Trapped between two ambushes we had just a few moments to ask some questions to Bo Anderson, ex-special forces and executive producer of Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter.

Bo: Very. The realistic look and feel is something on which we worked very hard to implement in Ghost Recon. I truly believe that we succeeded in bringing the suspense and tension of a Spec Op to the Ghost Recon universe: there could be an enemy behind every door, there could be an ambush behind every corner and every time you stick out your neck, a sniper can take you out. Nothing is certain in this game and it is up to you to analyze the situation and respond to it. With your team. You can’t just rely on yourself, you will have to put your life in the hands of your team members and the other way around. Success depends on the talents of the player as a squad leader. And because of that, the game does not only knows how to transfer the suspense but also that social experience, being a member of a team, working together to complete the mission. Even in the single player campaign, you will feel that unity, that feeling of four guys against the enemy, and I’m very proud to be able to say that the single player campaign features an equal social experience as the multiplayer option.

Bo: Certainly, we’re planning several competitions in cooperation with sites like Ghostrecon.net. They have already put together a team and a few days ago we kicked the Swedish National team’s ass.

Bo: Well, the biggest difficulty we had was programming the A.I. The game uses our Diesel-engine, which gives us a lot of freedom with the physics. The problem however was that exactly that freedom became an obstacle. A destroyed fence, an exploded car; they all create the necessity of a different approach; not just for the player but also for the A.I. And because the game relies heavily on your team members and the reactions of the enemy, we had to get that part absolutely perfect. That’s also why we programmed the enemy A.I. to uses Swedish sneaky tactics. In other words: you will be fighting us.

Bo: From the beginning Grin has tried to give the player a unique gaming experience and that’s why we made sure that there would be a lot of variation on different levels. First of all there are several kinds of missions; you’ve got escort missions or rescue operations but then all of a sudden something totally unexpected could happen. Your helicopter crashes before you reach your drop zone which means you will first have to find a way through the city before you can complete your main goals. You can get tank or artillery support, or – worse – an enemy tank can suddenly cross your path. Even when you replay a mission you’ll notice that all kinds of things have changed. The enemy is mobile and can easily relocate.

Bo: I wouldn’t tell them to forget about the console versions. I think that Ubisoft has managed to create the perfect Ghost Recon game for every console but the PC version sure has some nice features. First of all it’s the most in-depth and advanced tactical squad based first person shooter on the market with a huge replay value. The multiplayer – which we’re still keeping a bit of a mystery – has some really cool things to offer too. There will be active mod support and we are definitely going to surprise the community with what we have created.