G.R.A.W. 2 (360)

I've not really got a lot to write about this. I haven't gotten too far in to it, yet I can still confidently say I've seen everything it has to offer.

Have you played G.R.A.W? Then you've played this. As far as I can tell the only differences are a nicer graphics engine and a vastly improved cross com interface. Now you can view the feeds from your support and team full screen, and control them to an extent while in that view. No more relying on the drunk who's flying the little spy drone thing accidentally managing to get it to the spot you wanted it - you can direct it yourself now. You can also give your team commands in this view, which means you can accurately get them to move to and attack things you can't see, which improves the team gameplay no end.

They've also done a much better job of integrating achievemtns this time around, more like Rainbow Six Vegas or Crackdown's systems where you can view your achievemtns in-game. It also shows you how much progress you've made towards certain achievements, which is lovely and something that I wish more games would do. I mean, they must be tracking these stats internally, so why not let me see how many people I've killed?

However, I have three (UH OH) main problems with this game:

It take itself far too seriously. It's all "tangos", "do your job, soldier" and whatnot.

The single player has a lot of cutscenes where you have no control, whereas I'm sure the first one didn't have that many - most of the story was delivered while you were 'in character'. It made the first one feel a lot more immersive - you were this guy, with the news channels reporting the situation getting steadily worse around you. This time around it feels less urgent.

It's an expansion pack being milked at full price. Thankfully I managed to get a cheap copy, but none of my usual co-op friends from the first one did, so for now I'm stuck alone with it.