Ghost Recon

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon
$9.99
I read Ghost Recon as the literary equivalent of a one night stand - nothing serious, no commitments. This is not deep literature that requires a set of Cliff's Notes. I was looking for a change of pace.

"Ghost Recon" fit the bill perfectly. Spotty character development, sci-fi weapons, lots of talk about honor and commitment (that works until it gets too syrupy towards the end). All of the good guys have big square jaws (or are pretty tomboys) and have wonderful biographies - a walking recruiting poster. The bad guys carry fetish swords and use prostitutes and plan to hijack China's foreign policy as part of their ill-defined personal vendettas.

Clunky writing and two-dimensional characters abound. But, the action scenes are intense and flow nicely. It is what it is - action-adventure writing without much else.

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter
$9.99
After watching the movie "Black Hawk Down" I had an urge to play a more realistic first-person shooter game than Half-life 2 or Unreal Tournament, and this game certainly delivers. The graphics is very good (I definitely feel like I was fighting in Mexico City, albeit in a city devoid of any civilians or bystanders), and the ballistic feels realistic. You definitely have to be very careful and plan your every move if you don't want to die every other minute, and this makes this game very engaging. The one potential downside of this game is that you can only save at preset points, and coupled with the challenging nature of game, makes it necessary to play certain stages multiple times in other to finish. Otherwise this is a very fine game, and I recommend that you give it a try!

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2
$19.99
I only played in single player mode, so this doesn't address multiplayer mode.

In terms of graphics and realism, I found this game to be right up there with COD4, Timeshift, etc. Also, in terms of controlling your squad, this game probably has the most sophisticated command system since Brothers in Arms. In fact, this probably offers a bit more control. I am a big fan of BIA, so the fact that this impressed me says a lot. Unfortunately, while the command system is great, the effectiveness of the squad is not that impressive. I often wound up leaving the squad behind and doing most of the work myself. In some instances, you need the fire power of the squad to get through the mission, so you can't just squander your troops.

I think the AI of the enemies is pretty good for this game. Maybe the best I've seen. Sure, they have their stupid moments, but they come after you pretty aggressively and you find yourself being over run.

I found the weapons adequate and fun to use. You can carry a rifle, sub machine gun, pistol, and grenades or a missile launcher. I didn't like having to give up grenades to carry the missile launcher, but that's the way it's designed. You equip yourself and your guys at the beginning of the mission, but you can choose to accept the default load if you wish (which is what I usually did). There are no health packs, so you have to get through the mission with the health you start off with. If you get seriously wounded early in the mission, you're probably better off starting over.

Missions were reasonably well designed, but the scenery didn't change much. There are three acts, each with multiple missions. Not a real long game, but probably about average for the newer games. I found the game challenging at times, but on "normal" difficulty it was usually fun without being frustrating.

The save system was unique. You have quick saves, but you can only save when you're not under fire. If it doesn't allow you to save, then you can usually wait a few seconds and try again. There are places where you apparently can't save whether you're under fire or not. That can be frustrating if you repeatedly get killed and have to start over at an older save. The game has three quick saves and then starts over-writing older saves.

I paid $5.17 new for this game and found it well worth the money. I highly recommend this game.

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon
$19.99
Mirrors Rainbow Six 3 in many ways...good graphics. Love the way the enemy uses his rifle to hobble away when you shoot him in the leg. Many of the same tactics are still used today in Advanced Warfighter...