I joined GameSpot simply in the hopes of keeping at least one poor, unfortunate soul away from this game.
This is, quite simply, the worst game I have ever played in my life - and that's quite a feat, considering all of the games I've played.
Luckily, I did not buy this with my own money - I got it as a present. And I am so sad that UBI got any money out of that person's wallet.
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REVIEW
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OVERVIEW:
The game is a third person shooter that takes place in (South?) Korea. This third-person persepective is a first for the Ghost Recon series, and it didn't turn out very well. I would assume that the third-person idea for the PS2 came from the want to rival the SOCOM series - something that UBI did NOT execute the least bit.
--CONTROLS:
The game has good control, and pretty good graphics. However, it is absolutely, utterly, terrible.
--WEAPONS
The guns are pretty lame for this game. They vary slightly - if you were asked to say how they differ, there are only a few things you could pick out: the sounds, the amount of ammo, and the zoom. That's about it - nothing on the recoil or anything like that would be in your description. There are, however, some very cool things about the weapons during "Lone Wolf" missions. During these Lone Wolf missions, you are a state-of-the-art technology-equipped soldier. Super-powerful weaponry and air strikes will be at your disposal. Your main weapon may be an all-in-one rifle: an automatic and semi-auto gun with a grenade launcher and 8x zoom (about the zoom of a weak sniper rifle). Other than the Lone Wolf missions, the weapons are horrible.
--ACTION
This brings me to my next point, the shooting. Obviously a third person SHOOTER would have to have some good shooting in it - in particular, a Ghost Recon game where the entire action is set around guns and shooting. Unfortunately, the game sucks in the shooting department. It is hard to acquire a target, or get a good view on the target - and once you do find a target, it's hard to aim at it. The aiming system sucks, and the firefights are very long range - these two things do NOT mix well together. The enemies are pretty much sharpshooters with bad AI that seem to hide behind objects and shoot back at you. Your teammates, although described in a nutshell as lethal and the best soldiers in the world, do not live up to their legendary descriptions. They aren't much better than the enemy, and you are often going to be shooting at far-off targets with your gun and watching your teammates sit around, not even looking at the enemy.
--EXECUTION
When playing a mission, you won't enjoy it. It's completely boring with little to entertain you. I have to give credit to the level design in this game: it's pretty solid. However, with the HORRIBLE camera, the HORRIBLE shooting, and the hard difficulty, it doesn't even matter. The levels do not complement the controls or camera style in any way. As a matter of fact, taking into consideration how you control your character, the maps aren't that great at all. It's a shame, because in some modern shooters, like in the SOCOM series, they would be great. But with your slow character, limited sight, sluggish controls and crappy teammates, the levels suck. Getting around is painstakingly dull. It can be hard to look where you're going or find out where to go - you sometimes get stuck and don't know where to go next, and a fair amount of the screen is taken up by your character, meaning it's hard to see what you're looking at, also.
--DIFFICULTY
The difficulty is the next thing to discuss. I am very good at video games - I know, not that humble, but in the sakes of reviewing I'm going to have to say this. I'm sure if I really put my mind to it, I could beat this game. However, every second I play it is a waste of my life. Excluding that last sentence, I'm going to move on and say that, with no save points in these 20-30 minute missions, the difficulty is pretty high. The enemies are very good at shooting, and pretty much just stick behind objects. Your squad does nothing to help you, so your best bet is to stay off at a distance and use your weak scope to try and snipe the enemies ahead of you, whenever possible. However, since this isn't normally an option, you are forced to run into the open or simply walk around objects and shoot your enemies before they shoot you. Particularly on these long missions, and the fact that the game was obviously made with realism in mind, this isn't good at all. The game is very difficult without any checkpoints along the mission, and once you die in it, probably about 20 minutes into the mission and about to beat it, you'll see why it's hard. Then, you'll completely lose the will to play the game, since you'll just be dying in another 20 minutes and be forced to restart an already boring level.
--SOUND
The sounds of the game are pretty solid. A little bit above average. However, there is no music in the game (I suppose for realism), but the few tracks in the game (like when selecting Single Player, Multiplayer, Options, etc) are very boring.
--GRAPHICS
The graphics are pretty good, too. Definitely not the best, but average.
--MULTIPLAYER
The multiplayer in this game is definitely the better part of it. Interestingly enough, although the back of the game talks about the unique third person view, the multiplayer is in first person. In addition to the first person view, there is no gun in your view. You are, in essence, just walking around and shooting things that appear in your target. However, the framerate in multiplayer lags badly on the PS2, and the multiplayer is easily beaten by pretty much any other game. Because of the crappy shooting system, you won't be getting many kills, either. The community is pretty bad, and the user interface - even talking - is ridiculously overcomplicated. One of the pluses of multiplayer is being able to choose what your player looks like (although only a few skins are available) and your loadout. Other than that, multiplayer is still pretty bad, but is the only reason to buy this game. Please note: multiplayer is online-only.
--OVERALL
This game sucks. It is worth maybe one or two dollars - even then, you're probably better off with some gum, because sitting around and thinking of something better to do is better than playing this game. The only good of it is the multiplayer, and even then, it is easily beaten by the SOCOM series.
I really hope I persuaded you not to buy this game. After all, I signed up for Gamespot in the hopes of you not buying it - too many good reviews of this game needed to be put to shame by this review and all other reviews. I'm being as honest as I can in this review (Hence the high scores on graphics and sound). Anyone giving this game a decent review is in no way, shape, or form fit to be reviewing a game, and is definitely no gamer - meaning you probably shouldn't take their advice on a video game purchase.
DO NOT BUY THIS GAME. IF YOU REALLY WANT A THIRD PERSON SHOOTER ON THE PS2, GET ANY OF THE THREE SOCOMS. ALL OF THEM ARE BETTER THAN THIS GAME.
Hopefully, no one will be getting this as a present this year for the holidays, and instead something better.