Ghost Recon vs. Ghost Recon

For some time now I’ve been considering if I should spend some money on a Xbox 360 or not. My current PCs (both desktop and laptop) are not even close to meeting the minimum spec. required to run the new games that are being release.

And now with Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is out and looking great, so it might very well get me to buy one.

But what is the world happened to Ghost Recon: Advance Warfighter (or GRAW as they call it)? On Xbox 360 i a superb game according to GameSpot.com. They gave it a 9.2 score and ends their review with:

If you like shooters or action games, and you own an Xbox 360, Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter is a must-own for your library. A solid and challenging campaign and a unique, online-co-op mode combine with an unmatched presentation in what is arguably the best game yet on the Xbox 360. Even those who don’t necessarily like shooters may want to at least try the game out, as GRAW represents the best of what a tactical shooter can offer and can serve as a useful graphical benchmark to judge other games on the console by.

(also see the MetaCritic rating)

That sounds like a pretty good game to me, right?

But then read GameSpot.com’s review of the PS2 version of the same game (they gave it a 4.4 score, and again the MetaCritic rating):

Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter for the PlayStation 2 makes too many compromises in the gameplay design for us to recommend it to anyone. Tiny levels that feel more like a series of corridors than a true city, excessive graphical slowdowns, and neutered multiplayer options are just a few of the reasons to avoid this game.

That sound like a very bad game, right?

So what is it? It bears the exact same name, so it must be similar in some way, but after reading the reviews I have some very strong doubts about that. Ubisoft (the publishers) have, as many other publishers do, before handed the development of different version of the same game to different development houses around the world. But the different versions of the games have always had some similarity and only minor hardware specific differences.

But in this case something very serious seems to have gone wrong.