War has broken out on the borders of Russia, and the fate of the world hangs in the balance. That's when the call goes out for the Ghosts - an elite handful of specially trained U.S. Army Green Berets armed with the latest technology and trained to use the deadliest weapons.
Their mission: Spearhead the way for a NATO peacekeeping force, and keep the lid on the conflict before it mushrooms... Literally.
Age requirements: ESRB Rating: TEEN with Blood and Gore, Violence. PEGI Rating: 16+ with Violence.
Minimum system requirements: Windows XP or Windows Vista, 1 GHz Processor (1.4 GHz recommended), 256MB RAM (512 recommended), 3D graphics card compatible with DirectX 8 (compatible with DirectX 9 recommended), Mouse, Keyboard.
Modern Squad Based Combat At It's Best
(by
JonhMan)
Imagine this... you and your alpha team are outside a farm house where you know a prisoner is that you're supposed to rescue... You spot several enemies inside the house and order your team to open up on them right after you toss a grenade. You then move into the house and secure the prisoner... but then you realize that you have alerted other enemies who are now out side of the... full review house, but you're bravo and charlie teams are out there and ready for them. As you walk out of the house the last sounds of the machine gun in your charlie team is just dissipating...
These are the moments you will experience many times during the course of this game.
Now obviously, atmosphere plays a great role and is one of the reasons the game is great. The graphics hold up well after all these years, especially since most computers should be able to run it on max. The sound is equally good, gunfire, explosions all sound awesome.
Now... we all know some of the biggest problems with squad based games is AI. In this game there is the occasional glitch and oddity, but for the most part your allies function surprisingly well and the enemy can be especially smart as the outflank you again and again, though hopefully you have positioned your other squads to ambush them instead.
There is quite a bit of replay value in the game as there are sometimes multiple alternate objectives that can help you gain "specialists" to use in future missions as well as medals to collect as your soldiers fight in battles. There are also a "quick battle" in which enemies are put in several parts of a map and you must hunt them down. Combine this with online multiplayer and coop, and there is a ton of stuff to do in the game.
And don't forget the Heroes Unleashed mod which complies many of the best modded maps and weapons created for the game.
This should be a must buy considering it's on GOG and for a nice, cheap price for $10.
Ghost Recon is an intelligent shooter, and coming from Red Storm entertainment (responsible for Rainbow Six), that should come as no surprise. Rainbow Six holds a reputation for being one of the most 'hardcore' FPS titles released on any format, from its painfully realistic combat to its need for meticulous pre-mission planning, Rainbow Six was not for the faint of heart. Ghost... full review Recon then, shares many of Rainbow Six's key ideas - squad based combat with an emphasis on realism. But here, the focus is suitably different. Where Rainbow Six focused on the pre mission plans and close quarters combat, Ghost Recon shifts the focus to large, outdoor maps with plenty of action. Just about the only remnant of planning is the ability to split your soldiers into fireteams, and you can use the in-game map to give simple orders to your troops.
To achieve a more action packed feel, Ghost Recon drops a lot of the elements that made Rainbow Six so hardcore. Gone is the need for pre mission planning, and in comes a more streamlined interface to encourage the player to get into the action quicker. What you have in replacement is a short briefing and the option to pick the soldiers you bring into battle. You start with a few low level soldiers divided into classes - soldiers, demolitionists, snipers, etc. Each soldier has his own stats which (dependent on surviving the previous mission) can be upgraded as you progress through the game, adding encouragement to protect your soldiers. In addition, completing bonus special objectives during a mission will unlock specialist squad members, who are basically 'powered up' versions of the guys already available to you.
Each mission is well designed, starting with a mountainside manhunt and rural farms, to your standard military bases and airfields. Each mission is non linear and can be tackled as you like, and the game can get pretty tough too. Luckily, the addition of a threat detector is a welcome one, giving players a vague sense of where the enemies are (or facilitating panic attacks when it turns completely yellow).
Often the Achilles heel of a shooter, the Squad AI here is admirable. On your first play of the game, you'll be no doubt impressed as your AI buddies routinely nail enemies whom you hadn't even spotted. There are a few AI based issues though - if you want a demolitionist to cause some destruction, you'll have to take control of him yourself, because there's no way to order him to destroy a tank or other objects.
All in all, Ghost Recon's strongest point is the edge-of-your-seat tension, which it offers by the bucketload. It'll suck you in for its 15 missions and you'll no doubt be itching return to the game on a harder setting once you've finished it.
THE Special Forces Tactical Simulator.
(by
Tex_Fazio)
Ghost Recon is the best game ever.
Two official expansions demonstrated the solidity oif its concept.
The modding community has proven many times the strenght of its engine.
Unsurpassed, even by its latest incarnations, Ghost Recon is built around the most difficult issue of any mission profile: time. This is a game about patience.
Special Forces soldiers... full review aren't cowboys.
Any player that will charge the enemy like in any other FPS he'll be welcome by a hail of bullets: each one deadly. Like in the real life, you have no energy slide. One shot and you're dead. Massion Failed. Big time. As in real life, when bad guys around are heavily armed you don't run: you crawl.
By the same extent, using the Ghost Recon you'll learn how to use the terrain coverage to approach (most of the time, in painly slow fashion) the enemy position, set up a sniper/observer team to provide cover, crawl the rest of the team to the proper attack position and wait until the target is "painted". Only then, you can eliminate the enemy. Slowly revert to your "assembly area" and await exfiltration (under cover, of course). Mission Complete
That's it. hundred minutes of wait for a five-seconds opportunity.
That's undoubtedly satisfaction. You'll love this game.
JonhMan)
Duffking)
Tex_Fazio)