New GRAW 360 content

By Ellie Gibson Published 23 June, 2006

Out now, priced at 1200 points.

Ubisoft has released a new pack of downloadable content for the Xbox 360 version of Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter.

Priced at 1200 Microsoft points (that's just over £10 in the old money), the Chapter 2 pack expands on the multiplayer co-op campaign set in Nicaragua with four brand new missions.

In addition, eight of the old maps will get new lighting effects to denote different times of day during competitive multiplayer battles. There are five new weapons, two new game types (and one new game mode - Team Battle). You can also customise your soldiers with two new camouflage patters and four new character faces.

The whole thing weighs in at 725MB, and you can find out exactly what you get for your money by visiting Xbox.com.

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (52) Latest comment 6 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • killyourtv #1 6 years ago

    ok

  • Darren #2 6 years ago

    Thanks but no thanks, not at that price!

  • barnard666 #3 6 years ago

    wowser thats expensive, I this was a sure thing, but no longer, when you consider what you got with summit strike or black arrow etc. for £20, at a tener I'd expect at least half that ammount of content (if not more considering you arent buying a disc, and you need the original game to run it)

    what a rip.

  • Munkhee #4 6 years ago


    Was sure I'd be getting this, but at £10 - for what equates to 4 new maps - I can live without it.

    I'm actually in favour of episodic and premium content usually, but only when reasonably priced (like the sub £2 Oblvivion downloads for example).

    Ubi is just capitalising on the game's popularity IMO.

  • hidden_asbestos #5 6 years ago

    Will this fix any of the bugs? Like the random t-pose flickers and the weapons sounds cutting out, and the lack of southpaw option (which they claimed to be adding a while back) and a whole bunch of other things that shouldn't have been left in there...

  • Xerx3s #6 6 years ago

    725 MB & 1200 MSP for that 0_o

  • stevencole7 #7 6 years ago

    If people pay it...............this will just keep on happening. RIP-OFF

  • Moogrose #8 6 years ago

    Good luck downloading it at a reasonable speed.

  • reality_cheque #9 6 years ago

    New missions or having some money?

    Gah, tough call.

  • Darren #10 6 years ago

    GR:AW has an auto-update presumably for this premium content and it took an awful long time to download on my Xbox 360 last night, far longer than normal for these type of updates. However, when I tried the game it was exactly the same... tearing, popup and stupid A.I. bugs are all still there so it's clearly not a patch just something needed to run the new maps.

  • Darkedge #11 6 years ago

    is this anything like the FREE pc patch? If it is. bastards

  • Darren #12 6 years ago

    I think it's a bit cheeky charging for eight of the same maps that are already in the game but with different lighting. Along with the game modes and skins, they should have been offered as free downloads and the four co-op map and the four new multiplayer ones could have been sold for a more reasonable 400 points each allowing people to choose whether they want one or both.

    UbiSoft are just being plain greedy selling this addon for 1200 points.

  • HyperShadow #13 6 years ago

    Do people complain about expansions for PC games?

    Given the amount of work that has to be put in for the co-op campaign levels, as they aren't just maps for deathmatch, I don't see where the complaints are coming from.

    If they added another co-op level and a few more weapons, put it on a standalone disc and charged you £20 for it (like PC expnasions) would you complain then?

  • Universal_Hamster #14 6 years ago

    /Looks at price
    /Vomits
    /Looks at price again
    /Discharges explosively from both ends.

  • weaselrat #15 6 years ago

    People never complained about paying £20 for extra maps on the seperate multi player disc of Halo or the download cost. This goes to show if you really like a game you will pay whatever to update it and no ones moaning will stop people paying for this. Pity I just sold mine on e bay :-(

  • Chester #16 6 years ago

    Can I ask a stupid question?

    Well, I'm going to anyway...I assume I can't play these as Single Player missions?

  • nickthegun #17 6 years ago

    Ubi is just capitalising on the game's popularity IMO.

    In other shocking news, the sky is blue, water is wet and bears shit in the woods. Film at 11.

  • reality_cheque #18 6 years ago

    @Chester: Yes, you can, but you'd have to start a local multiplater session to do so (and just not sign in anyone else)

    But it'll be difficult!

