9 point something..

I could nitpick the visuals if I wanted--but both SP and MP are both gorgeous to me regardless..the only thing I find to be a bit odd is how different SP and MP feel--now I know why they're different..but even movement feels a little different which is a bit strange going back and forth..not to mention the added new moves in SP for third person aren't in MP (the cool slide and dive moves..plus cover and peaking)..

But it doesn't take away from the experience in MP from what I've seen thus far--which is just a little split screen co-op and one round of ffa dm..I'm still getting used to the pace of combat..but the gunplay is pretty nice and the controls are about as dead-on as you could hope for..

Single player really is a sight..the enviroments are very big and very beautiful--and it does a good job of showing off the range of high dynamic range..

The weapons are great..the M95 is vicious like it's SUPPOSED TO BE (it doens't get its due respect in some other games).

Great sound too..guns, explosions, ambient sounds..sound track.

9.2 is a fair score--it's a great game--and it's what I've been waiting for :)

First off all the night missions are supposed to be tense and a bit confusing because it's DARK :D, u ain't got nightvision for nothing..
Mp has physics though not as good as SP.
Framerate is pretty Steady IMO. AI is superb, go play the campaign on hardcore or Elite in Multiplayer.....

No vehicles drivevable: This is a realistic tactical shooter. It's not Halo where everbody jumps in vehicle's in a sec. In real life Soldiers aren't multifunctional; You can't have one guy driving/gunning/running/flying all over the place..

and I agree this game is GREAT :D

I would give this game a 9...

Just buy it at a retail store then..something that doesn't accept pre-orders..I went to FYE yesterday afternoon around 11am and they had just recieved like 20 copies of GRAW (I'm sure they've sold them by now, but hey that's a decent number)..no pre-order, screw EB/Gamestop..that place is a gaming pawn shop.

edit: I've heard some complaints that the game can be too dark at times--I must be one of the few people who have enjoyed the night missions--it adds a little extra tension and in real life in the middle of no where it really would be dark as hell..HDR is amazing--probably the best HDR demo on X360 that I have seen is Condemned..that game really new how to capture a scene that really spanned the spectrum from dark to light in one frame..but this game is a freaking HDR showcase if there ever was one..looking towards the horizon as the sun is comming up--the other side of you completely black..very cool.

I sorta hope that in the next game the sp and mp portions of the game are more unified..but they're both awsome already.

Just had my first go..........and it is a very good game!
Great sound and graphics.
Difficulty just right.
And a decent story.
It's better then COD2, and much better then PDZzzzz (wake up).
They both scored 9's but i can't give a 10 (see Acert)
So 9 it is, but a very good 9!

Certainly agree on the compass. Would be very helpful in both sp and mp..but I'll live without it..I would like to see sp engine in mp as well..including the changes to third person movement. I'd also like a first person weapon view..like they showed in the initial trailers--I never liked to FPS w/o weapon view in the franchise really--I was excited when I first saw that view of this game..

Regardless it's excellent all around..single, multi..just a great game. The XBL system could use some improvements as well imo--i think at the very least you should be able to join a game as a spectator while it's in progress..if not just join in as a player..

I'm about half way through..I'll be working on it some more soon.

Another bug!
Last night whilst playing on the night time sniper level!
At the beginning, i blew up the truck, then layed down in prone position.
Then when I pushed to go forward (still laying down) I began floating in the air
like a ghost (ironic). Looked quite funny actually.

Righto, I'll have a little write up too then.

First of all...

Different maps look varying degrees of good, with the best looking ones displaying what's arguably the prettiest graphics on the system so far and the less good looking ones having you question why you thought it was the prettiest game on the system just seconds ago. It's never ugly, but it can definitely be disappointing looking, especially the textures. A game like kameo is more consistently good looking thanks to more controlled and deliberately stylized lighting, but that game rarely hits the peaks GRAW does even though GRAW sometimes does it unintentionally.

That's no way to hug a wall!

