Bo, who has been a member of the Special Forces himself for 2 years, wanted to bring GR: AW back to the roots of the series, pay more attention to the tactical gameplay and kick out all the elements that he considered too arcade for a squad based tactical shooter. This basically means you will have to be on your guard every second of this game because even the smallest mistake will be severely punished. Something which became instantly clear during a small demonstration when Bo forgot to check six and had the entire press team looking at his ‘Mission Failed’ screen. Well, it did make his point that even with all the ultramodern fancy gadgets, live satellite feeds and body armour; you still have to think before you act or you can forget about saving the world.

In GR: AW this world is called Mexico City, one of the biggest cities on this planet and although the PC version has the same basic plot as the console versions, not only the missions but also the gameplay will differ remarkably. Ubisoft has made the (wise) decision to assign a specific developer to every platform with the objective to create the best possible Ghost Recon game for that particular console. Or PC, of course. Something for us to cheer about. Am I right, Triumph? Well, what kind of differences will set the PC version apart from its counterparts then? Apart from being dropped out of a helicopter or plane before the start of every mission, the PC version features a more tactical gameplay and focuses a lot more on team management and ‘the social experience’, both on- and offline.

The PC version doesn’t have a third person view either, you’ll have to cope with a first person POV, with full body awareness. The reason for this decision is simple: a total immersion of the player in the game. A third person view would only alienate the gamer from his virtual alter ego. From within the tactical map (which is a 3D live satellite image of your location, including a visual on the enemy location) you can set up waypoints, ambushes and order your team members around. Orders can also be given from the first person mode, just look at a team members press the scroll button and choose an order from the pop-up menu. Piece of cake. The other controls are also very intuitive and you will be sneaking from one checkpoint to another in no time. Yes. Checkpoints; there are no quick saves in this game but every level is divided into 4 or 5 checkpoints. The distance between them is approximately half an hour which means that one level will give you at least 2hrs to 2.5hrs of gameplay.

At this moment Grin is busy with the final checks and the realtime lightning effects. Also on the “to-do list” is doubling the frame rate and enhancing some minor details but it already looked awesome. The master disc is almost there and the game should be released in May with the following minimum specs: