When Rainbow Six Vegas came along on the PSP, we were semi-impressed. Although it was never in reaching distance of its PS3 daddy, the PSP version of Vegas had a dazzling set of production values, as well as an agreeable gameplay engine to boot. GRAW 2 doesn’t represent that; if the console version of GRAW 2 was a melodramatic thrash through the barren cities of Mexico, then this is a muddy foray into the savage marshes of rural Dorset. This is a massive disappointment for the PSP.

Our first reaction to the game was, oddly enough, relief. Last year, the PS2 had a sewage-quality version of the first GRAW game, so seeing an original GRAW on the PSP – a playable one, no less – was a happy start to our relationship with the game. Sadly, this relationship was quashed in the space of three minutes. Your Ghost team and the excellent cover system are annoyingly missing, so the lack of tactics available to you should cause you a certain amount of stress.

The level design also corroborates in the game’s downfall, unfortunately, with a set of linear jungle corridors replacing the openfield feeling of the PS3’s GRAW. Seriously, if a developer is going to incorporate a jungle into proceedings, then it should at least let you explore it. The game uses these invisible walls to hold your hand, as well, which is upsettingly patronising. Some weird fog effects turn the jungle into some kind of blue prison, too; so with the enclosed spaces and odd, light hue to everything, you start to wonder if you’re either high, or just stuck in an abstract, David Lynch-directed nightmare.

Sadly, the reality will hit you pretty fast. GRAW 2 is piss-poor, really, since you can’t hide from enemy fire, the graphics are a bit lame and the missions are boring. There are glitches with the animation, as well, and at certain times the AI spirals out of control, either becoming really good, or just stopping altogether. In case this doesn’t push you over the edge, grenades have a weird way of damaging you when you’re very far away from the target destination, so your patience should be eliminated after around an hour of play.

GRAW 2 on the PSP misses the point by such a wide, distant margin, that we question why Ubisoft bothered with a PSP version at all. If there’s any kind of game that the format doesn’t need, it’s a last-gen tactical shooter, without any of the gameplay niceties. Sadly, this is exactly what has been handed to us.

Samuel Roberts