft must have spent months to learn what an actual explosion looks like as I have never seen such good explotions in a video game since Lost Planet came out, another game with really good looking explosions. The game also looks impressive overall, so It's real eye-candy we're talking about here and it's defiantly one of the very best looking games you can find on the system, If I'm going to have to complain on something though I will say the game looks a bit to "gray-looking" and more detail could have been put into the environments other than that though It's a sweet, sweet looking game.
The sound is is just as impressive, with great sound effects like all the bullets passing by and again...the explosions. it also have really well composed music that really succeeds to suck you in and immerse you in to the experince. The voiceacting is decent aswell, except maby not the one from your General as he at times sound a bit "cheesy", almost like a parody wich feels abit odd in some situations of the game but it's fine the most of time like the rest of the sound of this game.
While the singleplayer campaign in GRAW 2 is better than the one in the last game as it's alot better structured it also quite a bit shorter, when playing on easy you can blast trough it as fast as 5 hours witch is just way to short, and you can only play trough the campaign by yourself, meaning no co-op wich to me felt like a natural step to do in a sequel of this genre and seeing games as Gears of War and Rainbow Six: Vegas pulling it off it kinda hurts the value quite a bit. What makes up for it though is the superb multiplayer made by Red Storm. You have both cooperative and competitive modes, like a seperate co-op campaign, team elimination etc. with up to 16 players. but now you may think "didn't the first game have all that?", yeah that's correct it did but the difference now is that you have more maps, you can set night or day on each and everyone of them, there is a new hellicopter hunting mode that can be vastly entertaining, and not to forget clan-support making this game one of the very best multiplayer games out for the 360. Only thing missing is a good cover system, sure without it it becomes more action oriented, but looking around corners and such sometimes feels more clunky than it should and seeing games as Rainbow Six: Vegas pulling it off nicely so can GRAW in multiplayer.
So overall GRAW 2 is a worthy sequel, a bit too short but very fun to play and fans of the first game or fans of other tactical shooter shall give it a try, and if you also happen be really into online play, then don't hesitate this game is for you.
//ZimpanX