Ghost Recon is simply fantastic to look at, with levels of detail rivalling any game seen recently. Even then the other members of your squad can occasionally get stuck around corners, which is frustrating.Īt the risk of a severe drubbing from the editor, it's time to wheel out that old maxim, 'it's a feast for the eyes'. The only way to manage it is through personally taking control of particular units.
Also, although the map is useful for general movements, and contains a simple zoom function, if you are ever needed to perform more delicate manoeuvres such as those inside buildings, you'll be frustrated or trusting to blind luck. The ability to set your troops' stance (standing, crouching, prone) would have been useful - as it is you have to jump into each team and do it manually. This last approach is particularly useful, since you can mark out a movement pattern whilst they are stationary, then put your plan into action with three unified attacks, at least in theory.įor such a simple system it works remarkably well, but there are a few minor niggles. They can also be instructed to advance at all costs (which we've affectionately termed suicide mode), and to stand their ground. Each squad starts in assault mode, and has a choice of two other modes - suppress, a 'fire at will' mode, or reconnaissance mode - whereby they proceed with caution. This allows you to set markers to which your troops will move, and also control some of their behaviours. Once in the game, each team can be controlled separately, either by assuming control of one of the soldiers and leading them yourself, or by use of the in-game command map. In campaign mode, you get to choose six soldiers split over up to three teams. It's nice to see that these accolades and attributes make a difference with your fellows in the later missions, an RPG element unexpectedly welcome in a first person shooter. As characters work their way through campaigns, they gain shiny medals, and points with which to improve their statistics of weapon, stealth, endurance and leadership. The only pre-planning that takes place is the selection of your troops from a pool of trusty souls and the choice of their weapons. Gone is the lengthy pre-planning element, and instead, troop movements are delineated as you move through the game. Ghost Recon still contains planning elements, but is a highly simplified experience. You could set waypoints for troops, and plan your strategies to absolutely insane detail, which sadly many people simply ignored. Operation Flashpoint was a comprehensive tactical simulator, to the point of over-complication. Clearly, Red Storm have played the earlier title, and in particular listened to people's complaints. Certainly it owes a certain precedent to the popular series, but there's also a bevy of resemblances to Codemasters' tactical first-person shooter, Operation Flashpoint.
For those who might be thinking this is just another Rogue Spear game, you'd be very, very wrong. Basically a bit like Rogue Spear, but with a few more soldiers, a lot more detail, and about 700 times the danger.īut let's not mislead you. It's the job of the Ghosts to go in before conflicts and at various vital points for small-scale, highly-dangerous missions. A bunch of dissident hard-liners have taken over in Moscow, and are seeking to recreate the former Soviet Union, largely by annexing the various Russian states with big tanks. Yes, it's Ghost Recon, the latest in Red Storm's Tom Clancy series, and it's very hard indeed. We move like shadows¸ we strike like cobras, we walk into the middle of camps and get blown away before we even see where the enemy is firing from.
A crack military unit so secret, even we don't know we exist.