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eceon
10-04-2002, 02:09 PM
hey. just read this on IGN. may be old news to you, but its new to me. if it is old, ignore it. this game sounds badazz. SOCOM is dope on ps2, but this sounds more interesting to me. plus, it's live enabled. later.

e



October 03, 2002 - While we have yet to put Ubi Soft's Ghost Recon to the test on Xbox Live, we're happy to note that offline Xbox owners can still get plenty of enjoyment out of the game's other multiplayer components. With several different types of multiplayer games a few link cables and Xboxes, you and your buddies can put all of your one-shot, one-kill theories to the test over and over again.

In Adversarial mode two teams go head to head in an all out war. This mode will give you access to the most maps from the onset. You get to choose from 22 total maps from the single player and multiplayer games and you set whatever time and kill limits you want. This mode should work well once Xbox Live comes around on November 15th since it comes closest to the team deathmatch style that makes most fast twitch shooters so popular.

If you want to keep the action nonstop, you can set Ghost Recon up in Tournament mode. This is more or less an extension of Adversarial except you determine the number of matches the two sides will compete in, the order of maps and the victory conditions for each individual match. Keeps the focus on gaming rather than setting up.

However, of all the mission types, Cooperative should be the one to get the most play. Halo taught Xbox owners that it's quite fun to play along with our friends instead of against them all the time. And so the fact that Coop mode gives us the most gameplay options should come as no surprise. There are three types of coop games: Firefight, Mission and Recon. Mission more or less lets you play through the missions found in the single player game but with friends controlling the members of your unit. Once Xbox owners get online with the Communicator, this should be the game mode that owns all and gives the PS2's SOCOM a run for its money. Firefight and Recon more or less break Mission mode down into its smaller parts of all out gunplay and command techniques. The victory conditions for Firefight are literally kill everything that's not you whereas Recon simply hurls obstacles at you as you try to navigate your way to the level's extraction point.

In Mission mode, you'll sometimes have to take care to equip your team with the right gear, like anti-tank weapons, so that you can meet the specific criteria of that mission. Just because you and your buddies want to run through with all sniper rifles through a mission, doesn't mean you don't have to follow the rules. The key here is teamwork.

The control scheme for Ghost Recon has been optimized for the Xbox controller so that its both thorough and intuitive. Halo players, which is pretty much everybody with an Xbox, will have no problem with the left and right analog stick controls for moving and looking and the right trigger for firing. The D-pad is cleverly used for subtle character movements. Up and down on the D-pad move your character through the prone, crouching and standing positions and he can move in each. Left and right on the D-pad peek left and right around corners. The left trigger toggles your tactical planning map where you can assign routes, conditions and orders to your troops. You have quick access to night vision on X, reload weapon on A, rotate through soldiers on Y and switch between weapons on B. You get plenty of play on the left analog stick button (Action) and right analog stick button (Zoom) as well. The cool twist is that the white button will be used to open up your Communicator's microphone so you can talk to teammates during Xbox Live. This clever control mechanism will also minimize constant yapping from those annoying teammates we're all bound to encounter.

As we said, Ghost Recon has plenty going for it offline, but the promise of Xbox Live and the Communicator in a game where tactics and strategy are everything has us positively giddy. We'll have more on Ghost Recon in the coming weeks.

-- Aaron Boulding