“Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter” was one of the first games to really show off the graphical power of the Xbox 360, and the game itself was amazing to boot.

The sequel, just less than a year later, manages what many sequels fail to do: Be just as good as the original.

There are times in “Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2” when it feels like you’re still playing the first game. Well, really, it should. “GRAW 2” picks up with elite Ghost member Scott Mitchell right after the events of “GRAW” and even makes multiple references to the previous events. It takes place in the same part of the world (Mexico) and looks mostly the same as far as graphics, although there are less obvious improvements, such as in the explosions.

But the first “GRAW” was slick and polished, and even if “GRAW 2” only make small steps forward, it’s still just as fantastic a game.

The single-player campaign is short but fun, and the artificial intelligence has been improved quite a bit. Your teammates actually do a decent job of protecting themselves and taking out enemies. They also alert you when they spot enemies, which is helpful. On the flip side, the enemies are more challenging in their tactics against you.

The “Cross-Com” — the bar in the top left corner where you issue commands — has been improved with visuals so you can see what your support teams are doing. You also get additional types of support, from an ammo-toting MULE vehicle to jet air strikes.

You also have access to a medic on the field. Simply looking at him and hitting a button makes him heal you (though your character is tough about it, of course, yelling in his gruff voice: “It’s just a scratch ... but I need some healing!”).

One (small) issue I had with the original was the lack of other people on the maps. It seemed strange to be in a populous city with no populace. “GRAW 2” doesn’t fix this, though regular people at least make appearances in the background during cutscenes. Really, though, that isn’t so important. You’ll be too busy trying not to die to notice the lack of people.

It probably won’t take you long to breeze through the single-player campaign, but there’s an expansive online multiplayer to look forward to. There are nearly twice as many online maps as in the original “GRAW,” and a ton of multiplayer modes to try out.

In addition to the standard multiplayer modes (elimination, team elimination, objective-based, etc.), there’s a six-campaign co-op mode with a storyline separate from the single-player campaign. I wish more games would include perks like this so that you get a different experience while playing with friends instead of repeating what you already did alone.

There may not be a lot that has changed from “GRAW” to “GRAW 2,” but “GRAW 2” moves everything up a step. When you’re improving what was already a fantastic game, you end up with another can’t-miss experience. And if online is your preference, the relatively short offline campaign won’t even be an issue.

Bad ‘Witch’

It’s so disappointing when a game fails to live up to an exciting premise.

I had hopes for “Bullet Witch,” a sci-fi tale of the apocalypse in which mankind is about to be destroyed by zombie armies. Enter Alicia, a witch with a big gun, who is humanity’s last hope.

So it’s a game with zombies, big guns and magic. Should be fun, right?

Not really. “Bullet Witch” ends up being a half-hearted, clumsy mess.

Some of the spells are really cool, and there are great explosions. But the system of activating the spells is far too cumbersome to be useful, involving a series of menus that cover half the screen (all while the action continues behind it).

Meanwhile, the targeting system for shooting is horrid, all the enemies look alike (and often are difficult to differentiate from regular people), and the enemy AI is nearly comatose. Also, Alicia can’t really jump; she just does this side-flip-forward thing.

Even the graphics are pretty sad. It’s like one of those paintings: It looks good from far away but when you look more closely, it falls apart. Visual glitches abound, the draw distance is pathetic and even the frame rate doesn’t hold up.

Oh yeah, and there are floating brains. No, really.

Bad games happen all the time, but it’s all the worse when it’s such an interesting premise. There are moments when “Bullet Witch” is really cool, but good luck finding those moments under all the dreck.