Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (GRAW) is the third installment in the popular Ghost Recon tactical shooter video game series, published by Ubisoft. As in previous Ghost Recon games, players will command their team of Ghosts while neutralizing hostile forces and completing various mission objectives. These objectives can range from escorting friendly units across the map to rescuing hostages or taking out enemy artillery.

Being a tactical shooter, Advanced Warfighter places emphasis on using cover effectively in order to stay alive, together with sound strategic co-ordination to successfully complete mission objectives. Advanced Warfighter will allow new strategic situations to be planned and performed using original features. One such feature is the Integrated Warfighter System, a system based upon the Future Force Warrior program.

Gameplay

Gameplay emphasis is placed upon the player to do the bulk of the fighting while AI teammates tag along. The player controls a single squad of soldiers, but only directly controls the squad leader. However, the player can issue commands to the AI-controlled team members to maneuver them indirectly.

Combat in Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter is slightly more forgiving than previous games in the series. Players can often survive several bullet hits before dying, instead of dying after only a couple of shots like in the original Ghost Recon series. However, players are unable to heal their health in the middle of a mission, and a single headshot or a sustained burst of assault rifle fire can kill the player instantly, so the game still relies more on tactical combat rather than arcade run-and-gun shooting.

PS2 / Xbox version

The PS2 / Xbox console version of Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter is a first-person shooter. Notably, these versions feature fewer features than the Xbox 360 or Windows versions; players only have a single AI-controlled teammate following them on missions (as opposed to a squad of 3 soldiers).

Xbox 360 version

Unlike all other versions of Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter, the Xbox 360 version gives you the choice to use either a third person or first person view during the campaign mode. This version features a unique covering system, which allows the player to duck behind objects for covering and perform tactical maneuvers such as pop-and-shoot. In the Xbox 360 version, the player is accompanied by a squad of 3 AI-controlled teammates. While the player may issue orders to the entire squad, they cannot issue orders to any individual team member.

The Xbox 360 and Windows versions of Advanced Warfighter feature a cross-com system. This system allows the player to command not only his squad, but also other friendly units (e.g. helicopters, UAV drones, etc.). The cross-com system can be used in conjunction with the Intel map, which is a tactical map showing the entire play area, to issue commands. Additionally, the cross-com system highlights the position of any enemy soldiers that are spotted by the player or any members of the player's squad.