When Tom Clancy’s Ghost
Recon: Island Thunder was released for the Xbox, the PlayStation 2 crowd felt
left out. While the PS2 did get the original Ghost Recon, gamers and fans of
the PC great have found nothing but disappointment. For one thing, it lacked
total immersion and its impressive graphics. Yet the most important element
that was overlooked was the online features. Let’s face it, Ghost Recon is a
great single player game but who doesn’t fancy several multiplayer matches with
gamers from all over? So it was with great pleasure to find that Ghost Recon:
Jungle Storm not only brings us new campaigns along with Island Thunder’s many
missions but also an online multiplayer mode. Yet will gamers embrace this
squad-based action game with open arms after the first disappointment? Please
read on.
Island Thunder puts the
Ghosts, a special elite squad of specialists, in a very interesting scenario.
Cuba’s dictator, Fidel Castro, has finally smoked his last cigar and–in the
wake of his death–an opposing group backed up by Colombian drug cartels is
threatening the country’s first real Democratic election. The Ghosts are
inserted into Cuba and help bring down the terrorist cells and its leader, Ariel
Prego. Jungle Storm takes place directly after the events in Island Thunder as
the Ghosts attempt to take down the narco-terrorists group that had helped Prego
back in Cuba.
As you might already have
suspected, these two scenarios mean plenty of missions and both Island Thunder
and Jungle Storm see a pleasant number of interesting missions with multiple
objectives. Island Thunder, for example, has missions that have you
infiltrating a tobacco plantation or seizing control of a terrorist-infested
camp. In Jungle Storm, you’ll be in the jungles of Colombia rescuing UN
hostages or blowing up a railroad station. And, like most Ghost Recon games,
you’ll have multiple objectives to complete using teams of specialists (e.g.
snipers, demolitions experts, heavy machine gunners etc).
Aside from the Campaign
missions (the game’s story mode); the game also includes tactical exercises that
do a far better job of teaching you the controls than the basic training
feature. Quick Mission comes with four different mission types: Mission, Recon,
Firefight and Defend. While Quick Mission comes with a few maps, you get to
unlock more by completing the Campaign missions. This is also good training for
the game’s online mode.
When the original Ghost
Recon was released on the PS2 it completely omitted a few features that made the
game such a hit on the Xbox but what was really unforgivable was the fact that
the game failed to include an online multiplayer mode. Lucky for us, Ubisoft
has learned from its mistake and included an online multiplayer mode with eight
different game modes plus four cooperative game modes. While the game allows up
to eight players (unlike the Xbox Ghost Recon games that allow up to sixteen
players at once) to take each another on using a Broadband connection, gamers
will encounter a number of stutters and delays during a match. The good news,
though, is that you can communicate with other players using your USB headset so
coordinating attacks with other gamers is great. You can also play this game
with a friend in split-screen fashion using a single PS2.
Now on to the bad news,
Jungle Storm’s PS2 controls leave much to be desired. The Ghost Recon games
have always strayed away from the usual first-person shooter schematics and thus
this is the reason you don’t get to see the weapon you’re holding like Rainbow
Six 3. This makes for precise sniper-like shots but somehow this just doesn’t
come off as smoothly here. You’ll notice that zooming in on a target is so
ungraceful that many times you’ll lose sight of said target. It also doesn’t
help that your enemy doesn’t move as naturally as they should. At one point I
witnessed an enemy move jerkily from one spot only to magically appear closer.
The biggest flaws, though,
come in the form of the enemy AI. You’ll find a few who are intelligent enough
to respond to your attack. Some might take cover by laying flat on their
stomachs while others might use the environment as cover. Then again, you’ll
find a group of enemies that decide to rush at you in a mad rage or find cover
behind an open window. There was even a time when I had crouched into a room
with a terrorist looking directly at me as he said “I thought I heard
something.”
Unfortunately, Jungle
Storm is quite an eyesore. Part of the reason gamers will not feel fully
immersed in the game’s environments is the fact that the surroundings lack
detail and sharp textures. Flat grasslands look blurry, jagged boulders look
too square-like and you don’t even want to know what I think of the trees. Each
location does have its own unique feel so it doesn’t fail in giving the illusion
that you are scrambling down the streets of Cuba or the humid jungles of
Colombia. And you’ll forgive me for saying this but the character model of our
beloved Ghosts look so awkward that it doesn’t fail to produce a laugh out of me
as I watch them waddle their way towards a destination. Your weapon zoom is
also not as smooth as it should be and this will, no doubt, lead to gamers
loosing the enemy they were going to target.
