Ghost Recon Advanced Warrior doesn't have "save anytime

[DiamondDecision]

I just read a review for GRAW and it said that the game doesn't have "save anytime".  The review also went on to say that you can end up replaying large sections because of it.

That usually completely kills a game for me!  How bad is the save system folks?

[The_Man]

I just read a review for GRAW and it said that the game doesn't have "save anytime".  The review also went on to say that you can end up replaying large sections because of it.

That usually completely kills a game for me!  How bad is the save system folks?

Pretty bad.  I just did a mission a few days ago where you are alone and must get inside a rebel camp and use C4 to blow up some big guns and it's a real pain to get there.  All along the way they are sending guys and there are snipers as well.  I noticed that I had not seen the word "checkpoint" pop up at all.  After about 30 minutes I finally got into the base and was about to blow the first gun and I got killed.  Want to know where I had to start at when it reloaded?  Yep, back at the very beginning.

That was very frustrating for me as I felt like I really worked hard to get that far only to have it ripped away from me so easily.  The one good thing is most missions have several checkpoints as you progress through them.  If you die, you only restart at the latest checkpoint which usually isn't too bad.  The mission I described above is the first one that I've seen that didn't have a checkpoint so hopefully there won't be many like that.
I just hate the thought of going back through it again.  One of my major pet peeves in gaming is having to do the same thing over and over.

[mikeg]

It's not a killer but can be very very frustrating.  If this kind of thing bugs you then I say say stay very far away.

The biggest killer for me for the game though is that you have to play about 70% using the night vision goggles or you will not find the enemy.  The fact that about 55% of the game is at night plus the fact that even during the day the shadows and lighting are so dark that you HAVE to use the goggles just about ruins the game for me.  What that means is that most of the game has nothing more than green blobs for graphics.  I find it to be a copout.  Realistic?  Probably, but just not that fun or interesting to stare at for 10 hours.

The multi is truly what gives this game legs though IF, and I mean a big IF you can find friends to play with.  Most times you play with people who just run and gun, ZERO strategy, and those who never ever shut up.  Constantly talking or cussing or singing or just being children.  Drives me nuts and I can't stand it for 3 minutes.

Other that those gripes, a good game.  I am 95% through and would give it an 7.9 because of the above.

[Destructor]

The biggest killer for me for the game though is that you have to play about 70% using the night vision goggles or you will not find the enemy.  The fact that about 55% of the game is at night plus the fact that even during the day the shadows and lighting are so dark that you HAVE to use the goggles just about ruins the game for me.  What that means is that most of the game has nothing more than green blobs for graphics.  I find it to be a copout.  Realistic?  Probably, but just not that fun or interesting to stare at for 10 hours.

Personally, I turned up the game's brightness quite a bit to keep from using the goggles constantly, as it annoyed the crap out of me as described above.

It still was dark, but at least I could see more than 10 feet in front of me (without using the green glow of doom).

[Bullwinkle]

It should be pointed out that, unlike in some games, when you get to a checkpoint, you can quit and start from that same checkpoint, not the very beginning of the level.

Still, the replay factor of this challenging game is making me pace myself with GRAW more than I thought I would.  

I thought the Clancy team had seen the light with saving anywhere.  What the hell happened?

[Thin_J]

The biggest killer for me for the game though is that you have to play about 70% using the night vision goggles or you will not find the enemy.  The fact that about 55% of the game is at night plus the fact that even during the day the shadows and lighting are so dark that you HAVE to use the goggles just about ruins the game for me.  What that means is that most of the game has nothing more than green blobs for graphics.  I find it to be a copout.  Realistic?  Probably, but just not that fun or interesting to stare at for 10 hours.

Personally, I turned up the game's brightness quite a bit to keep from using the goggles constantly, as it annoyed the crap out of me as described above.

It still was dark, but at least I could see more than 10 feet in front of me (without using the green glow of doom).

I'm afraid I don't understand where you're coming from on this problem.

I played the entire game through in 7 and a half hours (which is well short of the average playtime for most people, but I generally do really well with the Ghost Recon games of late) and had to use the thermal goggles maybe twice through the entire experience. Any other time I fired them up it was because I wanted to see through a smoke grenade cloud, or just wondered how effective they were in a given situation.

Are you, by chance, not playing on an HDTV? It could be that without the clarity one provides it might be more difficult to spot enemies. I haven't played the game on a regular TV though, so I'm honestly not overly sure.

As for the save system, I only had one negative encounter with it where I reached a save point after myself and two teammates took the biggest portion of a grenade blast and had almost zero health left. I spent about twenty minutes replaying the same small section because I kept catching a stray bullet here or there and dying. I finally went at it a good deal more cautiously than I had before and made it through to the next area.

[Purge]

FWIW : I'm halfway through, and I haven't had any moments that NEEDED the googles, with exception to when the image is scrambled (which was a night mission so it was well worth it). 70% is a pretty big freakin' number, buddy. I've used them maybe 8-9%. Maybe.

I like the fact that the night vision doesn't just become some super-vision mode that has no drawbacks.

As to the brightness, no problems there either. I'm using an HD LCD display (2405FPW).

The save points aren't horrid either; I've not yet run into a point where I couldn't go further. I've restarted missions if I've lost a teammate and stumbled over the checkpoint, and that ain't great... but it gives me an opportunity to do it better.

I think the checkpoints are placed well; they don't have a feeling of too far. They generally are in between heavy conflict, so you're not under direct pressure during save moments. A few times you've only got about 10-15seconds of breathing time, however... defending the mexican president missions are generally like this.

I've run a mission to take out the big guns with C4... there are save points between so I'm guessing it's not the same one. Basically you climb to the top of a villa after being dropped from a chopper (and taking out soldiers and enforcements). You then need to take out scramblers and mobile surface-to-air launchers and then climb to the top of the fortress and take out the big guns. There's at least 3 checkpoints in that run.

It may be that the post above is talking about a different mission; I've not yet encountered that level.

[Destructor]

Are you, by chance, not playing on an HDTV? It could be that without the clarity one provides it might be more difficult to spot enemies. I haven't played the game on a regular TV though, so I'm honestly not overly sure.

Nope. Definitely playing on a HDTV at 1080i. Then again, I've noticed that quite a few games seem dark on my TV. Maybe I need to mess with the native settings for it.

[Jumangi]

I think the checkpoint system sucks too, and no they arn't always placed well. The fort/blowing up guns scenerio is a perfect example. The length is way too much for that last part of the mission.

Its still so annoying that in 2006 we have to still put up with lame checkpoint systems in games still.

[mikeg]

I played through on a regular analog tv.  Do not have an HD.  So, yes, there is a problem with clarity here and there, but even still - too dark.  And how anyone could get through the game only using the night vision twice is friggin beyond me.    

Just me perhaps, but I didn't care for it.  I would have preferred the whole game during the day personally.  Don't care for shooting at blobs under any circumstances.   Real?  Probably.  Fun?  Debatable.  

At any rate, it is a personal thing I did not care for.  Just want others to be aware that there is the potential for quite a bit of it in this game.