  • [maven] #19 6 years ago

    Chester:
    Yes, you can, but
    a) It's still the multi-player "engine"
    b) They're tough. When you die (which happens rather easily in multi-player games), you fail.

  • albundy #20 6 years ago

    I never understand why people get so worked up about these things. If you don't think the price is worth it (and I would agree), then just don't pay. It's not as if they're vital to the game anyway. Downloadable content, in theory, is just add-ons to a game. You already, in theory, have the full game, as you paid full price. Anything else is just a bonus. So, if you consider the price to be too high, then don't pay it. And don't feel as if you're missing out either. Just keep on playing the maps that came with the game. Also, by voting with your wallet, you'll make a stand. UbiSoft are just testing the market, like Bethesda did with the Horse Armour pack. If they don't see major sales at this price point, it will be lowered next time. And I think that's reasonable. You can hardly blame UbiSoft for pushing the boundaries, and seeing how much money they can get away with charging, can you? We're all in this world to make as much as we can get. So, don't pay it, and market forces will naturally force UbiSoft's hands in future. Simple!

  • Universal_Hamster #21 6 years ago

    PC version = Free, with added level editor. That kinda stings.

  • trevd72 #22 6 years ago

    problem is the new map is for co-op not for deathmatch. bottom line.

    re-lighting means jack. this is the future get used to it. personally i think retro gaming is going to take off big style cos of the way that games are moving at the moment. ken @ sony said that it would be great if gran turismo shipped with one track and one car then you could buy the rest as you need it. he put it as if choice was something we want and will pay for.

    Going to start looking at back catalogues soon i think to get my games kick at a good price.

  • Lovemoose #23 6 years ago

    So, it's a quarter of the price I paid for the original game. But it's, what, not even a tenth of the content? Not fantastic value.

    I'm not buying it, but I also want Ubisoft to know why I'm not buying it; it's not because I didn't know it was out, or that I don't play the game anymore, or I'm too broke to afford it. It's because I refuse to let them milk me.

    (I will of course take offers from good looking women who would like to milk me, however.)

  • DutchDemons #24 6 years ago

    to albundy and those who can't seem to understand WHY ppl complain:

    you get a few maps and some skins and 1 new mod and some other stuff, for what..1/4 of the full games price. That smells like a rip-off to me, and others. Sure you can always opt to not buy it and be quiet, but we don't because this is the beginning of a trend to come (i'm sure of it).

    I'm not even talking about games being shelled out and stuff getting sold later on for way more cash (they can't be THAT greedy/stupid), im talking about us gamers missing out on stuff, we used to get for way less cash. or even for free. Gone are the days of free new maps, or even the add-ons for a nice price.

    I agree with Lovemoose as well, i want Ubisoft to know why I am not buying it, i think this is way too expensive. I just hope that the majority og gamers agree with me, so this doesn't become the new way to go for devs.

  • HyperShadow #25 6 years ago

    The horse armour pack for Oblivion was a total rip off for what was an impractical and basically visual enhancement.

    This seems worth the price because it adds to the game, extends the shelf life and you'd get longer play out of it.

    Has anyone actually played it yet, or are you just put off by the price? Complaining about something you haven't even tried? If the quality of the pack reflects the price, then fair enough, but if it doesn't then complain. Don't just look at whats on the paper and instantly dismiss it as rubbish.

  • Kiigan #26 6 years ago

    That's not great value. GRAW is so badly broken multiplayer anyway, it'll take more than a few maps to draw people in. A new singleplayer campaign might get my 10 quid, but not a few maps.

    Also, quite a few of us here will remember Ghost Recon on Xbox - dozens of great multiplayer maps released on Live for absolutely free, and it did a great job of keeping people interested in Ghost Recon (pretty much guaranteeing interest in the subsequent sequels).

    This on the other hand, isn't a good deal.

  • S0L0man #27 6 years ago

    I was annoyed that this content would come out while my 360 was away for repair.

    I got my 360 back today \o/

    The content was release today \o/

    1200 bloody points \#/

    The Summit Strike expansion pack cost me £12.99. It gave me a full single player campaing, multiplayer maps, weapons etc, all in a physical product that I could use on any xbox I wanted.

