Tech: Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2

I really enjoyed the original "Rainbow Six" PC games because they allowed fairly detailed strategic planning. Before each mission, you could plot out exact paths through the level for two separate teams of counterterrorists. Combine that with the ability to preplan situational actions (like breeching doors) and AI cues (go in cautiously or guns blazing), and it was actually possible to complete entire levels without physically having to touch the controls, if your planning was good enough.

"Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2" doesn't quite give you that level of tactical complexity, but it does feature enough strategy to make it a much better game than your average Xbox 360 shooter. You play Scott Mitchell, a Special Ops soldier of the future armed with a HUD system straight out of a fighter jet. The "Advanced Warfighter" HUD allows you to seamlessly coordinate artillery support, friendly squads of soldiers, and UAVs during your missions.

The whole concept, of course, is ripped straight from current Pentagon projects (if there's one thing the DoD is good at, it's arming U.S. soldiers with some of the best toys in the world), and it makes for a pretty fun game, especially in multiplayer. Unfortunately, the singleplayer campaign is pretty short (you can finish it in a long evening), and the enemy and friendly AI can be braindead, so keep that in mind before you pick up GRAW 2.

Rating: 85/100