'TOM CLANCY'S GHOST RECON ADVANCED WARFIGHTER 2'
'TOM CLANCY'S GHOST RECON ADVANCED WARFIGHTER 2'
(Ubisoft) for Xbox 360
Genre: Shooter; Rating: T
Grade: B
Those pesky Mexican border towns ...
In "Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2," this is where members of the "ghosts" are sent to quell terrorist happenings. Realistic or not, this sequel to the highly popular first edition of "GRAW" does not disappoint. It has something for everyone.
A tactical shooter of the highest caliber, "GRAW2" has you playing as Ghost team leader Capt. Scott Mitchell, and features the same high-intensity combat and visual imagery that made the first edition a hit.
With the excellent teamwork AI throughout the missions to the extreme rushes you get from the urban warfare, there's little marring this game. If anything, "GRAW2" suffers from being too brief in the single-player campaign.
This is quickly remedied by the robust multiplayer modes, which run the gamut from co-op campaigns to death matches and tons more. The visuals and environments remain as crisp and interactive in multiplayer as they do in the single-player, which is nothing short of spectacular.
If you're not into the various multiplayer modes, perhaps "GRAW2" is more of a weekend rental because of its brief single-player campaign. No matter what, Xbox 360 owners would be foolish to miss playing this game.
'MEDAL OF HONOR: VANGUARD'
(EA Games) for PlayStation 2, Wii
Genre: Shooter; Rating: T
Grade: C-
My excitement level perked up a bit when I heard that Vanguard was going to focus on World War II paratroopers. First-person WWII shooters are nothing new, but since my girlfriend's grandfather was a paratrooper pilot over Europe, it added a sense of connection to this game.
Unfortunately, that's where the fun ended and the frustration began with "Vanguard." The focus on paratroopers is almost nonexistent even though they are the primary characters of the game. Once you jump out of the plane and land, it's back to the same old schtick, entering houses and mowing down Nazis on nearly every street and patch of farmland.
The AI in Vanguard is laughable in how dumb it is, whether it's Allied soldiers running straight into enemy fire, or Nazi soldiers who cannot hit the broad side of a barn. You often wonder if everyone else in the game is shooting blanks except for you.
Paratroopers played an integral role in WWII, and with the library of WWII games becoming ever more crowded, this was a missed opportunity to deliver a focused and successful game with a different feel than the normal run-and-gun style of previous "Medal of Honor" games.
'SINGSTAR POP'
(Sony) for PlayStation 2
Genre: Party; Rating: E
Grade: C
Closely following "SingStar Rocks!," Sony has released "Pop." It's a much more focused effort, with a song collection that is not so varied, which causes it to be thin in several key genres. In "Pop," you're going to be warbling to a short yet steady compilation of top 20 hits from the last two decades.
The song list is about the only thing that changed between games, however. The interface and game-play modes remain untouched from "Rocks!," and that comes off as rather cheap. It's fine to use this release as a way to open up more songs for gamers, but "Rocks!" was already lacking in depth, and it would not have taken much to improve upon it.
While there is competition inherent in the "Pop" game play, it is a detriment at times. If you witness a friend or relative sing karaoke, there's nothing more entertaining than watching him ham it up and overdo the song, coming off like a bad "American Idol" contestant. This really isn't an option in "Pop," because you're penalized for poor singing, and sometimes you just want to hear someone butcher a song.
If you desperately need to sing as Gorillaz, Avril or All American Rejects, by all means pick this one up.
-- Chris Campbell, Scripps Howard