I don’t know about you, but I personally have always enjoyed reading Tom Clancy novels and watching his movies. I mean, the guy just has a way of getting so technical on detail yet high on action and entertainment, it all blends together to create a rich environment that makes you say “I have to see what happens next”. Well, the award winning author also has a series of games that he had a creative hand in as well, from the original Rainbow 6 up to the award winning and highly acclaimed Splinter Cell. Now, Ghost Recon has made its way to the Gamecube. While it can be a fun game overall, it unfortunately carries with it some problems that can quickly turn enjoyment into frustration.

Ghost Recon takes place in the year 2008. A group of terrorist nationals have moved through Russia demolishing everything in their path under the re-establishment of the older Soviet government. As the radicals claim Moscow and the world sits and watches holding their breaths and wondering what will happen next, a group of highly trained Green Berets is dispatched into Russia. They are the first line of defense in the event of a conflict. They are the most highly trained soldiers in recon, assault, and demolitions. They are able to get in and out and rescue, kill, or capture quickly … they are known as the “Ghosts”.

The game itself takes place in over 15 different missions on good-sized maps in which you have to complete a series of objectives. These consist of things like “kill all of the guards at this point” or “rescue the hostages” and some also require you to seize and defend a certain point or capture a potential information source wanted for questioning by the government. In order to do this, you have to be quick on the trigger, quiet in movement, and able to blend in or drop down for cover at the slightest hint of trouble.

Well, it’s a nifty concept … and the game layout is definitely unique next to your typical FPS or action title. The basic idea behind Ghost Recon is to command two squads of these “Ghosts”, each squad containing three members with various assignable weapon specialties and labeled Alpha and Bravo. The main action screen in the game presents the world in an FPS viewpoint from one of the soldiers you pick to have direct control over, with standard FPS controls to move, strafe, and fire. In addition, you can also call a quick move for short distances that will allow you to tell the other two squad members in your unit to move ahead short distances or tell the other squad that you are not in at the moment to move to where you are and regroup.

The next screen that you switch to during gameplay is a tactical screen that allows you to plan the strategy of each squad and give movement commands, switch soldier viewpoints, or give ROE (Rules of Engagement) orders. This is also where you can tell the moving squad that you are not currently in to be prepared to give a volley of cover fire and what direction to do it in if needed. Altogether, it provides for a neat little add on to your typical run and gun FPS game. Try to just run through blowing away bad guys in this game … and you will quickly find yourself eliminated.

One thing that I really liked about Ghost Recon is the overall semi - addictive quality that seems to pop up after you get a hold of the gameplay mechanics. It’s neat when everything just works out smoothly and both squads are doing what you tell them to do. It’s also neat to issue a command, then watch as the squad you just advised to move out gets behind a bush or drops to a knee keeping an eye on the area that you asked them to cover. The whole squad based element while watching or controlling is really neat and adds a little more than just “go around and shoot everything”.

Another thing that I was impressed with in Ghost Recon is the ability to switch members and customize the soldiers that you are bringing into battle. You can select to take a couple of riflemen if you plan to use that squad for more “up front” running around, or mix in some snipers for long range killing or add in some demolitions or grenades if your enemies need to go out with a bang or you may be heading into well guarded territory.

Now, for every positive that there is with Ghost Recon, there are also a couple of negatives that quickly can work against the good qualities that I mentioned in the last couple of paragraphs. First off, the squad that you are not in at the time will move as soon as you tell them where to go on the tactical screen. There are two issues here with that point. First and foremost, this eliminates an opportunity of a coordinated “move and attack” possibility to catch enemies in a nasty crossfire, and can result in a quick slaughter of your troops. The second problem with this set up is that the squad that you have selected to be with for the moment won’t move at all, even if orders have been given to do so. They just stand there waiting for you to manually control the soldier you have selected. This isn’t the worst thing on the planet, but also wasn’t what I wanted to do a lot of the time. 

The second issue that I ran into and the biggest killer of this game overall for me was the completely moronic AI of the recon squads. I mean, think about it … you control the most elite teams of trained killers on the planet, capable of doing things that no other soldier could possibly do. Well, it’s interesting that such a kick butt military machine can so easily be stopped by a tree or even grass patches on the terrain. There were times where I would move about 50 yards (in game distance), look around, and no one was anywhere near me. A quick jog back to where I was showed me why as I watched the other two members of my squad running in place and stuck behind a tree trunk. There was even one time where I went back towards a stream realizing that I was alone again to see the other members of my team face down in the water with their legs kicking up in the air similar to a water ballet. This made me laugh until I almost cried (you had to see it to get the full humor of it) but in all seriousness … these problems got really annoying and happened way too frequently to be ignored.

