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This will keep you rivited!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 53 / 54
Date: November 24, 2001
Author: Amazon User

First off, this game has installed and ran just fine on my system right out out of the box with no patches. It's also been quite stable and has not yet crashed even once. I know all systems are different, so for reference, here's mine: An Athlon 1.2 ghz. with 256 megs system ram, an NVidia GeForce 2 with 32 megs video ram, and an SB Live basic sound card. On my system it runs best at 800 x 600 resolution with all details maxed. The game has a 640 x 480 option, but that's as low as you can go. It also has 1024 x 768 and many higher than that, but you'd better have a monster pc if you want to go higher. But even at 800 x 600, this game looks stunning! The outdoor areas are vast and beautiful; completely convincing.

My review will focus completely on the SINGLE-PLAYER game, since that's all I ever play. I've heard multiplayer is good too, but I know nothing about that, so read no further if that's your interest. Please note I have nothing against multiplayer gaming, I've just always been a loner and like the self-contained aspect of a good single-player game.

The gameplay in Ghost Recon is fantastic. I am a veteran first person shooter fan (and by the way, this game plays in first-person viewpoint), and I was skeptical about this game being too difficult for me to manage. I am used to simple, straightforward gameplay, and the prospect of controlling 6 characters seemed like it would be a daunting task. But it's not difficult at all. Anyone who has experience playing FPS's should have no trouble getting the hang of this. The controls are intuitive, and re-mappable to your liking if you don't like the factory settings. You can give your team members orders using a simple command map, or you can move them around individually by switching bodies. The strategies you can use are limited only by your imagination. If your character dies, you can switch into another's body and continue playing, until all 6 of your guys are dead.

I installed and ran the game without so much as a glance at the 64-page manual, and I had it figured out quickly. I will admit to using the included keyboard reference chart however. I planned on just taking a look at the game and setting up all the options, and then quitting until the next day. But instead, I ended up totally involved in the first mission for 3 hours, completely glued to my screen, convinced I was actually there. The enemy AI is excellent, which makes gameplay difficult, but never frustrating. If you get killed, it's not because of some stupid programming glitch. It's because you got outsmarted or outflanked, which makes you want to try even harder to beat the enemy next time.

There are lots of choices if you're looking for a game like this. I've played Operation Flashpoint and Deadly Dozen too. And I gave them both 5 stars because I loved them both. But Ghost Recon tops them. If you have absolutely no experience in this and want to see what you're getting into first, try the demo. Or for a lot less money you can get Deadly Dozen, which is a very similar game and will give you a pretty good feel. Personally, I own them all and have not regretted any of the purchases. They each have their high points and personalities. If you've got the horsepower, I recommend Ghost Recon wholeheartedly!

The Best Tactical Shooter Ever

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 39 / 39
Date: January 03, 2002
Author: Amazon User

The team that defined the tactical shooter genre has really outdone themselves this time, I hardly know where to start...

(If you want to just get to the point and see my final thoughts on Ghost Recon, just scroll down to the "bottom line" section at the bottom of my review.)

Gameplay:
Ghost Recon's planning has been shortened from previous Red Storm games to only an overview of the situation and a team selection process in which the player chooses from catagories like Riflemen, Support, Snipers, and Demolitions.

In lieu of a pre-action detailed ingress and egress planning phase, Ghost Recon employees an in action command window that is down right brilliant in it's simplicity and intuitive use. I have played a lot of team based shooters and I have never used a command window that works this well or this easily.

While some people familiar with the Rogue Spear games have complained about the abbriviated command system, the system used in Ghost Recon is far more appropriate for a military field action shooter than the police action command system employed in the Rainbow 6 series.

A.I.:
The artificial intelligence in this game is the best I have ever seen (and this is coming from a HalfLife vetern). When shot at, enemy soldiers will hit the dirt and dive for cover. They will try to outflank you if they spot you first and will retreat to a new, more defendable position if they are on the losing end of a fire fight.

Graphics:
The graphics engine Red Storm created for Ghost Recon is very impressive, trees and bushes sway in the breeze, the landscapes are breath-taking, and the sun glare, especially when seen through the trees, is abbsolutely the best I have ever seen.

The character animations are nearly perfect as well, you can really see that the design teams put a lot of effort into them. While the graphics are not quite as beautiful as those in many Quake III engine based games, they actually look more real, in my opinion, due in no small part to care taken to make every character movement as natural as possible.

