For a kick off, the game now looks superb all the way through, with not a single hint of a glitch, bug, or any of the general craziness that seemed to routinely affect the original. In the 'fixed' column there are an extraordinary number of improvements which make a vast difference to the enjoyment levels over the course of the game.
In many respects, GRAW 2 is the game that last year's version could and perhaps should have been - though this is an admittedly shorter game than last year's. Happily, almost every single thing that we complained bitterly about last year's version has been fixed. There was a real feeling of the game being so close to greatness, but being rushed out before it was ready. It had some of the most infuriating, sofa-punching difficulty spikes of any of the big games of 2006, with inconsistent checkpoint spacing, the worst night vision system of any game ever (seriously), ridiculous health issues, ammo problems, graphical glitches, you name it.
Admire the lovely visuals, wax about the intuitive control system, or the tense duck and cover squad-based gameplay, but you can't say the single player portion was exactly polished.