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Prima GRAW Tips

You can master any game where you're playing against A.I. eventually. But when you're going head-to-head online, someone's always going to have a trick you haven't seen. If you want to be the best at Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter™, you're going to have to master your tricks and everybody else's. Prima gives you some clues how to get started in this exclusive excerpt from their strategy guide. Check out other samples here.

·Nobody likes a spawn-killer, but admittedly, there are few tactics that can rack up more points than camping out in the opposing team's spawn zone. If you manage to infiltrate the enemy's spawn zone, seek out a slight, narrow area where you can hide and hopefully shoot to kill before being seen. For example, in the Treasury map, you can hide in the alleys that lead to the bus station or on a balcony overlooking the treasury building's front steps. Another example: Hide in the trees just above the beach on the Wharf map—under the cover of darkness, you are nearly impossible to see.

If you detect a spawn-killer in your midst, you have to work together with your teammates to flush him out. You cannot go solo, as that's what a camper preys on. Move together as a team and you can pinpoint the location of the camper when he or she takes a shot at your team. Unless the camper has a grenade launcher, in which case your team is in real trouble.

Work together or die together. Co-operation is the key to victory.

• Seek high ground at all times. Most maps have a few perches that overlook the majority of the map, such as the central rock outcropping in Rocky Cove or the fort in Wharf. Not only is high ground good for sniping, but it also helps minimize your profile against players on lower levels, as the ledge will cover the majority of your body, especially if you crouch down.
• Try to learn the ins and outs of several weapons. When you join a game, you are at the mercy of the host, who decides what weapons and gear can and cannot be used. You may prefer the Grenadier class, but if you only practice with a grenade launcher, you may have a hard time surviving in a match where grenades have been banned. Pick one or two weapons from each class, such as sniper rifles and assault rifles, and practice.
• When playing team games, the worst thing you can do is not communicate. Fighting over use of the drone can also cause problems. The drone reveals the locations of enemy players. At the beginning of a match, designate who gets to use the drone. If everybody is trying to give the eye-in-the-sky individual commands, the drone will end up showing nothing of any use to anybody. And if a player that manages to press deep into enemy territory is not the designated drone driver, he or she should field a request to use it.
• When playing a campaign mission like Old Town or Wharf, realize that bravura and heroics often do the team zero good. You only get one life and the fewer players in the mission, the harder it gets. Be conservative, let enemies come to you, and lash out only when more than one player can verify that the coast is clear.

Finding the right perch lets you keep a low profile as a sniper.

• Try not to rely on night vision. There are only a few maps where using it is a real boon—Wharf and Dry Dock—and in daylight situations the gadget is actually a hindrance. The brighter the scenery is, the shorter your field of vision.
• Gathering up Achievements? You get a few gamer points every time you complete one of the campaigns, but you can earn more points for pulling off feats like killing four enemies in under four seconds (20 gamer points) or killing over 30 enemies before getting shot (32 gamer points).
• Changing your appearance isn't only a cosmetic decision. In some maps, covering your face with green grease paint or slipping an olive hood over your head can be a real help. The Temple map, the most lush of all the arenas, has no shortage of bushes to hide behind. A khaki-colored boonie hat sticking out of a bush is pretty easy for a seasoned player to spot.
• Watch out for the helicopter in certain game types, like Hamburger Hill. Most contested zones offer some cover, but the helo will circle around until it can find a good shot. Shooting down a helicopter can be tricky, but if you blast 100 of them, you earn 16 gamer points.

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