Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon - review

Victor

Spent my £44.99 (€57.13) on this at the weekend. There was little variation in price among the main outlets. Minimum spec is modest (I'll get the exact figures), you need minimum 1 GB HD space (yeah, its a bit of a horse ).

A "Training" session is available and useful, but it doesn't show you everything. Single-player campaign and multiplayer scenarios are available.

I played the first two scenarios last night (#1 twice, #2 once). It plays quite differently to Q3 / HL / CS. You can jump between any member of the team in the single-player mode. There is also a real-time over-view map. Overall gameplay is complicated. A typical scenario has up to 4 objectives. You can pick your team from a selection of classes (rifleman, mg, sniper, demo). Team members can be supplemented / changed between scenarios.

Weapons include pistol, MP5, Colt M4 (full auto, Whoot!!!!) M16, SMAW, sniper rifle, fixed .50 cals, grenades, rocket launcher(s), claymore & C4. All the enemy I met had basic weapons also (no BFGs).

The graphics are a bit better than HL generally and I found no clipping, even with 'curved' surfaces. However, you can't jump down or climb rock faces and map boundaries aren't very well marked (OK often difficult in rural terrain). Based on a picture in a magazine review, the grphics are better than HL (building reflected in puddles). Background landscapes are badly rendered from time to time.

Standard ASWD keys for movement, but you can also ‘peek’ around corners. You stay standing / crouching / prone unless you decide to change (but see below). No HL style jumping and crouching. Reload / change weapon and the like are quiet different. Default is 'always walk' with Fire2 as 'run'.

Gun fire is reasonably good, with most guns have single shot / burst modes. Aiming reticules are more informative than those in HL, insofar as they more realisticly display recoil / swing and the bullet spread stays within the (variable) reticule. Often in CS the fall of fire is well outside the reticule.

The AI can be a bit un-intelligent. You tell one of your team to lie down and 10 seconds later he is standing up, they are also trigger happy and start firefights before all your team is in position. They don't always react to being shot at either (other than moaning and falling down). The enemy are a mix of overly aggressive and overly passive, but not very intelligent - only a few will attack you at a time and they rarely react to, say, nearby gunfire. Your (AI) team mates also have the habit of sneaking up behind you and saying "I'm behind you" - I shot the first guy that did that.

Scenarios are refreshing, but hardly well researched. Don't worry, the Americans will never have an aircraft carrier in the Black Sea, if Russia doesn't want it there (1936 Montreux Treaty) and you don't keep a bunch of important targets together in isolated locations.

There is blood, but little gore (sorry Q3 fans).

Overall rating (I'm a meanie) 75%.

Victor

Full spec. is Pentium 2 450MHx or greater. 128 MB RAM, Win 9x/2000/XP. 1 GB free HD space. DirectX 8.0 compatible video & audio.

There is an offer for UK residents to get the previous (and similar, but more basic) Rainbow 6 for STG£2.99.

PiE

Can't wait to get that game, along with Op Flash gold and Civ3.

Roll on x-mas!!

Thanks for the review

richindub2

Sounds quite like Rogue Spear from your review, which was fairly good. Suppose I'll have to get a demo of this from somewhere

marauder

Ghost Recon is the next generation of Rogue Spear.
For anyone who has played Rogue spear then its basically Rogue Spear without the detailed plan beforehand. You set the waypoints on the fly

Victor, to get your team to hold fire you have to put them in recon mode - click on the pistol in the soldiers tab on the control interface until a minus appers beside it. There are 3 modes - recond assult and suppress.

In recon mode they will spot the enemy but HOLD fire. They will also stay down.

In assault mode (default) they will shoot if they get a clean shot at the enemy. They will NOT stay crouched!

In Suppress mode they will shoot at anything that moves. I mean that! There you are sneaking along and they just let fly with everything that they have got....

As for the AI I disagree- its some of the best I have seen. Shoot 1 of a group of 3 and the other two duck for cover. They then try to outflank you. Others come to there aid when they here the gunfire and again attrempt to outflank you, holding fire until they are close enough to be sure to get you. I'm playing on elite level so maybe it scales up with difficulty.

G

I thought the AI was woeful myself :mad: and the machine gun sounded like a toy pop-gun

I should probably give the game more time

yankinlk

and what of the multi player mode, is that any good? just got it for xmas, thanks for the review, ill give it a go.