The only real problem with game is that it takes a fairly powerful computer to run the graphics at full detail. I have an AMD Athalon 900 MHz processor, 256 Mb of Ram, and a 64 Mb NVidia GeForce 3 graphics card and the game still slows a bit when I run it using 32-bit textures (but at 16-bit, the graphics are smooth as silk and still look amazing).

Sound:
I was very impressed with the sound, the noise of automatic gunfire is just dead on target, to the point that I can actually tell whether a shot was fired by a team member or a soviet soldier by sound of the weapon. Sound usually doesn't add or subtract much from a game for me (unless it's absolutely atrocious), but hearing the quiet of the outdoors suddenly shattered by automatic weapons fire brought to bear on an unknowing column of soldiers is a huge rush.

The bottom line:

Game play: 5 (out of 5)
Graphics: 4.5
Sound: 5

A.I.: 5

This is a nearly perfect tactical shooter that has real tension, fierce action, and amazing realism. If you are trying to decide between Operation Flashpoint and Ghost Recon, please, please, please, buy Ghost Recon, it is far and away the superior game. I own both and there is simply no comparison, Ghost Recon does everything that Op Flash fails to do, and everything that Op Flash does well, Ghost Recon does better.

For a proffessional opinion on both Ghost Recon and Op Flash, I highly recomend the reviews done on both games by PC Gamer Magazine.

Red Storm has achieved perfection...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 40 / 41
Date: November 11, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Ghost Recon is what I always thought the Rainbow Six series should be like. A realistic tactical warfare simulation paired with incredible visuals and sounds. Like the Rainbow Six games, you are given command of an elite infantry unit and must complete various missions. The main difference of the two games was that unlike Rainbow Six, Ghost Recon does not have a pre-mission planing phase. You are briefed, you choose your operatives and equip them, then you enter the mission phase. You control up to three teams by use of an in-action command map, so you are finally given complete control of of your squad, and are free to change strategies at any time.
Another great feature of Ghost Recon is the artificial intelligence. The enemies respond realistically, running from grenades, taking cover, etc. One problem I noticed with the Rainbow Six series of games is that the enemies in those games were all ridiculously accurate. In Ghost Recon, this is usually not the case. If you're spotted, you will usually be able to drop to the ground and defend yourself. Your team members being controlled by the computer will also automatically take cover and are a great aid during the missions.
Your teams will consist of up to 6 of the following: Rifleman (Armed with M-16 assault rifles), Snipers, Support Specialsts (Armed with M249 machineguns), Demolitions Specialists (Armed with M4 assault rifles and various explosives), and Special Team Members (Which have a variety of special weapons and skills to aid your fight). Switching between different teams or different members of the teams is as simple as pushing a button.
I've touched on some of the major points of the game, but there are many great features I didn't mention. This game is incredible and any fan of the first person shooter genre shoot definately check it out. If you still aren't convinced then checkout the demo (...), then come back to Amazon and buy it.

I hope this review was helpful.

(On a sidenote, I'd just like to add that the weapon sounds are some of the most realistic sounds I've ever heard in a game. In addition, the death sequences and blood sprays are amazing.)

Rainbow Six steps down as the tactical shooter king

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 26 / 26
Date: November 14, 2001
Author: Amazon User

If you were a fan of the Rainbow Six games, Operation Flashpoint, or the Delta Force series, you are in for a real treat with Ghost Recon. Borrowing heavily from the mechanics of Rainbow Six and Rogue Spear, Ghost Recon moves combat into a long range, outdoor battlefield loaded with cover, concealment, and eye candy. The gameplay is thoughtful and intense at the same time; strategy and calm nerves will always see you to victory. The combat is all about out-maneuvering your opponents, stealth and steadily placed shots. If you are of the "run right at him and fire" school, you're going to need to learn some new tricks.
The atmosphere in the game is great, as close as it comes to the real thing. Every firefight you are engaged in feels like it is right out of a great war movie--tracers whizzing by your ears, rounds thumping into dirt and chipping off of stone, soldiers yelling "We've got wounded!" over the cracking of their M16 fire. Trees sway in the wind, bushes give a rustle if you bump into them, and NV goggles are a *must* at night. It really is fantastic.
Red Storm has again outdone themselves with this superb title. This is the infantry sim we've all been waiting for.

Excellent Tactical FPS

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 28 / 29
Date: December 07, 2001
Author: Amazon User

First, this game runs fine right out of the box. In the age of Pool of Radiance, it is nice to know that you don't have to check the internet for patches before you install a game.

