Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon 2 : Games : Web Wombat

Your name is captain Scott Mitchell and you are telling your story of war in North Korea. A successful captain/commander, you have fought ,wars in many countries across the world, and have generally brought all of your men back alive. Not bad for a grunt...

You are part of the "Ghost" team, a secret organisation which has been running for many years. Lately though, the Ghost teams have become more common, and the public has come to realise this.

The particular interview highlighted in the game's intro is about the regional war in Korea in which the captain served, and as per usual the war was started by an evil North Korean military high-ranker who goes by the name of Jung Sue.

After your interview you go into playing the game...

First of all you'd want to go through training to learn all of the buttons in Ghost Recon 2. As well as blowing stuff up, you've also got to command a squadron of trigger happy homo sapiens.

When you start training you're at a military camp. You must go over obstacles under and though them to learn how to move. Next you go straight on to the shooting range where there are all different kinds of rifles. You have to follow instructions given by the specialist at the training area . First you get a sniper rifle then machine gun, then semi-automatic etc... After you complete this course you go on to different areas, learning all you need to know about moving, controlling and shooting.

Once you are in a mission it becomes way more tactical. So it's not the kind of game where you run and shoot, you must be very careful where you tell your men to go, or they will die. Send them into a nest of Korean officers and don't expect them to return unbloodied.

The recoil of guns is quiet realistic in this Tom Clancy game, and you have to control your shots in short bursts, or you'll spray the bullets all over the joint, losing accuracy. Also, when going through tough terrain, such as water, you move slower than you do on land, which also makes it more realistic.

You can order your team mates into strategic
positions, giving them opportunities to shoot
shoulder-mounted rockets at incoming tanks

Some aspects of the graphics in this game are really good and enjoyable, but others aren't. Some good aspects:

1. Bullets and recoil: The bullets look real and can be seen when shooting, unlike many other games (e.g. Counter-Strike). And when a bullet hits a wall it would produce a sprinkle of dust making it a lot more intense and realistic when in a fight.

2. Water: For some reason the water graphics in this game are really good. It's not a big part of the game, but worth commenting on.

3. Guns/explosions: The guns look really good in this game, and have a really smooth look to them - good 3D modeling and textiring. And the explosions are very real, especially the rocket launcher which amazed me.

And then there are the bad aspects:

1. Trees: The graphics of the trees in this game are really bad, and when you're in a fire fight in the bush its really hard to see the enemy.

2. Gun powder: The gun powder explosions are really fake in this game, and look like they have been drawn by hand, especially when firing the heavy mounted machine gun.

Personally I believe that Tom Clancy has done his fair share of war and tactical games, but I really admire this one. The graphics have been painstakingly worked on, and it shows, and a lot of effort has gone into it. I also think the story line is a really clever one and is really believable, even if the baddies have been done to death.

I'd recommend this to people who like war games, but at the same time are ready for a tactical challenge: the depth of gameplay, both from a tactical and instant action perspective, makes this game quite enjoyable. The next two games in the series, Ghost Recon 2: Summit Strike and Ghost Recon 3, have already got me hankering for more.

Game: Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon 2
System: Xbox
Players: 1-multi
Online: Yes
Developer: Red Storm
Distributor: Ubisoft

Rating: 80%

(Ratings Key/Explanation)

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon 2 is on the shelves now.

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