The bad guys in Ghost Recon also are a few cards short of a full deck. Most times, they can be encountered in groups of more than one. When you take one out, the other one will either stupidly run towards you or stand and fire or if behind a ledge or cliff will just drop to the ground and keep firing in your direction over and over again. I sat and just watched for about 3 minutes one time as one of my opponents just emptied round after round into a hill while I just sat in prone position. There were times where they ran for cover in a bush or behind a tree, but it was kind of a 50/50 shot overall as to what would happen.

Graphically, I am sad to report that Ghost Recon doesn’t make the grade either. The graphics do have some nice touches to them, like some OK lighting effects, night vision, and shadows or gently blowing trees in the environment, but overall everything looks kind of blotchy and seemed to resemble a high end N64 cart rather than a next - gen console title. The soldiers themselves all look rough also, and there is some weird collision detection which occurs at times like them levitating off the ground about 2 inches or that goofy tree / bush / grass patch thing I mentioned earlier. 

The sound in Ghost Recon was decent, with music that would get more exciting as something was getting ready to happen or it was getting ready to get dangerous. A nice addition that they did also was the communication over the intercoms, where teams would radio in that they were in route or had reached the destination point as directed. The gunfire sounds were top quality, with the reporting or staccato firing of automatic weapons and light clinking of shells hitting the ground as rounds were emptied out.

Overall, I must admit that I did have some fun playing Ghost Recon, and when things worked well it was an enjoyable experience for me. My wife even mentioned (when things weren’t going completely goofy) how intense and into it I looked when she came in to see what I was up to. Unfortunately, I’m going to have to recommend a rental to all of you action, FPS, or Clancy fans out there regardless of what you may have played in the past or what you are into. I applaud UbiSoft on a cool idea and something a little different, but the downers in Ghost Recon unfortunately may kill the enjoyment for a lot of gamers out there and probably won’t warrant the $50.00 purchase for many of you.

Gameplay: 6.3
Surprisingly enough, the Gamecube controller did pretty well for this kind of game once you got used to the controls, and when things worked it was kind of neat. There are a lot of missions to go through, and big environments to explore. Unfortunately, there is no “during mission” save which allows you to switch the console off (only a quick save in case you need to restart at a certain point) and may cause missions to be replayed if something comes up in the middle of them. The dumb AI on both sides also didn’t help anything out, and having to continuously backtrack at times because a soldier was stuck behind a rock or performing water ballet in a stream got annoying.

Graphics: 6.7
There were some neat lighting effects and some good shadowing, and tress will realistically blow in the breeze to make for a more realistic environment. Overall, things looked really flat and blotchy in certain places, and the overall presentation of the game was nowhere near Gamecube quality. Also, what was up with the blood that looked like watered down red Kool Aid?

Sound: 7.2
The sound in Ghost Recon was decent, with some good gunfire sounds and the clanking of shells piling up on the ground and ejecting from the chamber. The music and environmental sounds in the game also were done pretty well, and neat little things like the increasing excitement of the music as you encountered a tangle or the reporting of troops over the radio was a neat add in.

Difficulty: Hard
With all of the in game problems which added to the difficulty aside, there is definitely a learning curve to getting the hang of changing from action to tactical view and learning how to move and order troops around. Also, the changing missions and ways to go about them will present some do overs occasionally, which is to be expected in this kind of game. There is a tutorial and some training exercises you can do before you start which help out in learning how to play. .

Concept: 7.3
This is no “run of the mill” action or FPS title, and the overall concept of squad based combat is a neat get away from the typical run and gun platform that is found a lot these days. I saw that “Sum of all Fears” is due for release at some point, and hopefully they will have worked a lot of the bugs out that plagued this game.

Multiplayer: 6.8
The multiplayer aspect of playing split screen in this kind of environment was neat, and added a little something in which could be of value if you are thinking about getting it. The bugs and silly problems don’t go away in that mode either though.

Overall: 6.4
Oddly enough, I can’t say that I didn’t enjoy Ghost Recon when I wasn’t encountering problems. It was a neat idea and provided something a little different than what I’m used to. Unfortunately, there were way too many issues that happened too many times with it for me to fully enjoy it or recommend it … not to mention lackluster graphics overall. If you are thinking about picking it up, definitely head to your nearest rental store first before committing to the $50.00 price tag.