What does Ghost Recon mean to you?

[BS PALADIN]

I know I posted on the ubi forums as well but want to add 3 other features here:

1 IGOR - I'd love to see an updated version of this on GR4. It was a great mission editor.

2 Sound - The first time I got near the caves in the Iron Dragon mission I was blown away by the sound through my surround sound. The sound of the wind just immersed me even more into the Ghost Recon universe.

3 The Difficulty - Ghost Recon was a hard game, especially when you played it for the first time. It was unforgiving and I'd lvoed that about it. I replaying the original campaign for the 100th time. only this time im not saving in the missions. If someone dies i just carry on. It making the game even better. The tension of losing your specialists by making one mistake is fantastic.

[Dick Splash]

As Rocky said, but I'm going to use a different coloUr and bold;

1. Tactical - No run & gun because I'm a man and it's a scientific fact that I can't multitask.

2. Team play - This, beyond single player, is without a doubt what has given the original GR, legs.

3. Realism - Weapons, skins, maps, storylines, AI and sound...YES...sound. I want you to give me more wind.

DS

[Kimi]

As Rocky said, but I'm going to use a different coloUr and bold;

I'm a man and it's a scientific fact that I can't multitask.

Does this mean if you select a female character, then you're given the option to run while shooting?

[dporter]

1. Focus

2. Patience

3. Team Work

[Lancer]

I'll follow DS lead and borrow Rockys headers.

1. Tactical - Non-linear, access ALL areas, tactical play based on large maps.

2. Team play - Above and beyond anything else a game has it has to have the ability to be played co-op. Real co-op as evidenced by the tournaments not just catering to PvP.

3. Realism - Compared to the current breed of games GR lacked the visual but it still stands head and shoulders above the rest solely on its ambience. If you have to resort to vehicles then make the vehicle options viable to SF troops. Flying aircraft and gunships is quite a distinct brand of the military. Keep the Recon element upper most in the design.

I have to add a fourth slot.

4. Longevity - The ability to mod the game and give it more life. The greatest unsung hero of GR was IGOR. The ability to knock up a playable mission by us mortals was, for me, simply awesome. Just take a look at the outstanding work still being done for GR today, by the bearers of the flame. There is your proof of a great game. Try telling them it's obsolete and has been bettered.

I have played all the Ghost Recon series and I'm always struck by the thought "How did a company get it so right then get it so wrong?".

[Orbarth]

When i think about Ghost Recon, i can only think of the original one, the 3 main points i have in mind are :

Mods

While not modable to the nearly complete extent of an unreal tournament that could be modified entirely (see the ultra realistic Infiltration made with the old unreal engine as a basis), or at least to the extent of an operation flashpoint, the impressive modding possibilities in term of game additions, missions, weapons, uniforms etc... made Ghost Recon a formidable support for modder creativity.

Coming with so much work that it lead even in very impressive unofficial expansions, the modding community was showing real talent to create such formidable content that enlarged the scope of the game

Replayability

The amount of different approaches, the different reactions you assault could create, etc... made playing, replaying and re-replaying Ghost Recon and its expansion a real pleasure, never boring.

And always playing it now despite its age is always interesting, the very large diversity of environment from a mission to another contributed very largely in the campaigns never being boring.

Game design

Tactical gameplay to its finest, while it may not be visually as realistic as various other sequels or more modern tacsims, the Ghost Recon design is brillant, limping, very throughout body armors simulation, tactical moves, voices reports, believable AI reactions to suppression fire, diversity of environment of each missions, scale, characters models and textures, simulation of weapons accuracy/weight/encombrance/size/recoil all in a single spreading cursor a la Rogue Spear/Rainbow Six etc... all in all Ghost Recon was and always is a masterpiece of design for a tactical realism combat sim.

Edited June 22, 2009 by Orbarth

[Dick Splash]

As Rocky said, but I'm going to use a different coloUr and bold;

I'm a man and it's a scientific fact that I can't multitask.

