Most gamers who started out in the golden days of the Commodore Amiga will fondly remember the classic X-Com: Enemy Unknown as a classic title with addictive gameplay that was clearly ahead of its time. I count myself amongst that group of gamers, enjoying many other ground breaking games of that time.

In fact X-Com: Enemy Unknown was great game surrounded by many other great Amiga releases, never the less it frequently stands tall in Amiga all time top twenty lists. I make no apology then for indulging myself with a trip down memory lane with this video of Enemy Unknown's introduction.

Another cracking game back then was the Shadow of the Beast, a game that brought what was at the time, next gen graphics, to an existing platform, amazing.

Which brings us nicely round to another Shadow game, Ghost Recon Shadow Wars! That's not the only reason we are reminiscing about old Amiga games though, the main reason is that the guy who released the classic 1984 Enemy Unknown, is the very same guy that has developed Ghost Recon Shadow Wars - Julian Gollop. Anyone reading this introduction nodding knowingly, might want to bookmark this Julian Interview for later reading, it's great. For the rest, time to get stuck in to Ghost Recon Shadow Wars!

Ghost Recon Shadow Wars

Developed by Ubisoft’s Bulgaria/Sofia team headed up by Julian Gollop, Ghost Recon Shadow wars obviously bears more than a passing resemblance to Enemy Unknown. But do we get that remarkable addictive gameplay of the classic, combined with ground breaking handheld 3D visual technology thanks to the brand new Nintendo 3DS? Hearing what Julian had to say, I'd say it's looking good for sure.

I really like the way the 3D stereoscopy works in the game. It may not be critical to play, but it really does give you the feeling of being the commander of a battlefield with little soldiers running around.

As for the plot, in this handheld move based iteration of Ghost Recon, the Ghosts find themselves battling across various terrains including urban areas, frozen landscapes in a was against the Russian ultra nationalist Yuri Treskayev. Tasked with locating bases preparing to launch an army of drones, the Ghost's must exercise tactical awareness as well as deploy devastating firepower. During these 37 missions (yeh thirty-seven!), you'll face objectives not dissimilar to other Ghost Recon titles, prisoner rescue, blowing up bridges, train assaults, and assassinations, all good Ghost Recon stuff.

The level of detail sounds impressive for a handheld title; tactical systems, weapon mechanics, indirect launchers, area effect, EMP grenades, 'support fire' mechanic, cover effects, air strikes, character power points, leveling, special power attacks, per-mission difficulty levels and more!

Ghost Recon Shadow Wars is of course a launch title for the 3DS, so european gamers only have to wait until March 25th to grab this game, and only 2 days later it should hit the shelves in the USA.

Developer Julian Gollop has a 9 minute walkthrough from one of the Shadow Wars missions, in HD, on Ubisoft's YouTube channel.

Discuss this game in our Ghost Recon Handheld Gaming Forum!

Also, check out our spoiler free Ghost Recon Shadow Wars Strategy Guide!

Credits : TinyCartridge.com for Julian Gollop quotes. All images copyright Ubisoft used with permission.