The missions are long and multifaceted. They are seamlessly woven together so you’ll hardly ever notice when you’ve progressed to another level (or objective).
One mission lands you alone in the countryside in the middle of the night, with enemies closing to your position. You must use your night vision and wits to take out the enemies and literally infiltrate a castle on a hilltop. You then have to “laser” a power generator so the Blackhawk can take it down. After this, you run into an entirely new section with Bradley tank support, followed by a foot campaign to eleminate three enemy tanks.
Commanding the vehicles is extremely satisfying and well handled. Sometimes when you’re in the helicopter you get to man the machine gun and mow down Mexican rougue forces (Ay, Carumba!). As in other military games, you have to manage your weapon’s heat, so you must take short, accurate bursts, because once your gun’s covering fire is down you’ll almost certainly be taken out. Sometimes you must clear the ground of soldiers before the Blackhawk can set you down to your next mission, adding to immersive and streamlined gameplay.
In other missions, you have to take out communication devices that are scrambling your Cross-Com, which disorients your screen, subsequently nullifying your intelligence of the area. You must navigate the turrain and manually identify threats, clear them out, and then take out your targets with some C4 explosives. This is a tactic game developers employ just to shake things up and keep you on your toes: once you’re finally comfortable with the controls and how to use them, you’re thrown into a situation where you cannot rely on them.
Of course, you also have the obligatory escort missions. Once you uncover and control a group of tanks, it is your job to make sure the tank platoon stays alive, all while managing your own well-being. These missions really keep you on the seat of your pants, as you must act quickly and decisively: you cannot bide your time being stealthy when your tanks are being bombarded.
You’ll also experience helicopter dogfights, use rocket launchers and wall-piercing sniper rifles. You’ll also use a nifty “cover” rifle that has a 90 degree electronic scope that allows you to take out enemies from behind a corner all while remaining safely behind cover.
The enemy AI isn’t a collective super-genius, but they behave realistically, encouraging you to make strategic decisions. If you walk down the middle of a street in broad daylight, you will most certainly be a stain on the pavement.
The enemies will take cover from fire, advance to different cover, and throw grenades (it helps to identify when they shout “Grenado!”). The enemies are placed strategically, encouraging you to perform good recon before advancing into a new area. For example, it is always best to identify and take out snipers guarding an open courtyard. You must make some significant progress before the game will save (usually when you enter a new facet to the mission), so a stupid mistake will have you cursing yourself as you re-do a huge section.