Gameplay is a bit of a mixed bag really. While some bits of the game strike me as great, other seem weirdly hamfisted. When shooting is intense and you have a pretty good sense of where the enemies are and your AI buddies for once don't get themselves shot to pieces instantly it can feel like The Perfect Game. Sadly, all too often it falls from those heights shortly after, and all too often it's because of the game's inconsistent limitations.

Take, for instance, the wall hug. When you're pressed up against a wall and you haven't moved to the edge of it, you can happily reload your weapon, move around and even detach from the wall. When you've moved to the edge of the wall and you're able to peek around it - at which point neither the look of the character nor the animation has changed and you're normally able move backwards as usual - you can no longer move around at all when you reload. When an enemy comes running and you hit reload and you wanna move out of the way, you just can't. Why? Is this a deliberate design decision?

When you've played something like PDZ or Splinter Cell that handles the wall hug mechanic flawlessly and logically, this suddenly comes across as a lack of understanding of the concept. It's also unfortunate when you realise that GRAW is basically this mechanic repeated over and over, over the course of the game, and while it's something you get used to, it never stops being annoying.

Ghost Recon: Advanced Babysitter

There are other things like this that annoy me. The squad control has been massively toned down to offer two simple commands and a switch between alertness modes. This would in theory enable the use of a Freedom Fighters style squad command where you can send one character to each location by tapping the button, and all of them by holding it down. Instead you get this bunch of people with - presumably - their shoelaces tied together, following eachother around, more often than not into death.

Not only that, but they sometimes completely lack any comprehension of their surroundings, going "firing!" when you tell them to attack an enemy only to NOT do just that, but rather just stand around. I've had instances where one of my characters gets stuck behind something in the enormous maps, only to discover him minutes later on the navigation map, miles away from me and two of his buddies. In order to use the squad well, you need to get used to the thought of reviving them a lot, and generally not counting on them for anything. Essentially, the squad bit here is just as flawed as in any of these dumbed down console squad shooters with a Tom Clancy moniker on them.

You'll get some missions where it's just you, Scott Mitchell, who goes about getting things done. While it takes some getting used to, not having other soldiers around you, and while that also removes a lot of the intensity, these missions simply feel more focused and managable. You suddenly feel in control, and you can use the different aspects of the game better.

Even with its flaws the cover system works reasonably well though, and for the most part the maps are well designed to complement that. You'll be moving from cover to cover not only to look cool, but because the game does a good job of making you feel like it's worth it. There's a bunch of different weapons in the game, but usually when it's time to pick gear they stick you with a recommended setup, and you're usually best off going with that. There really isn't much incentive to use different guns because the result is pretty samey. I found myself picking guns with the most oomph because I wanted the shootouts to sound proper violent.

Next then, more like

When people say this game is "truly next gen" I really don't know what they're refering to. More than anything, this game feels like something you've been doing many times before. It has issues you've faced many times before and it has gameplay mechanics that have been done before and better. The one thing that really separates this from those games is the sense of cohesion in the missions. The large maps with no loading times gives the game a certain flow, and it's certainly admirable but ultimately also fairly superficial. The subject matter will appeal to more people than something like Perfect Dark Zero does, even though PDZ is more confident in the mechanics it pulls off, and that's gonna be enough for those people to pick this over Rare's flagship title.

Ghost Reconmended after all...

GRAW is a very good looking game, and that's ultimately what it does best. Because it's pretty it's also very immersive and physical feeling, but it's tough to shake the notion that it's really not doing anything terribly new. Maybe that would've been an unfair conclusion if the things it does were unquestionably the best examples of those mechanics, but they're quite frankly some way from it.

Even though this review may sound mostly negative I do actually enjoy the game a lot. It's not my favourite 360 game as a gamer with an opinion, and it's not the best 360 game as a gamer with an objective attempt at a professional opinion, but it's a good, well produced game that should give anyone without unreasonably high expectations a good time. Even if the multiplayer component looks a bit naff and plays largely like GR2, the huge maps and the added incentive to use drones for strategic advantage keeps it feeling fairly fresh and should give the game the value it lacks when you realise you don't want to go through it on Hard anyway with your pack of idiots for squad.

8 /10