Here's my Ghost Recon Review:
1998 was a revolutionary year for PC action games. Not only did Half Life redefine the single character first person shooter genre, but Redstorm’s Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six transformed the tactical action sub-category. Instead of playing the game as one ‘person,’ the player worked with other AI elite counter-terrorists to foil complicated plots to diminish the freedom of man. This game was very realistic and focused on one shot-one kill gameplay instead of the usual run-and-gun. Now, in Ghost Recon, Redstorm Entertainment is taking the realistic Rainbow Six style of gameplay and is transferring it from close quarters combat into large out door military settings. I absolutely loved Rainbow Six, but Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon really takes Rainbow Six to the next level.
SINGLE PLAYER AND CAMPAIGN
Missions in Ghost Recon are diverse and interesting. Battles occur everywhere from forests in Georgia (Eastern Europe, not the United States) to Red Square in Moscow. What makes the missions so gripping is the turn in events. I have played some missions multiple times, but each time I play, something different happens and I have use an alternate strategy. Instead of planning a mission before hand, like in Rainbow Six, Ghost Recon uses on the go planning. This display, which only takes up part of the screen, shows either a map of the battlefield and your allies, or the status of each of your individual soldiers. From the map you can place waypoints for your taskforce of 6 soldiers and tell them how to approach each point.
One of the most gripping things about the campaign is that what happens in one mission can make a difference in the next. For every mission there is an optional objective, and if the player completes this objective than he gets a specialist: a highly trained individual with a unique weapon. Secondly, every soldier that survives a battle is eligible for an increase in a particular aspect of that soldier’s traits (marksmanship, stealth, strength, and leadership, which affects other soldiers). This in turn makes a noticeable difference in the soldiers' performance. These two facets of the campaign are perhaps the most immersive, because the player gets attached to the other soldiers who have achieved high stats because they can make a real difference in battle.
Even though the story of Ghost Recon’s campaign is only fair, the AI is superb. When it comes to action games, I seem to be more on the cautious side, but in Ghost Recon this has often gotten me in more trouble than it has saved me. In the first mission I took out the first enemy emplacement and was scanning the horizon when I started getting shot at. I could not, for the virtual life of me, figure out where the fire was coming from. Then, right as I died, I realized that a terrorist had heard me firing earlier. He flanked me and came from behind while another rebel was nearby and was flanking me from another direction. And although the AI most certainly is not perfect, it is the best AI that I have played against in a game recently.
SOUND, GRAPHICS, AND MULTIPLAYER
The sound effects in Ghost Recon are absolutely heart-stopping. Guns sound just as I would expect them to, and all of the other sounds, from the rebels to planes flying overhead, are done with seemingly absolute precision. Menu Music is just as patriotic as ever, but there are, unfortunately, fewer tracks than in Rainbow Six.
The visuals of Ghost Recon also deserve notice. Although the textures are not top notch, the lighting effects are brilliant, and the detail is shocking--ranging from swaying trees to toilet-paper by the outhouse. It seems that everything that Red Storm touched has been substantially improved over its other most recent game, Rogue Spear.
Yet, these days multiplayer is one part of a game that will make or break it, and multiplayer in Ghost Recon is absolutely top notch. Team play is a total blast. Sometimes, I don't see the people that kill me because of the natural hiding places that they have found. I must admit that I'm not as excited about non-team play, because the whole point of Ghost Recon is about working as a team, just like in single player.
MORAL CONCERNS
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon is rated ‘M’ for Mature (I sound just like the commercials, huh?). Because Redstorm wanted to aim more for realism than mass-marketing, they included blood. I do not believe that there is an option to turn it off. However, unlike Soldier of Fortune, there are no guts and the red pixels are not terribly gruesome, though they may be disturbing to younger folk. There also is next to no swearing. I believe there were a total of two four letter words in all of the briefings put together, and the soldiers are very clean mouthed, unlike Operation Flashpoint. In fact, it is primarily for this reason that I prefer Ghost Recon to Operation Flashpoint.
CONCLUSION
Ghost Recon is a way of having the excitement of war without the tragedy or horror of it. It is among the best games that I have ever played, and would recommend it to anyone who is interested in tactical shooters. As the producers say in 'The Making Of Ghost Recon' (a CD that came with Rogue Spear: Black Thorn), Ghost Recon is Rainbow Six on steroids.
Graphics: 9/10 B
Immersion: 14/15 A
Sound: 10/10 A+
Fun: 24/25 A
AI: 9/10 A-
Interface: 5/5 A+
Multiplayer: 10/10 A+
Stability: 4/5 B- (occasional crash; sound problems until I updated to the latest SB Live drivers)
Appropriateness: 8/10 B
Total: 93% A
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