    RIPOFF!

  • CyberClaw #28 6 years ago

    No, this is just wrong... PC GRAW has all this stuff for free. PC GRAW is cheaper to begin with, nad they also get the extras for free...

    Well fuck me, but now I'm heavly considering not buying the next Splinter Cell, nor the next RainbowSix (which I was particularry excited about because of the face mapping features), despite both those games being on my wanted list - by the simple fact, that if Ubisoft did this now, they'll probably try to pull something similar with those games as well, and for me, that's unacceptable.
    I hate having official extra content for a game I have and like, and not getting it... As gamers we then feel our game is incomplete without the latest patches, quests, maps, and modes, even if we didn't feel that way before those addons were released... Publishers try to capitalise on our hurge to buy every extra for "completness sake" but honestly, all that is doing is making me turn away from those games... I won't play Ghost Reccon online again because I probably won't enjoy it knowing new stuff is out and I'm not playing it. I won't pay that much for some extra content either. And finally I won't buy more Ubisoft games because I don't like publishers that pull this shit on their costumers...

    There are tons of good games out there, my money can't buy nearly all the games I want. So, it's quit easy for me to buy other games instead of the Ubisoft ones...

  • nickthegun #29 6 years ago

    @DutchDemons - I think people understand perfectly well why you complain, but you summed it up perfectly yourself;

    Gone are the days of free new maps, or even the add-ons for a nice price.

    Its all about the capitalism, baby, and as you quite rightly pointed out, the only thing you can do is vote with your feet and/or send them an email stating why you didnt buy it.

    Standing around saying ‘Wah! UBISOFT ARE GREEDY!’ is just stupid. Of course they are. They are a company with a bottom line and avaricious shareholders to please. They don’t care about you. Hell, if they could get away with it, they would charge you £200 for GRAW and 50 quid for a map pack, but they cant. Market forces have dictated that around £40 is the optimal price for a game. Market forces will surely now dictate that, essentially, over £2.50 a map is overpriced.

    By all means complain that its overpriced and I encourage you to vote with your wallet and not buy the damn thing. But to sit around complaining that a PLC is just in it for the money is just retarded.

    Edit: My closed italics tag went AWOL.....
    Edited by 1 at 23/06/06 @ 15:54

  • albundy #30 6 years ago

    @ DutchDemons

    We all KNOW why you're unhappy, and we understand. All we're saying is, sit down, chill, relax. This will not be a trend so long as consumers say "NO!". WE have the power. Look, the days of free mods and stuff are over. They only existed in the old days because e-commerce was non-existant. Now, with the advance of broadband and online shopping, developers and publishers see that there is MONEY to be made from charging for new stuff. Can you blame them? Right now, we're in a testing phase. They want to see how much they can get away with charging. It's normal practice. eventually, the market will find its own equilibrium, same as everything else. In the meantime, just stay steadfast and refuse to pay. Hey, send UbiSoft an email or something. Good way to go about it.

  • nickthegun #31 6 years ago

    Echo?

  • trevd72 #32 6 years ago

    What you need to bare in mind here is that there is:

    no piracy,
    no media processing,
    no packaging or lit,
    no advertising,
    no distribution
    no middleman

    NO EXCUSE FOR SUCH A HIGH FECKIN PRICE.
    Publishes alway use the above as reasons for pricing yet compaired to what I got for £15 (rrp£20) when i got summit strike, island thunder and black arrow this IS nonsense pricing. We need to send the message now before it gets too much. but in the end when the big guns get gready the Indy developers will take things back. I hope
    Edited by 1 at 23/06/06 @ 16:24

  • Xerx3s #33 6 years ago

    And what happened to releasing free packs every once in a while. The original xbl had alot of content that extended play, but only half of it was free and the prices where alot lower. Alot of stuff even became free after a while.

    So excuse me, but you can take that pack and stuff it up your ***. I will spend my points on some good XBLa games that give me alot more fun.

    I just had a go at Halo 2 again yesterday with FREE bonus packs and FREE added game modes and it was great.

  • reality_cheque #34 6 years ago

    IIRC, once you've purchased the arcade games once you can download it again without paying, right?