Something that the Ghost
Recon games never fail to impress gamers is the sound effects. The minute your
team steps out into the field, you’ll be surrounded by a wall of detailed sound
effects. Close your eyes and you’ll hear the chirping of crickets or the
buzzing of other insect life in the hot Cuban tobacco fields. If you leave your
Bravo team behind, you’ll hear it when they encounter the enemy. In the
distance you’ll hear their gunfire while you continue to make your move. There
is a musical score but that can only be found in cut scenes after accomplishing
missions and the menu screens.
It isn’t very hard to
point out Jungle Storm’s weaknesses and there are plenty of them in this game
that just makes this one too difficult to really enjoy. While the missions are
plentiful in both Jungle Storm and Island Thunder, it lacks the sense of realism
and the total immersion of the Xbox Ghost Recon games. The game does win points
for including the USB headset in the single player mode and for the addition of
online multiplayer modes, but this is still not enough to recommend it to anyone
since SOCOM II: U.S. Navy SEALs does all of this so much better.
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#Reviewer’s |
Gameplay: 6.0
The game offers plenty of missions
that take you from the streets of Havana to a nest of Colombian terrorists holed
up in a drug lab. Once again, whether you’re defending a position or getting
into a serious firefight, gamers just have to admire the coordinated attack and
defend plans of your squad. Issuing commands to your AI troops is also a nice
touch. Unfortunately, the enemy AI is so dumb that sneaking up behind them
isn’t very hard to do.
Graphics: 6.0
As far as the graphics are
concerned, Jungle Storm would have made a very impressive PSOne game but the PS2
is capable of offering so much more in terms of graphical detail and smoother
textures. New to the Ghost Recon games is the motion blur when you get shot and
it’s actually a nice touch. Unfortunately the rest of the game makes character
models and environmental details seem so blocky that it’s difficult to really
get into the action when shrubs look crudely rendered. This also makes it hard
to really distinguish from things such as bushes from a crouching enemy. At one
point, I spent an entire ammo clip on a giant leaf thinking it was an enemy.
Sound: 7.8
One of the things the game handles
well is the sound effects. Much like Rainbow Six 3, you’ll be literally
surrounded by sounds that add to the realism. Whether it’s out in a field with
the call of various birds all around you or the throaty call of some frog in the
Colombian marshes, the detailed sound does a great job of making surprise
attacks from the enemy the kind that quickly snaps you into attention.
Difficulty: Medium
The game offers a few difficulty
setting that do a good job of challenging already experienced gamers but
compared to other squad-based games on the PS2, Jungle Storm suffers from
erratic enemy AI behavior. There are times when the enemy feels well
coordinated and take cover in all the right places, but then again there are
times when they run around like chickens with their heads chopped off or make
suicidal dashes towards you. The mission objectives are also not hard to piece
together.
Concept: 7.8
It’s nice to see that the PS2 was
not completely forgotten seeing as Island Thunder had been a Xbox favorite for a
long while now. Jungle Storm offers all the Island Thunder campaign missions
plus the new Jungle Storm missions that pretty much continue where Island
Thunder left off. You can also use a USB headset to issue commands to your
troops in the single player mode like in the SOCOM games (although half the time
they don’t understand your commands). It just goes to show you that good things
come to those who wait.
Multiplayer: 7.5
You can play cooperatively with a
friend in split-screen fashion but the real treat comes in the form of the
game’s newly included online multiplayer mode. The online multiplayer mode
teams you up with or puts you up against up to eight players. There are four
co-op games (Recon, Firefight, Defend and Mission) that are found in the single
player game but the real action is in the eight other play modes. There’s Last
Man Standing, Hamburger Hill, Search and Rescue, Domination and Seize. You can
also go up against other gamers in a solo mission-type that revolves around
sharp shooting and a stylized game of “tag” called Mouse Hunt.
Overall: 7.0
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Jungle
Storm has an abundance of fun missions and it now has an online multiplayer
mode, but its rough spots will leave a bad taste in the mouths of fans of the
series. Never mind the extremely poor quality of its visuals, the game’s enemy
AI and its many bugs will not fail to frustrate gamers. Rent this one over the
weekend for its decent online mode, but be prepared to be disappointed of the
single player mode.