Second, the tutorial is informative and actually kind of fun. This was a pleasant surprise for me after playing Rainbow Six shooting ranges.

Third, the game has great graphics. Trees sway, the snipers wear real sniper outfits, and the tracers flying by your head make you want to duck for cover.

Fourth, the game has a very user-friendly interface. Commanding your troops mid-battle is extremely simple, removing the need for the complex planning that made the Rainbow Six games so boring for me.

Fifth, this is a very fun game. Blowing up tanks is just a very fun thing to do in a computer game. Added touches like the realistic sniper rifle zoom make the game one you'll want to keep playing. In fact, I think I'm going to play it right now.

Complete Thrill Ride!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 24 / 26
Date: December 12, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I bought Ghost Recon not too long ago. I've heard it was pretty good and I have always loved the Rainbow Six series. So I'd thought I'd try this game out. I ripped open the box right when I got home and when I inserted the cd in my pentium 4 processor I was simply amazed! Ghost Recon is a complete edge of your seat thrill ride! Most people say that their version run on their computer. Well, this game ran on my 1.3GHz Pentium 4 Processor just fine, and to top it off I have an extremely fast cable modem hooked up for those sweet multiplayer games! Anyway, I'll start off by telling you why Ghost Recon is like no other game.

First, I'll start out with the awesome single-player missions. When you load up your game you'll start off in your first mission. You're a Ghost (The Ghosts are a US military team that are always first in line with the latest weapons, training, and technology.) and have to lead your squads to victory. You will choose six soldiers to support you in these daring missions. You can choose from Riflemen, Support Soldiers, Demolination Specialists, and of course, Snipers that can cloak easily if crouching beside trees, bushes, and other certain objects. Each soldier you choose will affect your mission. Some are best in leadership, others are best in heavy assault weapons to shoot down enemies quickly and forcefully. Each soldier also carries two weapons or items. You can choose their kits to make your mission a little more balanced out. Picking your soldiers carefully is extremely important in your missions. If you pick one wrong soldier then you may not make it out alive. After you choose your soldiers carefully, then you're ready to step behind enemy lines and drop the hammer.

You can easily command your squads using the command map. You can tell your soldiers where to hide, attack, etc. You can be on one side of an enemy's base, while the other side is being ambushed. The command map is an extremely useful item in the game, especially if you want to storm a base. You can divide your soldiers into three different squads. The squads are Alpha Team, Bravo Team, and Charlie Team. It's best to have different squads if you need to advance an enemy attack.

Ghost Recon is a very realistic game. The AI is just simply amazing itself. Your enemies are smart and you're going to have to out smart them with your squads right behind your back to cover you. You'll have to do all crazy kinds of tasks just to succeed, which I think is truly awesome! You can shoot the enemy and they'll be dead or wounded depending where they hit you. I mostly go for the head so they're dead right away. However, if you shoot an enemy soldier, or if they fire at you, other enemies may hear the gunshots and form a huge squad of their own to bring you down. So it's important on which soldier you take out first. Like I said, Ghost Recon is a very realistic game, there is no health which is a pretty cool thing because it's just like being in a real combat situation. If you get shot you'll be dead or wounded depending on where you got shot. The maximum times to get shot is two times so you have to be very careful and thing of insane stratistic moves to outsmart your enemies.

There are many different enemies, vehicles, and weapons throughout the game. You'll have to blow up enemy tanks with your anti-tank rocket launcher, shoot down hard-to-find enemy soldiers with your sniper, and free innocent hostages and civilians just to succeed.

Well, I don't want to ruin everything for your experience in single-player, so I'll move onto the exciting multi-player games.
Multi-player is a lot better than single-player in my opinion. Up to 36 players can join games to take the fun rating to an absolute thrill ride. You can start playing multi-player by going to the Ghost Recon main menu and clicking on multiplayer. However, I do this a whole different way. I use Gamespy Arcade to find a lot more servers and games to join. Gamespy Arcade is a free program that let's you find hundreds of more servers and games that are being played on Ghost Recon right now. You can easily chat with other players, or you can simply join or create a clan. You can see a game's total ping on Gamespy Arcade and what type of game it is. In other words, Gamespy Arcade let's you find hundreds or yet thousands of more servers, games, and hardcore gamers just like you. If you're new to the multiplayer gaming world then get Gamespy Arcade.

