When did you first play [GR] ? Fondest memories

[Clone_Ranger]

Yeah - I guess this sort of [GR] nostalgia has been done before, but as I am just about to install [GR] on my PC *ONCE AGAIN* I guess it would be nice to remember the first time I installed it and what has changed since then

I really can't believe I'm dusting off those CDs again - but I'm not doing *just* because there is a total lack of good new battlefield based games at the moment (still waiting for ArmA2 and OF2)...I'm reinstalling because I want to load up some interesting brand new mods!

Can you imagine THAT? *Brand new mods* for a game that is - how old now?

Anyway - to the nostalgia:

For me the first time I played Ghost Recon [in 2001, it seems longer somehow!] was an absolute epiphany. You see I didn't start playing [GR] on a PC first of all - I was on a Mac! So not only was I seeing a brilliant and ground breaking game in it's own right, but I was also seeing a brilliant game on the game starved Macintosh!

But what made this game extra enjoyable was that it was the very first cross-platform game that actually worked pretty seamlessly across a large network (in my experience). I used to play Ghost Recon with my colleagues in a university across our network - Macs and PCs together!

We would spend our lunch hours playing co-op and then a little PvP in the Castle - we even started a small league table!

And then, at home, there were those lovely relaxed Sunday morning sessions on GameRanger (Mac game server host). The good thing about the Mac Ghost Recon community was that it was small enough for you to recognize a lot of the players who came on GameRanger by name....Magic days!

For me this is what really made Ghost recon special - even after all this time. I equate [GR] with friends and the fun we all had playing this game together.

These days games just tend to be too big and anonymous to hold the same attraction.

Have you got any fond early years memories of Ghost Recon?

[Rocky]

Being the first to get hands on the GR demo? That was cool

And yeh, look out for a massive new mod coming soon!

[doubletap]

Nice post Clone !

I was a latecomer to GR pc, somewhere around 2004. I started out on GR xbox.

Edited April 23, 2009 by doubletap

[Kingkat]

Had been a recent "convert" of the Rainbow Six series and even purchased Black Thorn with the Ghost Recon special dvd.

From that first experience, (and was hooked), and a member of this site ever since.

Have played many games.........none have been as good or (as much fun) as this simple yet effective Military-FPS.

Still have the "PC Gamer, Holiday 2001" and their "January 2002 Review" issues.

Long Live this site, and Rocky..............

[twcrash]

I was a die hard Delta Force player. That was all we played at first and then a couple games came out. I vaguely remember going down and buying GR when it came out and installing it and ABSOLUTELY hating it. I swore it would be never installed again. I don't remember why but I am sure I was trying to compare it to something else. Anyways I think DS came out and it made me install it again and was hooked. I found GR net i think just prior to that thru hunting for Rainbow Six maps and such. Anyways I got hooked on GR and never looked back. I did go thru a hate spell on Mods for awhile and have since swore off the insane weapons mods n such. true to life weapons only now. 3 games will always be played by me:

Ghost Recon

Operation Flashpoint

SWAT4

All great games in their own rights (did I leave Ravenshield out :0 )

Edited April 24, 2009 by twcrash

[Lightspeed]

I had been playing Rogue Spear and Urban Ops for about 2 years but only SP or online MP pvp occasionally - while I loved that game I kept thinking I'd love an outdoor version of it.

And then GR arrived in 2001 - as soon as I picked up the box and saw the pics I knew it was the game I was waiting for.

Played SP for a month or two, then online pvp and then joined a clan where I played hardcore tvt for almost 3 years straight.

Then found coop - wow!!! A whole new game again.

Then found modding - and here I am - several months shy of releasing my 4th GR Tourney mod - 8 years after GR was released.

Crazy!!

[Halli~SPARTA~]

I purchased it early 2002 and it was the first online play for me...boy was I green and not to mention my system was weak using a 1.7g processor and geforce 440 card oh and dial up at 28k.

Now when I play again it has smoothness and looks great compared to back then.

[WhiteKnight77]

I guess I got it the weekend after it's release and played it on my 500mHz Celeron Gateway PC that was my very first PC.

