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Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon

Score: 80%
ESRB: Mature
Publisher: Ubisoft Entertainment
Developer: Red Storm
Media: CD/1
Players: 1 - 32
Genre: Miscellaneous

Graphics & Sound:

To put it simply, Ghost Recon's graphics are omnium-gatherum. At times you'll look at something and think just how cool it looks, and other times you'll want to throw up. Looking at a group of your guys will make you smile, but seeing them kneeling next to a mottled bush will make your frown. Given the vast number of outdoor missions, I don't expect them to individually model every leaf on the tree, but it seems nobody has come up with a better way to accurately represent shrubbery and vegetation. Aside from that, though, the graphics are quite pleasing.

The music is what you might expect from a game inspired by the great Tom Clancy. Though not present during the actual game, the music does well to get you ready to go kill Russian rebels in the former Soviet Union. Most of the sound effects you'll hear will be gunfire and explosions, mingled in with the confused yelling of your adversaries as you mow them down, or the groans of your men as they take a hit. They sound good, but lack the real 'punch' you might expect from guns of their caliber.


Gameplay:

For those of you who have played Rogue Spear, your assumptions of this being a clone are slightly misguided. It looks like Rogue Spear and handles mostly like Rogue Spear, but Ghost Recon is really Rogue Spear on steroids. There is more control over your team members, more overall action, and much faster gameplay.

The Campaign mode will test your skills with a myriad of levels, each with varying parameters. Before each mission you get to load out your squad with the handful of soldiers given to you at the beginning of the game, each with their own stats and special qualifications. This is where Ghost Recon puts on its role-playing hat. At the end of each mission, every soldier who participated in the battle will be awarded one point, and it's up to you to allocate it. There are various skills for each soldier, allowing you to mold each one into your own personal killing machine. Get a soldier killed, though, and they're gone for good, along with all their hard-earned points.

The major complaint I have about the game is the damage system. Shooting a bad guy in the foot with a sniper rifle somehow manages to kill them instantly, but popping them five times in the face with a silenced pistol will only manage to piss them off. It also seems that your own team members will die too easily, and though it is possible for them to just get wounded, they seem to favor dying instead.

Your squad can hold up to eight people, and these eight people can be assigned to three different teams. Once in battle, you take control of one team while controlling the others via the in-game map. This is a great feature of the game, allowing for easy squad control and also stepping up the pace of combat. If you don't like how your guys are acting, you can switch to any member of any team and get the job done yourself.

Each mission has primary objectives, along with tertiary (optional) objectives. Though not required, completing these will unlock specialized troops. These troops are highly trained and use state of the art equipment. They can be deployed and used the same as your other troops, but getting one of these guys killed will be a bigger blow to you than losing an original team member.

The Multiplayer mode offers a lot of good replay value that is relative to the number of people you have to play with. Despite all of the different Multiplayer modes, one on one action is too slow and boring to be worthwhile. This isn't Quake, it's a modern combat sim, and the gameplay reflects that. There is no jump, you can't aim while you run, and if you make one mistake it's game over. On the other hand, if you can manage to play with a group of people, the experience is more than rewarding.


Difficulty:

Though the different settings affect the difficulty on a grand scale (if you can't hack it on easy, put the game down and play something else), Ghost Recon will constantly test your battlefield awareness and skill. The missions in the game don't represent the most favorable battlegrounds in the world, and enemies will almost always have the drop on you first. There will be heavy firefights, and losing your entire team over and over again is not uncommon. It's really a case of everything either going completely wrong or totally right. You'll be shedding tears of joy and pain over this game.

The biggest problem with Ghost Recon is the AI. It's not terribly poor, but since this game is going for realism, it would be nice to see a bad guy react a little more appropriately when the guy standing next to him gets shot. At times they will just stand there, or on occasion crouch down. It's not just the enemy AI, either. Getting your teammates to do what you want them to can be downright frustrating. All I ask for is that they just play a little safer. When you run behind a rock or wall, the last guy in your squad will usually just sit out in the open and get his fanny shot off, even if he's already under fire. Sigh.


Game Mechanics:

Though it is a FPS, Ghost Recon is a game based on modern combat. There is no rocket jumping or sprinting across the field and shooting people in the head. The game requires you to take a new approach to dispatching your enemies, whether it's with a few well placed sniper shots, or a full frontal barrage.

The control is much the same as most FPS's, with the 'wasd' and mouse configuration. However, aiming is a totally new ballgame. You can't empty a whole clip and hope all the bullets hit. With automatic weapons, the crosshairs go nuts after about the first three shots. Grenades can't be lobbed halfway across the map, and they don't bounce like they're made of silly putty. Running isn't really fast, walking is slow, and crawling is exactly what the name implies. Though all of these sound like drawbacks, the control turns out rather well. After a couple of tries you kind of get into the groove and it all becomes second nature.

Controlling your teams is done by pressing tab, which brings up a map of the battlefield. Here you can manually assign waypoints, attitudes, and covering arcs with ease. The options are slightly limited, but learning to use them effectively only takes a little practice.

A giant leap from Rogue Spear, Ghost Recon is a good cross between action and strategy. Though not perfect, the game will make you cheer, make you cry, and make you want more. Hopefully it will get enough of an audience to inspire a sequel with a few less flaws, but if not, I wouldn't mind settling with this one.


-Snow Chainz, GameVortex Communications
AKA Andrew Horwitz

Minimum System Requirements:



Pentium II 450 MHz processor or equivalent; 128 MB of RAM; Windows 95/98/ME/2000/XP; DirectX 8.0 or higher (included on CD); 16MB DirectX 8.0 compatible 3D card; 1GB minimum hard drive space; 4X CD-ROM drive or better; DirectX 8.0 compatible sound card; Properly configured TCP/IP connection at 28.8 KBPS or faster
 

Test System:



Windows 98, 1.4GHz AMD Athlon, GeForce 2 mx 32MB video card, 40 gig hard drive, 56x CD-ROM, 256MB DDR Ram, Sound Blaster Live! sound card, T1 Internet connection

Nintendo GameBoy Advance Ultimate Beach Soccer Windows Ghost Recon: Island Thunder

 
Game Vortex :: PSIllustrated