Multiplayer is a lot better than single-player. You can have tournaments, win cool prizes, and make some cool friends. Plus, the maps are bigger, better, more obstacles, etc., and to top it off there are many different gameplay modes! Gameplay modes consist of Hamburger Hill (never played that yet), Last Man Standing (you have to be the last man standing), sharpshooter (intelligent mode where you have to win with your sharp-shooting skills), Recon, Co-Op Missions (You can play the single player missions with other people!), and a heck of a lot more! I suggest you have a really good connection though to have fun in the multiplayer world. That means that you should have a cable modem or a higher connection for faster games. If you play on a 56k modem chances are it'll take a long time to even fire a single bullet. To make your multiplayer experience more enjoyable, I suggest you create or join a really good clan. Clans are groups of people that try to be the best of the best by destroying other clans just to make it to the top. You'll be expected to participate in tournaments (some tournaments give out prizes such as free 80 GB hard drives if you're just in first place). You can form a peace treaty with other clans to help you stay alive on the battlefield, you'll also come upon rivals and enemies trying to squash your clan. Joining or creating a clan is a whole new experience in multiplayer gaming because you'll have allies, enemies, backstabbers, rivals, etc. Well, this about wraps up the multiplayer mode in Ghost recon.

Ghost Recon is a complete joyride involving many different strategies to overcome. This is such a realistic game that it actaully feels like you're in a real combat situation. If you want a game that let's you form new strategies to stomp your enemies, sharp eye-popping graphics, complete overwhelming storyline, awesome multiplayer world, supperior AI that you'll have to outsmart and shoot down quickly, and sweet hot sizziling gameplay that will keep you on the edge of your seat, then I say buy Ghost Recon!

Finally, someone gets it right.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 10
Date: January 07, 2002
Author: Amazon User

To sum it up in a nutshell: Ghsot Recon is *the* best "tactical" shooter to come down the pike. Delta Force can't touch it. Operation Flashpoint can't touch it. Hidden & Dangerous can't touch it. (And I've played them all.)
It's pretty to look at and the sound is spot-on and immersive. Often, I found myself stopping to just look around and admire the scenery and sounds of nature (much like all the Unreal vets out there can relate to, I'm sure). The gameplay is a perfect mixture: ten minutes of tense patrolling and maneuver, punctuated by sixty-seconds of pure terror as the woods around you erupts into gunfire and explosions. Squad-mates chatter desperately on the radio as they return fire, dive for cover, and scan for new targets. Then, as quick as it began, all is quiet again, and you're left with just the sounds of tree limbs creaking and leaves rustling in the breeze. Amazing.
As to bugs. I'm not quite sure exactly what "bugs" other reviewers were referring to. This is, out of the box, probably one of the cleanest examples of code a gamer can ever hope to install. Perhaps the bugs cited were system-specific to those unfortunate individuals, but we've had it running for a couple of weeks, on three separate machines, with no problems. Even the multiplayer via LAN was rock stable.
What's the catch? Well, I'm afraid I have to agree with the reviewers who mentioned the game's resource-hungry engine. Make no mistake about it: this game *is* a system-hog. My 1.5G CPU, 512M RAM, and GeForce3 GPU choked badly until I rolled back some of the quality settings a bit. It looks darn good, mind you, even with the resolution, FSAA, and a couple of other things ratcheted down, but I'm still averaging about 30 FPS. I don't get excited about frame-rates, like some gamers, but 30 FPS can be annoying, even for my taste.
Someone lamented the lack of a Rogue-Spear-like detailed mission pre-plan. But, let's face it, in Ghost Recon, you're not a precision entry team striking an embassy with near-complete intel on the threats and assets inside. You're a recon squad, and, by definition, are usually surveying an area wherein there is an incomplete picture of the enemy. It's hard to simulate Rogue Spear-esque pre-mission planning when you ostensibly don't know where the enemy is, from what direction he's coming, what type and size threat he will pose, and what he's doing.
Give Ghost Recon a shot. I sincerely feel this is another one of those "benchmark" games that will change our expectations of the games that follow in its footsteps, much like the original Rainbow Six did. Just don't expect Rainbow Six 3 when you play it, and you won't be disappointed. :-)

