GRAW is finally in!!!

Thus far with the game I must say that I'm reasonably impressed with the game. Here's a list of things I've noticed about the game while still trying to make my way through single-player:

+ The Crosscom HUD thing where it acts almost like a wallhack pin-pointing enemy positions isn't as cheap as I thought it looked on preview videos. If any enemy runs in behind somewhere where you can't see him, the red diamond over him disappears too until he pokes his head out of hiding.

+ The presentation of the game is pretty awesome. The graphics, the sound, and the environment makes you feel like you're there.

+ Halo-esque transitions from level to level with no real lame-ass loading spots. I like that part a lot to add more of a sense of realism.

+ You're actually in some city you've heard of... Mexico City. Not Grapsdfplehas, Koeoasrlea over in the Middle East killing teh Taliban or Al-Queda or whoever doesn't play nicely. Not to mention, this place definitely looks like a city. So awesome.

+ No need for 27 bullets to empty your health bar here. Depending on where you get shot, you'll either get severely wounded or die. Probably just die.

+ Gatling Gun.

- Sometimes the AI leaves you screaming at your teammates "WHY THE FUCK DID YOU RUN OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STREET IN FRONT OF A TANK WHEN THERE'S SOME COVER 5 FEET BEHIND YOU YOU BIG STUPID!!!" though it doesn't happen enough to make you throw your controller down in agony questioning the existence of God or some other deity.

- Some graphic flaws here and there. I haven't discovered the "Jesus" bug though I'm sure that'd just be hilarious, just a couple things bother me. One is the fact when you reload, you only do the animation. There is no removing of the cartridge and replacing it with a fully-loaded one. The other is the mouth animations during parts where the player or whoever is speaking where you sometimes feel like they're communicating via brainwaves... what the fuck people. C'mon.

- At certain points, the game can get a little hectic and make you feel like you're playing an RTS when you're being rushed by the other team and you have to control ten things at once. "Apache helicopter moron, you go there and destroy obvious tank in the square shooting at us. Bradley, you go there and shoot stuff making your purpose much more important. Squad, stay here near me, but don't get behind cover if you feel like getting shot by crossfire so I can come heal you and then die because of it." This all happens while getting orders via your Crosscom from your commander, enemies closing in on your position with machine guns and grenades, and while having to keep the special targets alive.

I think that's all I have to say about the game so far. More to come later.

Peace

*Update*

Ok, now that I've gotten further into the game (and I must say, it's longer than I was expecting) there are a few other things to throw in about GRAW:

+ It had the Wilhelm scream. I was very happy when I heard it.

+ The shit that blows up in this game blows up super awesomely cool (as in, very realistic). Meaning not so much fire (John Woo style lol) and more of the sense of the compressed gases of an explosion doing the damage. Like in other games, grenades are big fireball. Well, realistically there isn't suppose to be any at all. Now if there's gasoline involved, that's a whole different story.

- On the roof level, the sun is rediculously bright. Now I know I'm in Mexico, but for the love of christ I'm not stoned with my pupils the size of Texas. My eyes should eventually adapt to the brightness, but in this case... no. It's hard to see damn near anything, really. At least clearly lol. Could be a pipe, could be mindless henchman with big gun pointed at you.

- Still one of my biggest pet peeves about any video game ever is enemy guard omnipotence meaning they know where you are at all times. Though not as bad as Sniper Elite, it's still noticeable to the point where you're lying there with a sniper rifle 200 meters away and just want to punch the TV. Other games or series with omnipotent AI... Hitman, Splinter Cell, Medal of Honor, Jedi Knight, and Far Cry just to name a few. The very few "shooter" games that don't suffer from this horrible setback in AI would be Half-Life 2, Halo and Halo 2(aside from Jackal Snipers ARGGGG). This is because the programmers actually THINK about what to program for AI instead of just taking a shit on a blank file and calling it AI.