One of the few XBox Live! titles I can play over and over.

Author's Rating:

Pros: -Great online play, and it's as far from a mindless FPS as you can get.

Cons: -some problems with scenery drawing, Single-player mode never changes...

The Bottom Line: 
One of the best XBox Live! titles, with a great deal of replayability. Definitely a must-buy if you like "realism."

Author's Review
I won't rehash what the other reviewers have said: this game is about realism before big guns. One shot, one kill, sneaking around, etc.

I should mention that I'm a biased reviewer. I absolutely abhor the current state of FPS games--they're mindless idiocy, and encourage the worst sorts of behavior in online play. I like it when the difference between a newbie and an experienced gamer is not in the size of the gun, but rather in experience, and where, in the right circumstances, the newbie has as good a chance of killing the experienced guy as vice-versa.

Graphics are love'em or hate 'em...I love 'em, personally. More on that later. But there are problems--often, far-away elements of scenery clip when coming into view. Sometimes the effect is terrible and can pull you out of the illusion.

Single Player Mode
The campaign mode is fun and draws you into the Ghost Recon world. As an added benefit, you become familiar with the maps, which is probably the single most important factor after being quick on the draw to get you through multiplayer.

I love the way UbiSoft did the environments. A previous reviewer claimed that they "deliberately" made trees and rocks and branches look like moving soldiers. I disagree--I think a generation of gamers have been spoiled by graphics that make the enemy and the background instantly recognizable as distinct.

To my knowledge, Ghost Recon is the first game I've seen that doesn't fall into that category. You'll find yourself peering at a bush, wondering if you should fire that first shot and risk breaking cover. Is that a soldier in camo, or a tree stump? I don't think UbiSoft made the tree stumps look like soldiers. They just made the soldiers better able to look like tree stumps! It's amazing. I'll never forget the first time I got capped by an infantryman in cover while two of my roommates were watching me play from the couch, and how we all jumped. "I didn't even see him there!" was the common refrain. Pretty intense stuff...

UbiSoft also did an amazing job with environmental sounds and sound effects. The sound of spent brass casings clinking on pavement, the overwhelming thunder of an M-60, the burble of a stream, the splash of your boots through a puddle, the muttering (in Russian!) of enemy soldiers as they chat quietly on patrol, the chatter of an AK-47...it's all captured beautifully and it sucks you right in.

The campaigns themselves are okay. Objectives are simple--usually you just have to reach a certain item or area or person. Some variety would have been nice. But the level design is superb. You'll see some really diverse environments, with well-detailed weather and elements. I loved creeping through a smoky shell-torn city, senses peeled for snipers, sneaking up on tanks and trying to protect my incoming convoy of M1A1 Abrams from militiamen with RPG's...

The drawback to this, though, is that the campaigns never change. The enemies are always in the same locale (though some may patrol around a bit). You might find yourself practicing a stealthy approach through trial and error time after time, which can get frustrating. A redeeming factor is that there are no rules, and you can save anywhere. If your squad of infantrymen is having trouble sneaking up on a shack of bad guys, send in a stealthy sniper and a support specialist and try again, and maybe come in through the back door and interrupt their poker game. Improvisation is a huge element of gameplay.

Finally, there's the Dossier. Completing tasks in the Missions allows you to unlock weapons for your specialists, and also to use them in multiplayer. Going into battle with an M-60 the first time sure was fun....for me, anyway. :-)

Multi-Player!
Obviously, this is the heart of the game. Ghost Recon delivers in that regard--playing on XBox Live! is addictive and compelling.

My biggest complaints would have to do with the lack of finding a good server (I would estimate that 3/4 games end prematurely with a "session to server closed" error message) (and yes, I have a fast cable modem connection) and the rather idiotic people who sometimes join into a game. Ghost Recon rewards teamwork and careful planning. One moron jumping up and running towards a group of enemy soldiers will ruin even the most carefully planned ambush.

And it says something about the ferocity and intensity of the game that you'll want to put a bullet into the receding back of that teammate's polygonal head when it happens.

I thought I was pretty decent at this game, but I've seen some pretty surprising people online, too. One of my favorite online experiences ever had to do with this game. I once watched a group of 3 guys who used only silenced weapons and amazing teamwork to destroy 7 other people repeatedly over a 15-minute match, without incurring a single casualty (and silenced weapons pack considerably less punch than the unsilenced variety in the game). Unreal Tournament will never encourage that sort of team play.

There are only two games I even play online now: Halo, and Ghost Recon. And lately, Ghost Recon is getting more airtime than Halo...so you be the judge.