If you haven't played Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (GRAW), you're life is incomplete.

Yes, I truly feel that way. There are those games that come out that reshape and redefine gameplay, GRAW is one of those games. Did I work on the game? Yes. Does that have anything to do with the goodness? I'd like to think so. However, GRAW is a game that's not only fun and keeps you "in the game" from beginning to end but its great to look at. There are few games out there that can pump every piece of processing power out of a console but GRAW does it for both the Xbox and Xbox 360. There's no doubt that its the best looking game on the 360 and arguably the best Ghost Recon game yet.

One of the first things you see in the game is how massive and believable the city looks. You take several helicopter rides and you'll see You'll notice the little details like fires and smoke curling up into the sky from patches of fighting or factories. The care and detil is reflected in the character models as well. Your Ghost look like the real soldiers of the 2010 timeframe and the way the light and shadows play off them makes you feel like you're there in the sweltering Mexican daylight and heat with them.
The size of the city affects the gameplay too. You operate within several city blocks. Luckily most of the time you're not locked into one preplanned route but you're encouraged to explore around to find the best path. To help you get through the combat areas, the game lets you control your three-man support team, and support vehicles. You can tap into robotic UAV recon vehicles to scout ahead and detect enemies around your location (jsut like the real soldiers of the future will ). Enemies, objectives and teammates are marked with digital icons on you drop down heads-up-display so you can track them even when they're out of sight. At various times in the game, you'll command tanks, armored vehicles, and helicopter gunships. Hanging out of the door of a helo as a door gunner fyling through the city is AMAZING.

Commanding your teammates is pretty easy too. You can command them as a unit, and they'll respond to move, attack, or regroup commands. If you position them well, behind some low cover for instance, they're generally effective at shooting enemies. You also have great control over your character like peering around/shooting around corners, using different pieces of terrain for cover etc. This isn't a run and gun game. The place is slow and thoughtful to make the gamplay resemble real combat.

One more thing that I want to mention that you NEVER hear about, the game's sounds. It's a great tandem with the awesome graphics. I know the guy that did the sound too and huge kudo's to him. The weapons have very unique and realistic sounds and its all very crisp which jsut makes the battles more realistic. If you're heart doesn't beat faster whith the sound of the Vulcan cannon firing out the door of a Blackhawk during the helicopter-combat missions, you're dead. The game even muffles sounds in response to the cannons and explosions to give you the simulated deafening effect of combat.

BOTTOMLINE: This is a fantastic game and one of the few on the market worth the $50 price tag. Ubisoft/Redstorm went the extra mile to ensure that their soldiers, gear and tactics resemble what the real Army is and will use too. The main game is great, mulitplayer is great and the replay factor is high. Factor all that in and your $50 is money well spent.