    So can you do that on 2 machines with addons? Anyone with two 360s want to try it?

    I expect I will end up buying this, but I'll be emailing Ubi telling them that I haven't - best of both worlds :)

  • HyperShadow #35 6 years ago

    Methinks Eurogamer needs to an article with Ubisoft to explain the high cost for this pack, maybe in doing so they can justify the price for the doomsayers and pessimists alike.

  • bloodflowers #36 6 years ago

    Far too expensive, and relighting new maps does not count. Surely we're in the world of realtime lighting and weather by now?

  • Darren #37 6 years ago

    Sorry but UbiSoft ARE being greedy by not offering the new content as three smaller ones thereby allowing people to choose whether they what they want. Two map packs (4 co-op and 4 multiplayer) at 400 points each plus 200 points at most for the revamped maps THAT ARE ALREADY IN THE GAME would have made more sense. The new game modes, skins and weapons could have been added free of charge and incorporated into the update.

    I might have bought the 4 co-op levels but I'm not interested in the rest so no way am I paying £10 for them. Yep, I know, that's my choice, nice ain't it! :)

  • S0L0man #38 6 years ago

    +1 for Hypershadow's suggestion.

    EG could also ask them why they haven't fixed any of the bugs or add the southpaw options for those poor games so aflicted ;-)

    Why is it impossible for a developer to allow the user to configure the controls they way they want. By all means have preset configs but allow the user to add their own custom options for looking, moving and button assignments.

    It's all EA's fault anyway, they lead the way by providing games people want to play (BF2) but release them early with blindingly obvious bugs (BF2) and then make sporadic efforts to fix them while concentrating on release community splitting optional packs, that are light on content but heavy on cost (BF2).

    Gaming is now doomed to be managed by accountants!

  • Furbs #39 6 years ago

    To be fair to EA, their booster packs for BF2 were half the price of this.

    OK Spec Forces was expensive, but that added a hell of alot more (5 maps, new vehicles, much more new weaponary and a new gameplay feature with the grapple hooks/ziplines). Not to mention, they continued to support the game (albeit by breaking it).

    The trouble is, as any BF2 player knows, even though alot of players bought the Expansion pack, it divided the community so much that people didnt bother using it very often (due to friends not having it and so on). I can see exactly the same thing happening here.

  • Diabeu #40 6 years ago

    HyperShadow, are you on Ubisoft's paylist? or what?
    compare Summit Strike and that DLC Chapter 2 for GRAW

    instead of releasing a major patch they just sit and sing "seeend me your moooneeeeey!!!!!!"

  • HyperShadow #41 6 years ago

    I wish I was on Ubi's paylist, it'd pay much better than what I earn at the moment. But i'm one of those people that refuse to be put off just by the cost, theres got to be some amount of work behind it to justify the cost, it is after all, three quarters of a gigabyte of data, you can't expect that for free.

    But i'll reserve judgement until someone interviews an ubi exec on why its priced as it is, or someone does a feature on what it actually adds.

    P.S. and for the money, I haven't downloaded it either. I want to see what the reaction after this uproar is.

  • dk_rare #42 6 years ago

    Don't pay for your patches and content, it will only encourage them.

    I have the game on 360 but I think I will sell it and get the PC version, it will work out cheaper in the end.

  • dk_rare #43 6 years ago

    Graw is already one of the most expensive games on the market today, and it was released on the Xbox and PS2 so it is reusing old assests... and we are STILL paying 10 quid for updates... plus whatever the other updates cost.

    Gaming of the future... is going to be more expensive :( How does online work? Can you play against people that don't have the maps? Who the hell cares, like I said PC Graw is the way for me.

    In fact, from the looks of download content, I will be buying all my games on the PC from now on and if it isn't available on the PC then 360 as a last resort.

    Fingers crossed that the Wii Wifi and PS3 online wont cost a bundle, eh?

  • Freek #44 6 years ago

    This is a comment section, the whole entire point of wich is: to share opinions.
    Ofcourse people who don't like the price point are not going to buy it. And here is where you express why. Commenting on the news, it's what the section is for.

  • HyperShadow #45 6 years ago

    You can expect the same with PS3. It was mentioned that gamers will be abe to make 'microtransactions' in their now (in)famous pre-E3 conference.

