|
 |
|
|
|
|
News |
|
Review |
|
Preview |
|
Videos |
|
|
|
Cheats |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| | Title:
Ghost Recon 2: Summit Strike
..............................................
System:
Xbox
..............................................
Genre:
1st/3rd Person Military Shooter
..............................................
Publisher:
Ubisoft
..............................................
Developer:
Red Storm Entertainment
..............................................
Release:
8/2/2005
..............................................
Online:
Yes
..............................................
ESRB:
M
..............................................
 |
Okay let’s be honest Ghost Recon 2 did not meet the expectations that the media and loyal fans had placed upon it. By changing the overall feel of the Ghost Recon series to that of a more arcade oriented experience than a simulation, Redstorm obviously lost some fans. The game itself also suffered from very serious problems. First off the A.I. literally sucked for both the enemies and your teammates. Encounters were scripted events and at times death’s felt cheap. So as anyone can imagine when there was an announcement of a Ghost Recon expansion pack, the overall reaction was not that enthusiastic. That’s unfortunate though, because Summit Strike is actually an improvement, which does just what it should; make Ghost Recon 2 more enjoyable and fun.
Wow so they aren’t that dumb.
Even though it is the least important aspect of the Summit Strike expansion the single player campaign, consisting of eleven missions, is actually the most improved. How it does this is it fixes (at least tries) the poorest part of Ghost Recon 2. The A.I. of your squad and the enemies no longer resembles that of lab mice attempting to calculate advanced calculus while surrounded by cheese. Now Halo 2 they aren’t; the A.I. merely has been improved so it eliminates those stupid moments that showed up every other second in Ghost Recon 2. That means the probability of a squad member running infront of your line of sight is now much rarer. It does happen, just not as much. Also the A.I. is much more competent when dealing with the “Attack Vehicle” command. They no longer seem to run straight into the plain sight of the tank before they fire off their rocket. The enemy A.I. seems to be a tad smarter, not nearly the change seen in the squad. Troops now react more convincingly when they are aware of your position. A few times I was actually boxed into a corner, which was something I wasn’t expecting.
From a graphical standpoint the game looks better. Think of it as a comparison between Splinter Cell and Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow. In Ghost Recon 2 the graphics were top notch, with amazing character models, impressive guns, great explosions, and environments that made the missions more believable. This is all essentially found in Summit Strike, but just improved a bit. The environments look enhanced (the first snow levels reek epic location) as well as the character models, which appear superior. I especially saw this in the Lone Wolf model.
Play With Your Friends.
The real selling point for Summit Strike though was the multiplayer. Summit Strike comes packed with a multitude of new gameplay modes as well as a large list of new maps. These modes can either be played with four player split screen, system link, or the most popular Xbox Live. The games are broken down into three categories: Co-Op, Solo, and Squad. As can be expected Co-Op game types focus more on players working together to achieve a goal. Never are they against one another, and usually the opponent is the computer controlled enemy forces. Some game types in this category are the familiar Firefight (eliminate all enemies on map), and Recon (go to certain points on the map without being spotted). Surprisingly, Hamburger Hill (King Of The Hill) turned out to be very fun when only played with two people. One player will sit in the hill while the other covers him in hopes of holding off the charging enemy forces. When up to ten soldiers are attacking at a time from different flanks the action is chaotic but fun.
Not a great time to run out of grenades.
There is however, a new game type that is so outside the Ghost Recon box that it has to be mentioned. It is known as Helo Hunt where any number of players are placed on either a single player and multiplayer map of their choosing and must try to survive as wave after wave of helicopters attack them. As anyone can remember a helicopter appearing a single player campaign made the tension rise ten fold. These flying machines are dangerous in Ghost Recon 2, killing off a solider in just one hit. So just imagine being placed out in the open with no cover but trees, and hearing that dreaded motor coming over the hills, firing off their machine guns in hopes of gunning you down. It’s scary but so much fun. One copter being taken down is an accomplishment; but for those who master the form of shooting down copters should never feeling safe. The longer the player survives the more deadly the copters become; their aim improves and their choice of weapon changes. Don’t be surprised if accompanying the machine gun fire are missiles.
So ummm…how about actually playing a game?
So multiplayer sounds like great fun and for the majority of the time it is. There is the occasional idiot on some games, or the person who camps the spawn point but those can be found in almost any game. There is just one little problem with the whole online gaming experience that probably needs to be addressed. The fact that it’s a pain in the butt to get into a game. Honestly, how hard is it to create a functional online game filter that lets player easily slip in and out of games? I spent an entire evening sitting in front of my screen trying to get into a game and not once was I able to. For pete’s sake steal Halo 2’s idea. Sure it’s kind of cheap but you want people to play the game online don’t you Ubisoft?
Besides the terrible time trying to find a game online, the occasional spotty A.I. (hey it’s an improvement), Ghost Recon 2 Summit Strike is a great addition to the series. Better yet it’s only thirty bucks; so there really is no reason you shouldn’t pick it up. An 8.2 out of 10.
| The Core Score |
Overall
8.2 |
| Fun |
|
8 |
| Gameplay |
|
8 |
| Graphics |
|
9 |
| Audio |
|
9 |
| Replay |
|
8 |
|
| | | |
