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Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon 2 Preview for Xbox
Posted on Tuesday, July 13, 2004 @ 03:39:02 am E.S.TFive million. That’s how many copies Ubisoft’s Ghost Recon franchise sold in 2003. That aside, Ghost Recon and its younger siblings, Ghost Recon: Island Storm and Ghost Recon: Desert Siege, provided some of last year’s most exhilarating online (as well as offline) experiences. So I’m sure you can imagine the clamor of excitement from the gaming public when Ubisoft, once again in the company of acclaimed developer Red Storm, announced that they were developing a sequel (not another expansion pack, thank God) for Ghost Recon. The clamor only grew as Ubisoft revealed detail after enticing detail—like advanced enemy AI and a reworked graphics engine—about Ghost Recon 2. And as the game’s November 1 release date creeps closer and closer, it only becomes more and more obvious that this one’s gonna be a bombshell.
Sometime in the near, fictional future, a dire conflict threatens the safety of the world: a rogue North Korean general is unhappy about a Chinese-initiated arms embargo against his country, and, whether or not his anger is justifiable, launches an attack against China. The UN catches wind of this and sends a group of nine ghosts (of which you’re one) into Eastern Asia in an attempt to neutralize the threat. Soon you and your team learn that you’ve been dropped into the middle of a political standoff dripping with tension and military machinations. But hey, no spoilers here.
Your quest to put an end to the conflict will be spaced out over fifteen missions, which will consist of anything from simple reconnaissance and target neutralization to all-out attacks on enemy bases. One such mission playable at E3 saw to it that your team of Ghosts (named after their ability to move quickly and silently) and a handful of allied British soldiers raided a war-torn airfield in Asia. An otherwise simple mission was made difficult by a bombardment by landmines underfoot and tank fire from both in front and behind you. Sharpshooters from thousands of feet away added further complication to the scenario. If this is any indication of how the rest of the game will play, I think we can rely on GR 2 to be one action-packed game.
Ghost Recon 2 will be offering players the usual improvements of a sequel – new weapons, levels, characters and missions, but it’ll also be slightly varying the franchise’s tried and true, strategize/hide formula. In Ghost Recon, players were always sneaking around in bushes, planning attacks, and constantly burying their faces in awkward maps. Red Storm is mixing it up a bit in GR 2, giving the series a more action-oriented twist that’ll hopefully keep players’ noses out the game’s maps and instead on the butts of their rifles.
One of the changes being made to suit the series’ change of pace is a new camera angle. In the place of the Ghost Recon’s traditional first-person perspective, a new, not-quite-first-but-not quite-third-person camera has been implemented. It allows players to become more immersed in everything going on around them; they’ll get to see all the hand signals and facial expressions that occur during a typical mission, and in general become more absorbed in all the action better than they would with a first-person perspective.
Also fitting the franchise’s faster pace is the game’s focus on your squad. Instead of placing all its attention on controllable squad members (as in previous Ghost Recons), GR 2 will be limiting players to one squad of four soldiers, instead of two or three squads of six. The idea here is to let players maximize the amount of firefights they participate in, instead of just planning it all out and watching from the sidelines. What’s more, new commands are at your disposal. Players can order troops to protect or escort a by-stander or hostage; lay down suppressive fire while other squad members flank enemy positions (a la Full Spectrum Warrior); or form circles to the left or right around enemies.
GR 2 has also cut the drafting pool of soldiers down to eight from the fourteen or fifteen, and subsequently allowed the series to better develop character identity and emotions. Instead of generic soldiers, players will be treated to characters like tough-guy grenadier Derek Parker, smart-mouthed markswoman Alicia Diaz, and crazier-than-all-hell gunner Joe Salvatore.
And with better soldiers comes, naturally, better intelligence, and that goes for both your side and the opposition’s. Your soldiers won’t stand in the open amidst enemy fire anymore, and neither will your enemies; if either side sees an attack coming, they won’t hesitate to find cover behind a rock, tree, anything. And while your followers will be of a stable intelligence, not all enemies will. Some, when catching sight of you, will fire wildly in hopes of hitting of your troops, while others will quietly converse with teammates about your presence and leave the area in an attempt to hit your team from behind. The new enemy intelligence should not only make GR 2 more fun to play, but also add a level of authenticity that other Ghost Recons couldn’t provide.
Of course, GR 2 will be seeing a few weapons that previous Ghost Recons haven’t, but one stands out from the motley crew of updated sniper rifles and pistols: the M8 Lightweight Assault Rifle. After the real-life Army incepted the M8 into their ranks of weaponry, Red Storm saw to it that an amazingly true-to-life M8 was added to GR 2. This machine gun will be the star of the show in Ghost Recon 2 – it features not only the “mow ‘em all down” capabilities of a normal machine gun, but it will also shoulder the tasks of a 40 mm grenade launcher and a sharpshooting rifle.
In light of all the other additions to the game, GR 2 will be seeing a major graphical update as well. For one, Red Storm has eliminated the clunky map from the first games and replaced it with a cleaner interface better for players to issue commands; ordering soldiers to ‘attack enemy forces’ or ‘protect’ hostages will now be easier than ever, and no map consultation will be required. A Havok physics engine is also being applied, in addition to a more polished particle engine and a multitude of advanced textures that’ll make the paper-like trees of yore look photo realistic. Actual special-forces soldiers were motion-captured for all of the game’s animations, and, as can be expected, rag doll physics apply.
Ghost Recon and its expansions were terrifically received online last year, something Ubisoft hasn’t neglected to notice; the first Ghost Recon has been huge on Microsoft’s Xbox Live!, humbled only by such titles as Project Gotham Racing 2 and Return to Castle Wolfenstein. Though no details have been given regarding GR 2’s online situation, Red Storm has assured us that the game will be “great on Xbox Live!” I don’t doubt them.
Small advancements in the series—like advanced enemy AI and a few new weapons—to large ones (a new Havok physics engine and a brand-new camera) are forcing both fans and non-fans of the Ghost Recon franchise to stand up and take notice of GR 2. The game is taking some chances here, though; a decidedly action-y manner of play and a few other large changes to the franchise don’t necessarily mean job security for the folks at Red Storm. And while I don’t know how many of these upgrades are going to work out for Ghost Recon 2, the deafening clamor surrounding the game has made me sure of one thing: this one’s gonna sell another five million strong. Be looking to quench the clamor this holiday season on all consoles and the PC.
Preview By: Stealth52 - 789 Reads
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