Content|The Class|Reviews|Forum|Links|
What most people don't want to hear is yet another guy praising Ghost Recon as the best FPS ever. And that's not what I'm going to do. Ghost Recon is great, mindblowingly so, but I wouldn't say it was the best. It's not.
Let's start with the graphics. The textures are incredibly life-like. The attention to detail is just as great. For example, in the first mission, you can shoot through the tents. They aren't walls made to look like tents. And, there are newspapers scattered all over the ground near the campfire. A traffic light hangs over the crossroads in the 5th mission (where the idiots I'm supposed to rescue get shot the moment I kill someone). When you run through a river, the soldiers' pants get wet (I have given up on trying to find another way to say it that Jevan won't giggle about). Trees sway in the breeze. Great. There is only one complaint I have, and it is a major one.
The terrain. In Ghost Recon, the terrain isn't mostly flat, like in other games. It slopes. And especially when you have the option to go to prone position, one thing is painfully obivous and that is that the terrain is boxy as hell. Rocks aren't supposed have sharp edges. It looks artificial and unnatural. Okay, it *really* is, but the whole point here is to recreate the mission settings. And another gripe is you won't die if you walk into the campfire and stand there. And you can't walk off the cliffs. What if I want to commit suicide suddenly and I'm out of frag grenades? Go prone in the water and wait for the fish to eat me?
As far as the gameplay goes, I can't fault it. Red Storm has really done well in this area. It's easy to carry out any kind of attack you can think of. Your comrades will slaughter any enemies they spot. At the end of each mission, you get to assign everyone who survived one skill point in either Weapon, Stealth, Endurance or Leadership. High endurance and your man will put a hockey player to shame by taking a bullet in the chest and then proceeding to run, well, limp, around wildy letting enemies get a taste of M249 bullets.
All in all, Ghost Recon is the best thing you could do with $10 or $50 to spare (I bought pirated cause I didn't think the multiplayer would take off, besides my FPS is still CS.) It isn't the best FPS ever, like PC Gamer claims, but it does come close while setting new standards and that is more than good enough.
FINAL SCORE
GOOD: Impressive graphics and attention to detail, and just as impressive gameplay
BAD: The terrain isn't very well done and there are little to no environmental effects. You can't
walk off cliffs.
OVERALL: While definately a bit overrated, Ghost Recon is still a very good waste of money.
You can't go wrong with Ghost Recon.
RATING: 91% (MUST BUY)
Minimum Requirements
450MhZ processor
128MB RAM
Windows 9x, ME, 2000 or XP
16MB DirectX compatible video card
1 GB Hard disk space
4x or better CD-ROM