Yesterday, we showed you a video demonstration of GRAW II's single player experience. Today we're going a little more in depth. IGN Australia was given the opportunity to have a gander at Ubisoft's sequel, and put together what they thought were the top improvements over last years installment. Things definitely look promising, and Ubisoft is making sure that we're not just getting a GRAW 1.5 one year later. Details on what's been given a face lift after the break.First off, the Cross Com is getting an upgrade, with the ability to go to a full-screen display of the units available, be it the UAV, Mule, squad mates, or any other vehicle at your disposal. Cycling through using the right bumper, you are able to reach new levels of tactical gameplay. We'll see how this functionality translates into multiplayer, if at all.
Next, your squad's AI gets a boost in performance, giving out tactical information on their surroundings, calling out enemy locations, and even announcing when they need to reloading so you don't rely on cover fire while they're replenishing ammunition. "Attack" and "Recon" modes make a return, and are more robust. It seems Ubisoft isn't taking the perpetual promise from developers regarding improving the game's AI lightly.
While GRAW II starts off in Mexico, apparently the story moves across the border into Texas, which adds variety to the scenery. Sure, Texas doesn't look strikingly dissimilar, but at least we'll be able to read the Dodge Ram advertisements on billboards. Maps are going to be more open than in its predecessor, allowing you to make full use of your upgraded Cross Com technology, rather than being forced down alleys raining bullets. Following that is the emphasis on making use of the other units at your disposal, namely choppers, UAVs, tanks, and the Mule. The Cross Com's ability to watch them carry out your orders is almost as fulfilling as doing it yourself, adding to the immersing gameplay as well as tactical opportunities.
Finally, the visuals of the game have been enhanced, and are looking top notch. Anti aliasing has been given a significant boost, as well as improved particle and smoke effects that will make you salivate profusely. Animations have been touched up to be more fluid than before, and the draw distance and heat rippling has been pumped up significantly.
All in all it looks to be a promising title, but what 5 other improvements do you want that would make it an even 10?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1-30-2007 @ 3:43PM
joe said...
1. Destructable environments, I shoot something with the grenade lanucher(ie a telephone pole) it comes crashing down. I shoot a hole throught a wall, new "cover" to shoot through it.
2. Expanded COOP to include the single player missions instead of stripped down firefight missions with COOP squad mates.
3. more variety in the movement animations, i want them to bulid branching animation logic which will make the movements so that the same animation arent repeated, this way each movement is different each time around.
4. Improve the way the NVG render, make it more like what modern 4th gen NVG look like, (IE daylight at night)
5. Add heavy weapons systems beyond the basicly .50 cal, i want 20mm M320, and all the new heavy weapons the army is building.
there are more but that all i could think of off the top of my head
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1-30-2007 @ 3:52PM
DeadPlasmaCell said...
I forget what other game had this, but I think if you have a headset on you should be able to hear your squad only through your headset.. I think it was SOCOM that did that.. I'm not 100% on that. But it was a cool feature.
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1-30-2007 @ 3:54PM
htimsda said...
What was described sounds exactly like GRAW 1.5. So they made a few tweaks and a new Campain; so what? Now if they had done what joe suggested above, I might call it GRAW 2.
I'll probably pass on this one.
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1-30-2007 @ 4:00PM
Richard said...
GRAW 1 looked amazing and this game obviously looks even better then that!
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1-30-2007 @ 4:33PM
Raydahz said...
Love the game, but it would be nice if my grenade wouldn't bounce straight back at me after hitting a leaf.
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1-30-2007 @ 7:15PM
tinycg said...
1. Allow me to jump, and move around things, sometimes it felt like Goldeneye on N64, haha.
2. Everything else Joe said.
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1-30-2007 @ 8:53PM
alijah said...
as long as there is cover in the mutiplayer mode I will be please I hated the fact that i could take cover in the single player but not online
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1-31-2007 @ 6:46PM
GhostDoggy said...
Prove to me Ubi will not rehash their business decision to charge for additional downloadable content.
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