I'll be brief, because I'm either preaching to the converted or this is falling upon deaf ears:
I felt a certain degree of cynicism upon hearing about GRAW2 and even experienced it when walking through the demo that appeared on LIVE the other week, but as with the demo, that cynicism soon melted away under a barrage of mortar fire.
The key ingredients that made GRAW the success it was remain intact: graphics, tactics, realism, online, audio etc. but it's fair to say that every single one of these ingredients has been fine tuned and polished to perfection. The end result has you struggling to find fault as you gawp, wide-eyed at the audio-visual assault laid before you. It�s one of those games that looks so good, you just have to grab someone else to share the wonder�although wonder was actually the last thing on my long-suffering wife�s face.
Areas that have seen a marked improvement are: squad AI (who no longer wait in the open like bullet magnets but now dash for cover at appropriate moments), level dynamics and, more importantly, tension:
GRAW was great, but for me it was just too sterile. Apart from the early level where you had to defend an embassy building there weren't many moments that really got me on the edge of my seat. GRAW2 is a string of such moments and elevates the game to much greater heights as a result.
/applauds
Online remains a complete blast, albeit one populated by a few too many testosterone-fuelled teens from across the pond for my liking, but hey: such is life. The graphics online seem almost as good as in the campaign and the new co-op missions are superb. My only real gripe is that they STILL haven't included cover in the online component. Why Ubi? It's in R6Vegas y'know!
In short: ignore the current of cynicism that runs through your veins and open yourself up to another man-size dose of GRAW glory :)