Does this mean if you select a female character, then you're given the option to run while shooting?

You might be onto something there Kimi...'AI For The Straight Guy'. ...I should copyright that. You can't even Google it, so it must be mine.

DS

[Demanufakture]

My 3 words would be:

Advanced tech.

Squad tactics

dangerous missions

Cant wait for GR4!!

Edited June 23, 2009 by Demanufakture

[H-Hour]

I took the words/phrases thing a bit literally. All for GR1:

1. "Got him!"

2. "Right behind you."

3. "Dastroooga!" (apologies to the Russian speakers amongst us, hopefully my phonetic spelling will be recognizable)

[Gunnar]

Hi All,

1) Stable Online CO-OP Play: [GR] - Brilliant, GRAW - Not Bad, GRAW2 - Highly unstable.

2) Great Maps with randomly placed intelligent AI Enemy BUT with human speed responses ! Not turn a corner bang you're dead...Huh !

3) Weapon selection like in GRAW (not [GR] or GRAW2).

4) Respawn on Team Leader, or mission adjustable respawn points.

5) MOD friendly.

6) Adjustable Firefight and Defend modes.

A few more than 3 but they're the top of my list.

Cheers,

Gunnar.

[blazeoglory]

1. Tactical Gameplay

2. Ladder Matching - This means it needs good Dedicated Server Tools. Like GR1

3. Ladder Matching - It also means a good AC. Though PB is nice for most of us that played GR1 in the beginning replays were a must.

Edited June 23, 2009 by blazeoglory

[Forrester]

1 cold cold too cold for me

2 cold cold too cold for me

ah man really long back to those days. Hope we get a decent game soon......

[Clone_Ranger]

1. Co-operation: Both in SP with your team and in MP with your friends.

2. Immersive back-story & detailed weapons (realism in other words).

3. Very supportive community - especially when it comes to mods.

I find it hard to distil my impressions of the series to just three answers. My infatuation with the series comes more from the game suiting my personal character - maybe more of you out there have a similar experience?

I am by nature a very methodical character - as opposed to someone who gets along with the 'run & gun' games like CS or CoD.

I prefer the tactical pace of Ghost Recon - where you have to carefully think ahead and manoeuvre for advantage. I find this pace a lot more realistic.

To me Ghost Reconners DON'T like to get shot! And play accordingly!

[Gunsmith]

To me Ghost Recon means:

1)the essence of tactical- the whole squad gets used

2)flexibility- do the mission a million ways

3)mood- who else jumps a foot in the air when they suddenly get shot?

4)igor- mod to your hearts content

Looking forward to GR4

[chiles4]

1. Tactical

2. Team play

3. Realism

Wow, Rocky, that was going to be my exact post!

[lexsis]

well, lets see.

- thousands of hours of "wasted time"

- ex-wife's lawyer actually questioned me about the game !!! (in open court no less)

- obsession:

- addiction :

- great new friends: (all you guys here at GR.net

- I am now single !

PS. note my join date ! just 3 weeks before my son was born !!

Edited June 24, 2009 by lexsis

[Rocky]

well, lets see.

- thousands of hours of "wasted time"

- ex-wife's lawyer actually questioned me about the game !!! (in open court no less)

- obsession:

- addiction :

- great new friends: (all you guys here at GR.net

- I am now single !

PS. note my join date ! just 3 weeks before my son was born !!

LOL, you are taking this in a whole new direction.

[Deadpreacher]

1. Tactical

2. Team play

3. Realism

Spot on, but if we allowed a 4th it would be stealth

[WhiteKnight77]

As Kimi asked for 3 words to describe the GR franchise, mine are:

1. Broken

2. Broken

3. Broken

[Kingkat]

mine are:

ALWAYS copied................

NEVER exceeded................

