Second one for the night, go me! So yea, a little side note: I was excited to use Kinect for this. It attempted suicide by jumping off my TV for trying to use it. So here we go!
STORY
After a bomb goes off in Nicaragua, costing the lives of one of the Ghost Teams, a second team is sent to track down the weapons origin, nd eliminate any threats along the way. This operation leads the team across Nigeria, Russia, Norway and Pakistan, in hopes of stopping any other bombs being transported or used.
The team is made up of Ghost Leader, Pepper, 30K and Kozak (whom the player controls). This is a fairly standard story when it comes to modern war games. The characters are somewhat interesting, each with their own personality traits, but they're nothing we haven't seen before. Theres the smartass, the hardass leader and.... that's about it. It'll honestly get quite difficult to tell who's who, as their faces are covered and they don't sound that distinct, but it isn't all that important.
The story is a decent enough reason to get players going on a world wide bomb hunt, and it all makes enough sense to sound plausible.
PRESENTATION
The game is a mixed bag when it comes to visuals. The landscapes all look quite fantastic, but when it comes to facial graphics, they look pretty half-assed. Luckily, the protagonists' faces aren't shown often, but when they are, they're cringeworthy.
Animations on the other hand look smooth and visceral, bringing home the point of these characters being the most well trained, awesome soldiers in the country.
The sound effects are really good too, with alot of the gunshots sounding almost as brilliant as Battlefield's. And on a final note, the particle effects look really good too, particularly in an early level where a dust storm hit's the Ghosts' operation.
GAMEPLAY
While the game is a mixed bag as far as story and presentaion go, the gameplay aspect is almost as good as 3rd person shooters get. The controls, for the most part work, and are well thought out. The use of two different zoom functions can be a little jarring at first, but having a 3rd person zoom, then a 1st person iron-sights zoom is surprisingly useful.
Along with the standard (but very well polished) cover-based combat, Ghost Recon hands the player some near future gadgets, and you feel like a mix between a soldier and friggin Batman. They're all quite cool and serve a purpose as well.
The gameplay never really strays far from the squad based tactical arena, but when it does, it just doesn't feel right. A lot of the game depends on having your squadmates, and that formula works.
And on that note, controlling your teammates works suprisingly well, and when you aren't controlling them they're actually quite competant. Score one for the NPC brigade!
REPLAYABILITY
The single player campaign features a co-op mode, and a number of different challenges to complete, ranging from weapon challenges to the ghost challenges (which are based on your accuracy, detection rating and your kill rate).
There is a multiplayer, but it's honestly not that stunning. Try it, but the singleplayer is at least enough to keep most players engaged.
OVERVIEW
Ok, so this game looks suprisingly bad in some areas, quite good in other areas, and the gameplay is slick and fun. Theres a decent amount of variety when different gadgets are employed, but when the game strays too far from the standard formula, it feels a touch too different.
Do I recommend this? Yes. Highly. It's a game where stealth actually seems to work for once, and the NPC Companions are capable during gameplay. For that alone, it's worth a look. But past this, it's a solid game. So yea, check it out.
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