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If you played the first Ghost Recon and/or the expansion pack, you may or may not like Ghost Recon 2; but any true Tom Clancy fan will love it. Ghost Recon 2 makes some very noticeable, drastic changes to the Ghost Recon formula but fortunately it’s for the best. The most noticeable changes include the default 3rd person “over the shoulder” view, the way that you control squad, your squad overall and the new weapons. However, as stated, these are good changes and upgrades that significantly add to the gameplay but in turn take a bit of the tactical-shooter flavor from the overall game.
Story
Unfortunately, the story is the weakest and most boring factor of the game. Basically it tells the tale of a rouge military leader in North Korea who is playing with and threatening enemies with a nuclear bomb. Yes, I know what you’re thinking,”I’ve heard this story before, and it sucks!” Well yes the story does kind of suck and is very un-interesting; however, the way the game goes about telling the story is quite in-genius. The single-player campaign begins with what seems like a History Channel documentary on the Ghosts missions that you will experience in the game. Each new mission begins with an interview with some of the Ghosts about the mission(s) they partook in and their thoughts on that mission(s) that you will experience next. The voice acting for these interviews are pretty good and are quite believable. Though, maybe it’s just me but I do think the British voice-overs could have used just a little work, but most likely, most players won’t care.
Gameplay
The gameplay in Ghost Recon 2 is definitely the best part of the game and the most in-depth. Your character is equipped with a variety of tactical and deadly moves/positions they can get into to kill their enemy and/or target more effectively without being noticed. When moving around you can have your character go into three different stances: stand, crouch and crawl. Each one of these stances are beneficial in their own way in certain scenarios but you will not find yourself in the crawl position too often unless you are attempting to increase your accuracy. Each stance gives a different level of accuracy: standing gives the least amount while crawling gives you the most. Your Ghost is always the leader and is, for the most part, in complete control of your other 3 squad-mates. Two will always have a rapid-fire gun such as a M4 or a carbine type gun (best for advancing) while your other squad-mate will always have a sniper rifle type weapon. While it is not vital that your squad be alive to complete a mission, they are a very valuable asset to your survival. Unlike in the original Ghost Recon, your squad is now compromised of only 3 squad members, which you can no longer directly control them, but indirectly control them. Such orders as “Advance, Suppress, Hold Fire, Regroup, Fire At Will, Flank Left, Flank Right, etc.” are all commands that can be issued to your squad, thus making the only way you can control them. But this is enough control for this game. With your reticule on a position you tell your team to “Advance” and they will move towards that area taking down any enemies they see (most of the time). The squad’s AI is very good, generally speaking, they will move out of your way when advancing and have fairly good accuracy when it comes to taking down enemies. Another great addition to this game is the ability to control your team as well as a few commands for yourself with the Xbox Live headset. Saying commands into the mic will cause the same effect as if done on the Xbox controller. The weapons in Ghost Recon 2 are pretty original but since the story is set in the future, a few high-tech weapons accompany you on your missions. By far the most effective and definentily the coolest new weapon is the M9 with “around the corner” camera capabilities. The camera can be used at all angles and will prove very useful in tight areas or large areas with a large number of enemies attacking. The M9 can also give laser identification onto enemy vehicles and structures for air support to take out. But that’s not all; the M9 doubles as an airburst grenade launcher. You can set the distance to where the grenade will explode with the Y button and then fire with the Right Trigger. The explosion is quite large enough to take out several enemies at once and will also take down most enemy vehicles, but I would recommend using air support on tanks; it’s safer and it’s very cool to watch.
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