Try Action-Oriented War Games for Xbox 360

By Harold Goldberg, The Olympian, Olympia, Wash.

Mar. 31–Ka-boom! If it’s blasting action full of war time adventure that you’re looking for, two new games supply the ammo you need. “Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon 3 Advanced Warfighter” and “The Outfit” are both next-generation titles for the Xbox 360. The question is: Can they live up to the expectations Xbox 360 owners have for terrific gaming and stellar graphics? “Advanced Warfighter” whisks you to the year 2013 in Mexico City when the Army creates a new breed of soldier. You’re equipped with the latest technology, which means truly precise and explosive weaponry. The news release for the game says this new kind of solider is yours to command. It’s more than command, however. You feel you’re a part of the action every step of the way. From the sounds of looming helicopters to the way the bright sun sometimes makes it difficult to see your target, you’ll appreciate the attention to detail and computer coding that’s gone into the latest Clancy effort. In fact, the game itself is so high tech, it makes you update your Xbox 360 system before you play. Don’t worry, it’s just the press of a controller button. Here’s a game full of elite strategy as you try to halt the coup of a crazed Mexican general who threatens all of North America and captures the country’s president. It’s up to you, as with most video games, to save the world (well, at least the Western hemisphere). But don’t be too aggressive in this stunning single-player campaign. If you try to run toward your target and shoot without considering serious military tactics, you’ll bite the dust immediately. You have to be stealthy, too, in this urban terrain. Carefully, duck behind cement blockades and look around corners quietly. You’ll use smoke grenades to dismay the enemy. You also will have the countersnipe rifle, which lets you get to hidden enemies behind walls. So precise are the futuristic weapons that you often have to press a button to hold your character’s breath. This steadies your aim to let you fire accurately. You can call in support, too, including air strikes, which make for quite the visual fireworks. Even better than the single-player mode are the online multiplayer capabilities of the game. These definitely will keep you coming back for more. You and your pals really can make the online experience as highly customized as you wish — everything from the way your character looks to the kind of action that happens onscreen. The customization abilities here seem almost endless. Because of the nearly infinite variety of things to do online, this is one of the great games for the Xbox 360. Not quite up to “Advanced Warfighter” standards is a likable, graphically intense war game that plays like a souped-up arcade experience. In “The Outfit,” you’re one of the tough-guy buddies in a squad whose mission it is to battle the Nazi war machine. These characters are fun — like something out of a comic book or graphic novel. In fact, in the game, they’re called heroes, not soldiers, voiced in an over-the-top way by actors Ron Perlman and Robert Patrick. Here, you pretty much can blow up anything in your path. As if by magic, you can call up weapons, vehicles and soldiers with a feature called Destruction on Demand. (You’ll want to get out of the way of the red smoke that announces an air drop of, say, an armed jeep. Get too close and the thing will fall on your character — which makes for an embarrassing death.) There’s a sprawling environment in which to play, so big you’ll need tanks and 4X4s to traverse it. Still, you never feel as much a part of the game as you do with “Advanced Warfighter.” It partly is because of the graphics, which are good but not great, and partly because of the game play, which has the new destruction feature, but not so much else to distinguish it from other arcade-oriented war games. Online play is far better all the way around, especially when you play the story mode. Here, you and your pals begin to feel you’re a tried and true member of “The Outfit.” However, if you pit “The Outfit” against “Advanced Warfighter,” the Clancy squad wins hands down.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Olympian, Olympia, Wash.

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