[KRP 56]

Didn't really know anything about PC games at the time as I had just got my first PC about 2000. Friend of mine who also didn't know anything about PC games had a bunch of cd's with demos on them and gave them to me. Played a few of those linear shooters and thought they were pretty cool then in went Ghost Recon. WOW! Must have played it 100X's. Checked local stores but full game was nowhere to be found. Drove to Cincinnati,Ohio which is about 95 miles from my house and bought a copy. It's been happy gaming for 8 years now with no end in site, thanks to the massive mod collection and new mods still on the horizon.

[chiles4]

I didn't get to GR until some time in 2003...and it was my first military combat game. I played the demo earlier, probably in 2002, but I didn't like it at all. I think it was because I was flanked badly...and shot...and killed. I was like WTH? I had probably come off of playing every single Quake 2 SP map ever created. I trolled the net for every one I could find. It was just WAY too big a change for me. I'm kinda of glad I picked GR over OFP. It was a path everyone had to choose back then. GR or OFP?

But I replayed the demo in '03 and I figured it out...and...it ruined me for every other run n' gun shooter in existence from that point on! I'm so ruined in fact that my game-buying has plummeted. It seems that GR and Armed Assault fill most of my needs. I would buy a SWAT 5 in an instant if it came out. I picked up a cheap copy of Medieval Total War (an incredible game) but it's gathering dust.

I just picked up a stunning 22" widescreen eIPS-panel (8-bit color) Dell 2209WA LCD so I may have to crank up GR and play that "Columbian Jungle" (South Bogota?) mission from that pack by that French guy. It's probably my all-time favorite.

[ziggle]

I was a latecomer to GR pc, somewhere around 2004. I started out on GR xbox.

A latecomer, ha, I started out late March 2009!

[enven]

It was 2001, September. I was reading through some forums when I read about the coming GR game, by the release of the PC Gamer review in the winter of 2001 - I was hyped!

I was given a copy by my Godmother for Christmas, I remember the first moment I received it, elated, freaked out, my first tactical shooter! - (Half Life/DOD were the games I played at the time.)

Installed the game that Christmas day, beat the game that same day as well. Ever since then, I was hooked. Played it for approximately five years, by 2006-07 I uninstalled the game for OFP/ArmA - I was an on-off clan member of DME for those five years, played numerous 1v1-2v2-3v3+ games throughout those years, saw my share of legit shooters, and handfuls of hackers, never deterred me from playing, always brought me back for more. For me, I was never the "Modern combat" type, but this game took me in, and kept me in for the long run, sure, I played R6 (for a stint), but my transition from Red Orchestra, back to GR, and then ArmA...yeah...Quite the fun.

I sure miss Ghost Recon though, I still have the game, and I want to see whats worth playing w/ mods, and such...My brother and I were taking a jog the other day and struck up a heavy conversation about our GR days...

[Orbarth]

Was a fan of Rainbow Six and Rogue Spear, excited by the new title of the devs of 2 of my favorites tactical combat games i installed the demo that came with a "paper" magazine in 2001 and ... did not liked it.

I found the scenery offered by the castle not exciting, but as it was stated on the internet that i was searching for more infos , it was only a demo map, not even a campaign mission that were promised to be more exciting and entertaining.

But what really was putting me off was the presence of this constant "tick - tick - tick" bug sound that played regularly and that after searches on the internet was a problem many people were encountering and none of the possible suggestions was fixing that darned thing, so i decided to forget about it.

A year and a half after, i saw Ghost Recon for extremely cheap in a bargain bin amongst other titles, and despite my time was monopolized by Operation Flashpoint , for such a cheap price i decided to give a try.

It was a good decision, with patches the "tick" annoyance had already been fixed, and the missions were indeed of a completely different caliber from the castle boring demo map, Ghost Recon gave me some of my most intense gameplay experience in some of the campaign missions.

Along with Operation Flashpoint, Ghost Recon and later its expansions stayed on my hard drive since then.

And i continue to play with those games so much years after. it shows how great a game can be to stand the test of time.