 |
Publisher
Aspyr Media | Genre
Action | Release Date
10/30/2002 | Status
Available |
| |
|
Ever since Mac OS X was released, gamers have been searching for a squad-based tactical shooter that would work under Apple’s new OS. Of course, there are quite a few “twitch” first person shooters out for Mac OS X such as Return to Castle Wolfenstein and Medal of Honor. What Mac OS X lacks, however, is a great tactical-based shooter.Enter Ghost Recon, created by Red Storm Entertainment and brought to the Mac by Aspyr Media, in which you command an elite team of U.S. Green Berets through a series of search and rescue, demolitions, and all-out battles. If you’re looking for a breath of fresh air on Mac that is filled with mindless first-person shooters, then Ghost Recon just might fit the bill. I recently got a chance to test a beta of Ghost Recon and, make no mistake, this is one special game. Let’s check it out. Single player When I first got a chance to try out Ghost Recon, I thought it would be a Rogue Spear clone (Ghost Recon’s predecessor). Needless to say, I was very wrong. When you first start the game, you can choose from either the normal campaign or pick the Desert Siege expansion that is included. After that, you select the characters that will accompany you on your mission. Each of these characters has a different amount of skill points. As you progress in the game, these characters will earn more points that can be applied to whatever skill you want. For example, if you have a sniper you would probably want to increase his stealth points. On the other hand, you need to assign leadership points to the characters that will be leading your team. This little feature adds an extremely cool aspect to the game and makes you think about how you want to build your team.After you select your characters you will then select your weapons. On the single player missions the riflemen have a certain primary weapon they must use as do the snipers, demolitionist, and supporters. When you earn the special characters (specialist), they come equipped with more effective weapons. Sometimes you need to think before you select what guns you want. For example, the OICW is a good close range gun that also allows you to mount a grenade launcher on it, but does this mission really require a grenade launcher? Or would you be better off with a sensor beacon? Once you’ve selected your weapons you are ready to load the mission. Yup, that’s right, there’s no planning stage (like in past games such as Rainbow Six). Instead, Ghost Recon has a set of hot keys and a map. With the hot keys you can tell your teams when to advance, hold, sneak, etc. The map allows you to tell your teams where to go. You can also take control of any team member at any time. This is an incredibly cool feature because it allows you to quickly jump into the action. The actual game play is incredibly fun. Throughout the fifteen missions in the campaign (and 8 more in the Desert Siege expansion that’s included), you play in a first person perspective only (unlike the other Tom Clancy games where you had the option of going to third-person). You are able, however, to use third person while using spectator mode to watch someone in multiplayer. There is also a very intuitive danger indicator. Since Ghost Recon’s maps are so big, it’s sometimes hard to find people. The new danger indicator will tell you when enemies (or friendlies) are in the general vicinity. This is a great idea, as it alerts you, yet it doesn’t just give away the enemy’s position. Believe it or not, your teammates are actually quite smart. Snipers know that when they are moving around, when they need to switch to pistols and the assault team won’t fire on a patrol if they don’t have the appropriate firepower. Your teammates will back up if you are trapped in a hallway and they will even yell if a grenade lands near you or them. This adds quite a bit to the game since you start to feel like they are actually your comrades in this bloody war, and not a bunch of untrained misfits who get you accidentally killed from time to time.
|
|
