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Detailed editors' rating
- Reviewed on: 03/24/2004
- Released on: 03/16/2004
- Originally published on GameSpot: Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Jungle Storm (PS2) Review
The Ghost Recon franchise returns to consoles yet again with a sort-of-new installment in Ghost Recon: Jungle Storm for the PlayStation 2. Why isn't it entirely new? Specifically, half of its single-player component and most of its peripheral maps have appeared in other Ghost Recons on other platforms. And, more generally, this is still the same old Ghost Recon that you've certainly played before if you're interested in this particular game to begin with. Jungle Storm is a decent enough vehicle for more Ghost Recon, if that's what you're after, but the franchise is really starting to show its age at this late date. The lack of originality and one particularly glaring multiplayer flaw make Jungle Storm less than exciting overall.
Ghost Recon: Jungle Storm offers two full single-player campaigns, one of which is entirely new.
The storyline in Jungle Storm, as in all Ghost Recons, is of the typically Clancy-flavored international intrigue variety. It presents enough decent stuff to keep the missions moving, but it's not too thrilling otherwise. In the Island Thunder campaign, the story and maps of which appeared on the Xbox and PC ages ago, you're fighting through a near-future, post-Castro Cuba. The game's new 10-mission campaign, Jungle Storm, moves the action to Colombia, and it's nice that Ubisoft at least saw fit to create a new campaign for this game rather than just giving us the already-seen Island Thunder and the expected smattering of maps from previous games (of which Jungle Storm has many).
If you've played any of the Ghost Recon games, you know exactly what you're getting into with Jungle Storm. If not, the game is a slowly-paced tactical first-person shooter that has you controlling a squad of six soldiers (split into two teams--Alpha and Bravo) while trying to complete various mission objectives, such as securing an area, retrieving a sensitive item, or rescuing hostages. The damage model is realistic, so there's no run-and-gun going on here. You'll instead have to creep slowly, being extra watchful for enemies, as you approach your goals. You can switch between the six soldiers at any time, and the other five will be controlled by a pretty good AI system. In fact, your teammates will often beat you to the punch when it comes to spotting and taking out opponents.
Jungle Storm is fundamentally the same Ghost Recon you know and (perhaps) love, but at least there are a couple of minor new features in the game. There's now a little eyeball icon that pops up on your HUD to indicate how visible you and your teammates are to enemies. The brighter the eye, the easier it is for you to be spotted. However, you can reduce your visibility by moving slowly and crouching or going to a prone position. The area map has also been streamlined to make it easy for you to direct your teammates to new positions on the map. If you'd rather actually bark your orders, Jungle Storm also features voice recognition (with a USB headset) that you can use to switch teammates, direct allies to new areas, and give other orders. The voice recognition very adeptly detects your commands and rarely gets them wrong, so it's actually a useful feature during gameplay, instead of being a tacked-on novelty.
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Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Jungle Storm (PS2):
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