Not quite as immersing as Op Flashpoint, but still great.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 9 / 9
Date: December 18, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game b/c I thought that it would be a lot like Operation Flashpoint. I really liked that game b/c it took me as close to real combat as I ever want to go. The storyline in Operation Flashpoint was very immersing, and the way that you move from character to character allows you to see the story unfold from a first person perspective in every situation. Ghost Recon is very similar in some ways, but it's also different in enough ways that I don't feel like I'm retracing steps I've already taken. I would have to admit that Ghost Recon is more realistic than Op Flash, but I would say that it's not quite as fun. Op Flash required a little bit more skill in aiming and just made it more fun to make a kill. The satisfaction of killing your enemy in Ghost Recon is not nearly as high as Op Flash, and the explosions aren't even close. I have a very high end machine with a top notch video card, but the explosions (and the sound that accompanies them) just dont get me going. Another thing that OP Flash had that this game lacks is the ability to use items that you come across during a mission. In Op Flash, you can start off with a slienced MP5, but you're bound to run out of bullets at some point. This is no problem in that game, however, as you can take weapons off the poor saps that you wasted in the beginning of the mission. I really felt like this opened the game up and made it feel like you were there, in the thick of it, doing everything to survive.

Ghost Recon beats out Op Flash in many ways, though, and you should know what those are as well. First, it makes you get more attatched to the guys on your squad. You have to develop their skills, and you don't want to lose a sharp support man or a stealthy sniper. You'll need top notch guys in the latter missions. In op flash, all of my guys were cannon fodder to me, and i'd often shoot them myself to get their ammo. Also, the command interface for ordering your soldiers around is better in Ghose Recon. The system in Op Flash works, but you have to play with it a while and type pretty well to get through the commands in the thick of combat. Finally, you can actually control any of the guys on your team. This helps a lot when setting up an ambush. In op flash, you could never get your guys to take enough care in how they positioned themselves, and they always got shot really early in the fight.

All in all, i'm not sure which of these games will end up keeping my attention longer, but i'm glad this genre of game is devloping so nicely. Ghost Recon is a lot more fun than previous Red Storm games, and worth the money. Check it out, and enjoy!

Easily the best shooter of 2001!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 9
Date: January 03, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Ghost Recon (GR) exceeded even my best expectations, and I was really looking foward to this game.

The graphics are absolutely great, far better than those of Rogue Spear or SWAT 3, if anyone tells you differently, they must simply have an old computer and can't see the improvements due to hardware limitations, there is simply no comparison. Which brings me to the only problem with GR, you will need a fairly powerful computer to run the game at full detail.

The sound just blew me away, if you have even a decent sound system you can actually feel the precussion of the shots.

I can't say enough about the new command interface, I own and love all the Rainbow 6 series games, but GRs new interface is so easy to use and works so well I'm going to have a hard time going back to R6. In addition, the way your soldiers gain expierence with each mission makes you really attached to all of them, you hate to loose even one man.

The A.I. is impressive, I have never played a game where your computer controled teammates were as aware and as capable as they are in GR. I have had missions where the computer controled members of my team got the vast majority of the kills, which I have never seen happen in any other game. It's great to know that my team members will back me up in a fire fight, or will catch an enemy soldier sneaking up behind me if I am intent on what's going on infront of me and don't see him.

Several other reviewers of this game complained that the teammate A.I. was rather stupid and their teammates were constantly getting killed. I just have to answer this accusation, they will only get killed that way if you, their commander, don't know proper field tactics and walk them into very bad situations. If you employee sound tactics and move carefully, your teammates will handle themselve wonderfully.

The enemies are just as good as your teammates, they hide, take cover, use cover and advance tactics, and work together to outflank you. They even retreat if caught in an indefencible position.

The game is extremely stable, I have been playing it for two monthes now, and have never had it crash once. I have read several reviews further back complaining of "bugs", but I can honestly say that I haven't experienced a single one. Those people must have just been using old hardware, in which case, I can understand their frustration, just don't blame the game for your problems.

All in all, this game is Red Storms best offering yet, easily topping all the Rainbow 6 and Rogue Spear games. It's thoughtful, fastpaced, ferocious, and incredibly fun.

Initial release is very unstable

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 12 / 15
Date: November 17, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Just a word to the wise, the initial release is very unstable. The forums are currently clogged with gamers having difficulties with everything from the installation through game play. It has been three days since I purchased the product, and have yet to play one game due to game crashes. So far UbiSoft and RSE technical support have yet to significantly address the issues.

It looks like a great game and I can't wait to play...but at this point I might wait to see if the manufacturers will address the reliability problems.

Just thought you shold know.

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