OFFICIAL GHOST RECON 2 IMPRESSIONS...

Teal · Post by **Teal** » Wed Nov 17, 2004 3:55 pm

Alright...let's hear it...whaddya think? I'm stuck at work for another couple of hours, but I'll chime in as soon as I've had a chance to play it...

Diablo25 · Post by **Diablo25** » Wed Nov 17, 2004 3:58 pm

I'll post some in about an hour. Its on my doorstep right now (3pm EST). I need to be back at work from 6-9 but I should get a brief stint with the game in before then. Can't wait.

Badgun · Post by **Badgun** » Wed Nov 17, 2004 4:03 pm

Just played the first campaign mission. Graphics are improved over the last one, but I wouldn't call it Splinter Cell improved. Giving orders to troops is a lot like Rainbow 6 in that you point at a target and hit the Y button and they will either advance or attack. It's pretty cool when you find fixed machine guns as you can order them to take over and fire them. On normal, the AI still appears to be braindead as a few times they just ran out in the open and started firing. Another time, I was standing right around the corner from one and he was oblivious.

Still a definite improvement both graphically and feature wise. It's just so hard to say how good it is when there are so many great games out right now.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Wed Nov 17, 2004 4:10 pm

Good observations, Bad.

I think XBL play will be key. I don't know anyone who bought the first two GR's for the Xbox for offline play. For me, good offline play is just a bonus with GR, as both previous games had superb online play.

Take care,
PK

Zeppo · Post by **Zeppo** » Wed Nov 17, 2004 6:47 pm

Well, I just tried a few attempts at the first mission, and I have to say, this is decidedly not Ghost Recon. A single squad, who seem to serve little purpose other than getting in front of my muzzle, maybe I just don't know how to use them yet; lots and lost of noise going on, enemies all over the place, very hectic, not what I remember GR being all about; no 'briefing' whatsoever, where you can look at the map and locate the objectives, rather, objectives are dictated to you by a commander over the radio and appear on your radar each one after you complete the last; no squad selection, where you choose what type of specialists you want in your group. Also, I have clearly been spoiled by the intuitive and seamless checkpoint system in Halo, because I keep forgetting to save, so every time a grenade blows me up, I have to start over again at the beginning. The AI is pretty stupid. I've had a couple of enemies come around a corner and try to get into a kneeling position behind the same piece of cover I was using, of course my squad mates killed them after a few seconds. Wish I had a melee attack for those situations, or a knife.

I am however hopeful that online will be at least as good as the old GR online. Really, it should all depend on the maps, because the basics seem to be the same, at least the reticle and inaccuracy functions are identical to the old game. I perused the setup options for a while, and was a bit disappointed to discover that there really are no new modes, these are just the same old GR modes: search and rescue, siege, HH, domination (was that in the old GR?), and deathmatch modes. Didn't figure out how to select my equipment (it must be in there somewhere), so I don't know what equipment is new or what old equipment is gone. The online interface at least has the basics now, like displaying what game your friends are online in, but it's not the full range of '3.0' features. As far as I can tell the only way to send messages is with an invite. The 'bouncy' friends list is in full effect; I don't look forward to trying to scroll through 15 or 20 friends online. What is it with new games anymore and the 'bouncy' friends list? Seems far too common. Also, already three different times when trying to go online or join a friend, I have had 'there is a problem; restart your Xbox' pop up. Not a good thing.

I scrolled through the maps available for 'squad play,' and I didn't notice any hold-overs, although they may be in there.

Graphically, I think the online gaming will be better, with better lighting, better foliage, overall it's just better. I was always a big fan of the 'crude but effective' graphics in GR, so this looks to be less crude and I hope just as effective. I was a bit disoriented by the horrendous frame rate when looking around, but I should get used to that after a while I think.

I haven't switched to 'first person,' so I guess I'm not too put off by the 3rd person view. Although I have yet to see a real purpose for that view other than to show off the 'regroup' and 'advance' hand gesture animations.

Overall I am none too excited. Unless the weapons choices are significantly different, online should be the same as we know it, but with new maps. Maybe we can have slightly bigger games with less lag, but I'm not holding my breath on that one. I think I will eventually get more used to the single player feel, and work my way through it. But right now it feels a lot more like I am one guy with a bunch of crap going on around me, rather than the old GR where I felt like I was in control of a squad of soldiers working together. Maybe 'lone wolf' mode is where it's at for this one, I dunno.

Looking forward to online play though.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Wed Nov 17, 2004 6:58 pm

Sounds less than stellar...maybe I won't pick it up.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Wed Nov 17, 2004 7:05 pm

Pinning all of my hopes on online play. I think I played the original GR maybe two hours or so offline, and once I finished the very short campaign game in GR:IT, I maybe played it for three or four hours offline.

The GR franchise always has shone online. I'll be bitterly disappointed if that's not the case with GR 2.

But Zeppo's initial impressions of the shift in focus of gameplay scare me a bit. Now we know why Hilary G. at IGN thinks GR 2 is the dog's balls compared to the original GR.

