The Concept

Developer: Red Storm Entertainment
Publisher: Ubi Soft
Ghost Recon official page: http://www.ghostrecon.com/

Tango Alpha Niner

It seems like everyone loves realism in their first-person shooters nowadays. The original source of the ‘real’ shooter was Tom Clancy’s Red Storm Entertainment and the Rainbow Six games. Following the general outlines of Tom Clancy’s books, the games placed you as a squad leader in a UN-sponsored anti-terrorist group – Rainbow Six. Your job was to plan out and execute assaults on terrorist positions. Sometimes, the mission was hostage rescue, or the elimination of a group holding a vital facility. Or you might have to go sneak through a residence and plant bugs without being spotted.

Your team was composed of various specialists of many nationalities. Recon, assault, sniper and demolitions experts were available to you on your missions. After picking your agents, it was time to choose from a huge variety of weapons and armor (including camouflage) to equip them with. Up to four units of four agents would have their assault routes planned out by you before the start of a mission (or you could use the default plans.) Once in the mission, you could switch between agents to gain a better view of the field or execute moves too complex for the AI. Go codes activated movement and assault sequences, giving the player some control over the flow of the game.

Always bring a guy with the tank buster

Tactical map

Let's see what we can find

The two most common knocks on the games were the rigid and complicated mission-planning system, as well as the urban-oriented nature of the missions. There were no wild, open areas, no hills, mountains or anything of that sort, just an endless variety of structures susceptible to terrorist takeover.

Ghost Recon

Ghost Recon takes a different approach to the realistic shooter. Instead of putting the player in the role of a terrorist-response unit, you are part of a Green Beret battalion nicknamed the Ghosts. The missions in the game reflect this, being less terrorist-oriented and more concerned with military objectives.

Predictably enough, the primary enemy in the game is the Russians, or rather an ultra-nationalist faction. These ultra-nationalists control Russia well enough and are aggressive enough to threaten war. Their actions will drive you and your unit to respond through locations along Russia’s European border. This means nature visits; combat in forests, hills and along rivers. Buildings will still be present and sometimes even the dominant terrain, but there is a great deal of outdoor work now.

The give-away flash

Damn good trees

Tank

In with the outdoors, out with the pre-planned missions. As team leader, the player is expected to plan as best he can, take pre-emptive measures against enemy forces and react as best he can when surprised. Tanks, fixed gun positions, snipers and patrolling soldiers are all threats that need to be dealt with.