Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter

Controls:

As you might expect, we did rather yearn for a keyboard and mouse. Joypad control is great for taking on AI opponents, but we found that we repeatedly had our butts handed to us by other players before we had a chance to swivel around. However, the joypad is pretty well laid out, with shoulder buttons allowing for lean, the right trigger providing gun fire, and the left joystick allowing for range of movement including crawling and what I like to call 'scuttling', which is sort of a get-your-head-down-and-dash-for-it kind of move.

As far as we could see, there wasn't a way to tune the sensitivity of the right joystick, meaning that sniping was something of a hit-or-miss (Er, obviously - Ed) affair. Again, mouse for the win.

However, all of this didn't detract from the fact that the controls are pretty much spot on, especially given the fact the 360 pad is so sublime. The fact that the controls are pretty intuitive also makes for an easy pick-up-and-play experience - all the gamers we spoke to were easily able to get at least a few frags in before actually experimenting with what all the face buttons did. This is a good thing.

Weapons:

One thing the Ghost Recon games have always done well is weaponry. Previous games have had a massive arsenal and this one is no different, with different player classes having access to a wide range of weaponry, all of which have very different characteristics.

The Carbine is usually a pretty versatile weapon in any game, and the same is true here: it's very much a beginners weapon. As you begin to get a feel for the different classes (Rifleman, Grenadier etc) you'll swiftly find a weapon that suits you well. We personally preferred some of the heavier automatic machine guns, since our combat tactics consisted mostly of spray and pray. However, for the campers amongst you, there are some awesome sniper rifles, and some equally awesome vantage points to use them from.

The lack of a jump button is occasionally infuriating: a pile of rocks that you could happily use to perch on and fire away is inexplicably inaccessible. But, for the most part, hit the turf and make sure you're ready to switch to pistol for a close range attack and you'll be happy. Grenades work particularly well, with smoke looking very good and frag giving a satisfying ker-bang. The throwing mechanism is basically unchanged from previous games, so hotshots should be at home here.