Out,
PK

Leebo33 · Post by **Leebo33** » Wed Nov 17, 2004 7:08 pm

Yeah, I just picked it up for online play. I owned the original GR, but never played for more than an hour or two offline.

Wilkie33 · Post by **Wilkie33** » Wed Nov 17, 2004 7:31 pm

I would just like to say...

f*** hilary g.

injunwal · Post by **injunwal** » Wed Nov 17, 2004 9:39 pm

The single player game is feeling a lot like Rainbow Six to me. I miss having another squad to control but I am still liking it. You do not choose the type of people in your squad but you do choose their weapons. So you may not choose a person labled a sharpshooter but you can still equip a teamate with a sniper rifle, some with grenades, etc,

I ran a bit online but only got into some team death match type of mode. I like how you can control your spawn point to help control the spawn killing. I was playing in a 12 man match and was getting zero lag.

The single player is definately a change but that is not a bad thing so far. I never mustered up the interest to complete the campaign mode in the GR or GR:IT but I think this will keep my attention as a single player game as well as online

Diablo25 · Post by **Diablo25** » Wed Nov 17, 2004 9:42 pm

I'm sure I will enjoy the singleplayer but GR2 is all about online multiplayer! If it is anywhere near as fun as the first one I'll be jacked.

Zeppo · Post by **Zeppo** » Wed Nov 17, 2004 10:08 pm

OK so on the second attempt, I got much more into it, and have enjoyed it well enough so far. It's still not really GR, I mean if you get killed, mission over, you can't "agent smith" into a different guy and keep going. I still don't understand what my guys are doing when i tell them to advance, they just seem to go an unspecified distance, or right over a ridge, or even right into the middle of a warehouse. But telling them to flank seems to have better results. Have to remember to save often. I think I will end up enjoying the offline.

I didn't realize you could choose the gear of your squad mates, that is good to know. It is sort of like RS, but they don't seem quite as aware of their surroundings as the RS guys, who will take position near a doorway or at the edge of a wall; these guys stand around in the strangest places. And you only really have control of 2 of them, as far as telling them to advance or flank. The 3rd will stick with you, making it really 2 groups of 2. I hope i can get a handle on their behavior.

Took a peek at online again, and I think you choose our weapon after you start the round, which seems an odd change to make. I also noticed that siege mode has no repspawns. There doesn't appear to be a way to change that. HH and the domination game have respawns on, but not siege. This is very disappointing to me.

I really like the map with labeled grids, that is helpful for communication. And judging by the size of the map grid overlay, the potential for the maps to be gi-normous is there, but so far the 2 maps I've seen in single player are pretty linear, especially in comparison to the old GR.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Thu Nov 18, 2004 2:03 am

I'm very, very, very happy with my decision to sell Halo 2 and buy Ghost Recon 2 after my first night of Xbox Live play with GR 2.

This game absolutely rips on Live. We had a blast tonight, no pun intended.

Some of the new maps are HUGE -- no worries about close-confines fighting here. Weapons are great, no white button to talk anymore, not a hint of lag, even with explosives and 12 guys.

Siege without respawns is tense as hell. We played it on this map with tall wildflowers and weeds, so as defenders we knew they were coming to get us but couldn't see them because they were crawling through the tall wildflowers. I nearly sh*t my pants when the attackers appeared from the wildflowers.

I'm in shooter heaven with GR 2 on Live. It's a tactical military shooter that's my kind of game. It's different than GR or GRIT, but not in a bad way, especially offline. It takes about 30 minutes to get the hang of everything new, especially all the new options, and then it's sweet as maple syrup.

P.S.: It was nice to see Spooky at work with his infamous sniper rifle again, too. He was picking off people left and right from long range in the AWESOME Trenches map. That is a superb map.

Take care,
PK

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Thu Nov 18, 2004 2:26 am

Oh you f*ckers...I might have to get it...I saw a ton of you online tonight with it.

Is everyone's consensus that it's the sh*t online?

Diablo25 · Post by **Diablo25** » Thu Nov 18, 2004 2:52 am

pk500 wrote:I'm very, very, very happy with my decision to sell Halo 2 and buy Ghost Recon 2 after my first night of Xbox Live play with GR 2.

This game absolutely rips on Live. We had a blast tonight, no pun intended.

Some of the new maps are HUGE -- no worries about close-confines fighting here. Weapons are great, no white button to talk anymore, not a hint of lag, even with explosives and 12 guys.

Siege without respawns is tense as hell. We played it on this map with tall wildflowers and weeds, so as defenders we knew they were coming to get us but couldn't see them because they were crawling through the tall wildflowers. I nearly sh*t my pants when the attackers appeared from the wildflowers.

I'm in shooter heaven with GR 2 on Live. It's a tactical military shooter that's my kind of game. It's different than GR or GRIT, but not in a bad way, especially offline. It takes about 30 minutes to get the hang of everything new, especially all the new options, and then it's sweet as maple syrup.

P.S.: It was nice to see Spooky at work with his infamous sniper rifle again, too. He was picking off people left and right from long range in the AWESOME Trenches map. That is a superb map.

