Ghost Recon 2
Over gobs of cheesy pizza and ice-cold sodas today four well-armed IGN online gameheads marched forth into the trenches of the online world to fight in the upcoming Tom Clancy game, Ghost Recon 2. We challenged Ubisoft to several online matches over secure lines today and in the process of exploring several maps, weapons and gameplay modes, we naturally swore, called names, and acted like bitches, all in the game of killing evil online thugs (i.e. the Ubisoft dev team).
The beta preview we played today was much farther along than our last viewing, as the framerate was solid and relatively smooth, the maps were well textured and backgrounds mostly complete, and the character models looking crisply detailed. There were more people playing today than at Ubisoft's event, and organized in teams. Very little time was spend hoping things would work, and instead we were able to simply get right to work, killing, sniping and teaming up and "eliminating" the enemies.
The enemies in this case were a well-traveled bunch of Ubisoft guys who clearly, and sadly, had our number. We won't make any excuses; we got out butts kicks royally. It was a much different day than our Rainbow Six 3 experience, where we knew the maps, guns, and the lay of the land. Here, well, we didn't know the maps at all, and these guys had clearly logged on several hours to our none. IGN's team consisted of Jeremy Dunham, Douglass C. Perry, Hilary Goldstein, and Aaron Boulding. On the Ubisoft team, we played against a bunch of guys named RSE (RSE 1-4), but we pronounced them in the English form "Arse." In other words, we fought a bunch of arses. Heh. Their team consisted of Robbie Edwards, producer; Gary Stelmack, multiplayer online designer; Deirdre Toomey, AI programmer; and Mike (wait for it) Dickheiser, vehicle programmer. These guys were excellent, explaining all the levels and modes, and being really good sports, except for the killing-us-mercilessly part.
We had an excellent time, even tough we lost and even if it took us a while to readjust from our Rainbow Six 3 addictions and preferences. Ghost Recon 2 is a long- to medium-range game with an emphasis on strategy, patience, and team work. It's also about locating excellent sniping points. It's certainly like Rainbow Six in many ways, but unlike its faster-paced brethren Rainbow Six 3, its selection of guns simply work better and more efficiently from afar. Several levels proved this point to be true.
In the level Mountain Falls, we played Hamburger Hill (which is basically King of the Hill), a perfect mode for an excellent map. The map is based on two forested hills that slope to a central valley in which a waterfall leads to a river. The river evenly divides map in half. Across the water is a narrow wooden suspension bridge, and it's there that all the action takes place. The goal is to spend as much time on the bridge uncontested to gain more points than the other team.
The forest provides excellent coverage for sniping, and the waterfall, which is about 20 feet off the side of the bridge, is the hot spot. It's from this high point that the winner is most likely to gain the best advantage. Our best strategy, which almost worked, was to take the waterfall with two guys -- one guy on the falls itself and the other a little ways off hidden in the forest to cover him. The guy on the waterfall covers the guys on the bridge, and the guy in the woods covers the waterfall guy. The other two squad members run to the waterfall. One runs to it and runs around like a madman trying not to get shot, and the other guy covers him. The second guy can cover him from either side, but the best bet is to cover him from your own side with a sniper rifle. As you would expect in a Ghost Recon game, the multiple-zoom lens sniper rifles are luxurious and precision-based, and they're a total pleasure to use.
Another one of the better levels was Warzone, a very different looking level for Ghost Recon 2. It's a broken down city destroyed by war, filled with amazing textures of crushed buildings, streets strewn with twisted metal and crumbling concrete, and it's laid out across a set of small hills. Here we played the new game, Search and Destroy. In this mode you're playing a much more Rainbow Six 3-oriented, up-close battle. This was incredibly fun. It's everyone against the other, and the object is to rack up as much time as the "hot potato" than anyone else. It starts with everyone as equals, and to get to be "it," you have to be the first guy to shoot another opponent. You're then it, and a red glowing circle appears below your feet and a red marker appears on the radar to designate your location.
That's when the chaos begins. The game then turns into "everyone against you." Winning is dependant on two factors: how many people you kill as the "it" guy, and how much time is spend as the "it" guy. If you kill anyone without the glowing red circle, points are deducted from your total. You'll really have to acclimate to the slower, more precision-based shooting to get this game right. Though another good strategy is to grab a rapid-firing submachine gun off dead enemies.
We played all 10 of the adversarial modes available to us, which consist of Hamburger Hill (Squad or Solo), Sharpshooter (Squad or Solo), Last Man Standing (Squad or Solo), Domination (Squad), Search and Destroy (Squad), Siege (Squad), and Seek and Destroy (Solo). And we played about 10 maps. There are 24 maps all together, consisting of eight multiplayer maps and 15 single-player maps and the tutorial map. The new mode, Search and Destroy, is really an updated version of Cat and Mouse.
The multiplayer modes function quickly and smoothly, very much like Rainbow Six 3: Black Arrow. You pick a mode, Quick Game, Omnimatch or Create-A-Match, choose whether it's solo, squad or co-op, and the leader picks a game and sets the options. You can talk in the lobby and hear everyone from all teams, and when you're playing you can only hear your team.
One of the most surprising things about Ghost Recon is how damn good it looks. The intricate details of the texture work and the style of the texturing are both truly excellent. But that's all enhanced by a ton of special effects. In Warzone, the rain came down creating an additional effect that is realistically done. Water comes down in sheets and in a variety of recognizable patterns, splashing on you and the ground, but it's also supported by realistic, slightly muddied field of depth, that's both good looking and doesn't actually get in your way.
The other especially cool addition to the game is the Lone Wolf kit using the special M29 heavy grenade launcher and the M8 polymer gun (which replaces the M16). These guns enable you to duck under an object or hide around a corner and by pressing a button you can hold the weapon around the sides of the top of your cover -- using a special camera to see around it -- and bombard enemies with fire, while remaining hidden. As an opponent fighting against someone with this weapon you can lop grenades past them to nail them with collateral damage.
In all, Ghost Recon 2 is easily the most interesting and engaging of the Ghost Recon games that we've played. With a slew of excellent multiplayer maps and a hefty single-player campaign, and using a much better control scheme than before, Ubisoft is taking care of its fans. The Long Wolf Kit and the super graphics are just icing on the cake. If you're not completely engaged in Halo 2 or Half-Life 2 (what am I saying?, of course you'll be submerged in those games!), Ghost Recon 2 is a deep, beautiful game worthy of the original and, without a doubt, a damn fine online title.