REMAINS the best of the BEST

[Dr Death]

This may get a bit long, but allow me, if you will, to add my .02 cents. I wasn't introduced to the Ghost Recon franchise until Ghost Recon 2. My brother was hyping it up and then I played it and I was hooked. I realize many of the original GR players didn't care for GR 2, but I still believe these are valid points.

First, when you pop the Ghost Recon 2 disc into your XBox, you hear that music. Low... ominous... eerie... then you hear Scott talking... "this time, we're here to win a war before it even starts..." I was probably hooked right there. That music set the mood. And in a game like this, the mood is ever so important.

Next, strategy. Echoing what many others have already stated, but team work and strategy should be the main focus for a group called the Ghosts. Back in the GR 2 days me and three friends would do co-op and we'd go into Fuel Depot and if we played it 10 times we might finish it half the time. It required team work, strategy and planning. If one person screwed up, it threw the balance for everything and everyone else off. That map was long and intense. But it was so damn much fun. I remember many a night playing that map over and over.

Finally... these are Ghosts. Special, E-L-I-T-E forces. It is my opinion that these guys shouldn't need Advanced Warfighter technology. Drop them off, give them some good guns and let 'em go. One of the more annoying things with GRAW:2 is that damn General Martin, or whatever his name and rank are, telling you stuff that's coming up, when he's what... 100 miles away? 1000? "Ghosts, there's an enemy truck leaving the compound. Take it down! General Martin, out!"

God that gets annoying. I would hope that Ubisoft... hopefully Red Storm, take the game back to its roots. Simplify things, lose all the high tech stuff, and let the Ghost's be Ghost's. That is, let them do what they do best; which is tactical, team-oriented, stealth-like hunting. Create bigger maps that are difficult yet let the Ghost's use strategic abilities, the very thing they are supposedly known for, to see them through.

There have been so many disappointments in gaming and a good majority of these are since Next Gen came about. We were promised bigger, better gameplay, and yet the majority of the released product fails when compared to their old gen counterparts.

Please... please get Ghost Recon IV right.

To summarize:

1: Mood

2: Strategy | Teamwork | Tactical

3: Lose the high tech crap

[Lightspeed]

@ lexcis -

in some respects, releasing such abyssmal sequels to [GR] was a good thing - I got my life back.

____________

Look a lot has been said here and I don't want to repeat all - the reality is, GR was not rocket science and why GRIN and other Dev companies try and reinvent the wheel is beyond me.

Simple formula -

- Insertions into real world hot spots to perform covert operations...in out....enemy "what the hell just happened?"

- Interesting and diverse maps - some urban some woodland - ALL DIFFERENT! - if I see another desert map in 2009/10 I'll scream!!

- Multiple and varied objectives which you complete in ANY order.

And...

A shot rings out - whizzes past your left ear. Holy krap - hit the dirt!! Anyone know where that came from? Whack! Whack! Man Down!! Man Down!!! - Heart pounding - intensity!!

And...

I'm gimped - can't run now and can't steady my aim - simple but oh so effective.

And...

Easy to use Mission Editor - perfect.

_____________

Only simple improvements required -

Weapons not crosshair.

Better and more comprehensive weapons loadout a la Arma

Real insertions a la GRAW

Improved Graphics

If you only made these improvements the game would kick ass!!

______________

NO-NOs

Kill off the GRAW robot-look immediately.

Ban pink diamonds forever from anything that begins with GR.

[BS PALADIN]

Great post.

After replaying the [Ghost Recon] campaign I believe that 2-3 controllable squads with soul swapping is essential to Ghost Recon. It just offers a level of depth in the gameplay that can't be matched by 1 squad or playing as a hero character.

[Fletch]

While I loved the used of Soul Swapping as you put it, to be able to split the team and objectives. The biggest reason I liked it after experiencing GR:AW (you die mission ends) was the game did not end when you got killed. Just like in RL the remaining team member(s) still carried on with the mission.

Edited July 3, 2009 by Fletch

[firefly2442]

1) Coop

2) Teamplay

3) Realism