    I can't wait for the backlash on that one..."I paid £425 for a console and now they want me to pay for (insert item here) from day one".

    It seems this is the future, now someone has to get a handle on what a respectable price structure for add-ons is ASAP.

  • Baz_Dude #46 6 years ago

    I heard the GRAW content for PC is free. WTF do we have to pay and PC owners get it for free!

    Sorry if this has already been posted......

  • inomine #47 6 years ago

    So, Valve releases some episodic content and everyone loves it. Ubisoft releases some episodic content and everyone complains. What on earth is wrong with you people? If you don't like it don't buy it, it's as simple as that.

    And comparing this to the PC version that comes with a level editor is boneheaded.

  • BBIAJ #48 6 years ago

    CyberClaw

    No, this is just wrong... PC GRAW has all this stuff for free.

    No, you're wrong.

    The updates for the PC GRAW are completely different entirely.

  • Burnt-Kona Verified Senior Artist, Full Fat Productions #49 6 years ago

    "So, Valve releases some episodic content and everyone loves it. Ubisoft releases some episodic content and everyone complains. What on earth is wrong with you people? If you don't like it don't buy it, it's as simple as that. "

    A very good point. From what I have played of the new GRAW content, the chapter 2 co-op missions are quite tough, probably providing more gaming time than the HL episodes.

    The re-lit levels I have played so far are gorgeous. Nowhere at night plays completely differently, especially if you remove the option for night vision goggles. Very tense.

  • trevd72 #50 6 years ago

    but i want offline content/missions not just co-op/online. I guess i could just set up a room and play it myself.

  • CyberClaw #51 6 years ago

    BBIAJ, the PC pack "adds a deathmatch mode and three maps, introduces additional co-op levels and a map editor, and features a whole range of upgrades and optimisations to boot."
    Also "Ubisoft says we can expect a second pack in July featuring team-deathmatch and one of the most popular original Ghost Recon multiplayer modes".
    All this, for FREE.

    The XBox 360 version gets "the multiplayer co-op campaign set in Nicaragua with four brand new missions (...) eight of the old maps will get new lighting effects to denote different times of day during competitive multiplayer battles. There are five new weapons, two new game types (and one new game mode - Team Battle). You can also customise your soldiers with two new camouflage patters and four new character faces." And it costs £10. Oh, and people are still complaining about the same in game problems...

    Even if the content of the 360 version sounds bigger (4 coop maps, 8 old maps with new relighting which probably took 5 minutes to make, the rest is just rendering and repacking the maps, 5 new weapons, 2 camos and 4 faces (camos and faces which are probably done in a couple of hours)) I'd say it's about the same size as the PC version. They got 3 new deathmatch maps, 3 of the single player missions now work in coop, and an editor, not to mention alot of AI tweaks and bug fixes...

    I just can't understand why we pay 1200 Microsoft Points for 4 coop maps and 5 weapons (which is the only usefull content in the pack). Actually I can, we pay because Ubisoft is testing the waters, trying to see if we'll buy it or not (much like Bethsoft did with the horse armor, and if you notice the next packs for Oblivion were much cheaper, and in a more reasonable price). I just get pissed that the PC gets a bunch of stuff for free (at least in Oblivion you have to pay for the packs both for PC and XBox360 - it just sounds fairer, even if half those updates are not worth their price)...

  • jlaakso #52 6 years ago

    Yes, there's a need to complain about the price. I would be happy to pay something, just not this much. The goddamn point of microtransactions is to make them so small the user doesn't think about it. If it's so much that the user begins to calculate how much the 1200 Microsoft Points makes in real money, it's too much.

    No, I'm not going to pay 1200 MP. But this is obviously a process for the publishers. OF COURSE they want to see how much they can get. And they can't really start from the bottom or people will be up in arms the second they want to try a higher price.

    In Xbox Live, I think there's a real barrier to go above 800 points, as it should. I'm willing to pay 400 MP for just about anything, 800 for "good stuff", 1200 in only very special cases (nothing to date).

    I'm also worried about downloading such huge updates. There won't be room for too many updates the size of this one. The HDD is looking too small already.