Take care,
PK

I 1000% agree! I played for 3 straight hours. 4 man online coop with 3 friends from the High Heat boards. We played two missions (actually finished one) and it was the most entertaining online experience ever. Truly a spectacular online game. I was astounded at how huge the maps were. Whoever started the rumor that they were too small was high. Kudos to Red Storm!

Leebo33 · Post by **Leebo33** » Thu Nov 18, 2004 7:47 am

pk500 wrote:It takes about 30 minutes to get the hang of everything new, especially all the new options, and then it's sweet as maple syrup.

P.S.: It was nice to see Spooky at work with his infamous sniper rifle again, too. He was picking off people left and right from long range in the AWESOME Trenches map. That is a superb map.

Whew. I'm glad you said it takes 30 minutes to get used to everything because I felt helpless in those first few rounds...LOL. You bastards are way too good at this after so many "Poker Nights." I'm not giving up though as it seems like a ton of fun. I'll just have to take quite a few head shots until I get the hang of it. I was just about ready to head to bed when I got the invites. Sorry I couldn't stay on long. I couldn't talk much with the baby nearby. What a blast though.

RallyMonkey · Post by **RallyMonkey** » Thu Nov 18, 2004 9:51 am

Leebo,

Just do what i do. If you get frustrated because your opponents are wiping your a**, just start ripping off shots at your own team. Sure they might be pissed at first and scream and holla, but within minutes it's back to some good old fashioned fun..........until you do it again.......right pk.

On a serious note, this game is the flat out balls online. In playing it i have no idea why i sold the first two releases so early. Great stuff.

marino · Post by **marino** » Thu Nov 18, 2004 10:02 am

This game is the s*** on line.I never had so much fun getting killed repeadtedly.LOL I love the strategy that is required to succeed.Communication is essential.

injunwal · Post by **injunwal** » Thu Nov 18, 2004 10:03 am

Damn, sorry I missed out on the online fun. I played earlier in the night but was tired and in bed before anyone started playing

Zeppo · Post by **Zeppo** » Thu Nov 18, 2004 10:21 am

OK so my initial impressions were way off base! Who gives a crap about single player? I guess I was just mad at it for not being Halo or something. Forgive me being a fool.

Online, this game is exactly what we would want, an improvement over the original in every single way, while still maintaining the core elements of what we love about the gameplay online. It is much harder in this one to see the enemies, much harder. Selecting a weapon when you spawn obviously allows you to switch gear in the middle of a round (well, duh!). The graphics are an enormous improvement, what with the grass and weeds, the rain and fog. The maps we played last night were simply astounding, every single one of them. As pk said, that bunker map was 'epic.' I am getting used to 3rd person, although it is tough to see well at a distance without zooming into the scope, but it clearly gives an advantage around cover. It was very useful on that bunker map.

It's not that I can't stand no-spawn siege, it's that we always had the option to play like that but we never really did. I just wish we had the option in this one to set respawns as we would like. But now that we're forced to play siege w/o spawns, it's pretty darn intense. And HH is shaping up to be superb in this one. I have a feeling that will become our preferred poker night mode.

We had I think 11 people in pk's server for a while, and I didn't notice any real artifacts, no lag, no big problems. Maybe if we all got on top of each other, there would be problems, but I noticed no issues at all. The bouncy friends list has to go though, what a tortuous issue. So frustrating, it drives me insane!

What can I say, I'm an idiot. So, they didn't improve the core of the original single player, they created a different thing: who cares? This game online is just terrific. We tried a little co-op at the end of the night, a little firefight and some defend. I would really like to try co-op missions. I have a feeling this will be a favorite mode for me.

But the Poker Nights will be alive and well with this thing. More tonight?

Leebo33 · Post by **Leebo33** » Thu Nov 18, 2004 10:25 am

Any tips from the veterans to the poor f*ckers that kept getting nailed by Spooky every 5 minutes?

webdanzer · Post by **webdanzer** » Thu Nov 18, 2004 10:29 am

That was a blast last night. Provo's quickly turning into my new nemesis. Our bunkers map battle was great. I sniped him like four times quickly in a row (not singling him out, just ended up in my sights.)

He must have then got pissed, because next thing I knew he was a madman in the thick of our spawn area, taking down our whole team from behind, including me a few times.

I'm impressed with the lack of lag. The host userface is a little unintuitive, and I accidentally 'rematched' like 3 times...but other than that it's pretty much all good.

DChaps · Post by **DChaps** » Thu Nov 18, 2004 10:51 am

The 'bouncy' friends list is in full effect; I don't look forward to trying to scroll through 15 or 20 friends online. What is it with new games anymore and the 'bouncy' friends list? Seems far too common.

Yeah, I find that extremely annoying. What is the deal there?

Man, you guys are killing me with these impressions. I have not bought and kept a FPS in like 2 1/2 years and now I am going to end up buying 3 in one week(HL2, Halo 2, GR2). I guess I will just steer clear of any COD reviews.

Brando70 · Post by **Brando70** » Thu Nov 18, 2004 10:58 am

Thanks for the impressions, guys. Saw a bunch of you online last night as I was playing Halo 2 (cue cricket chirp). I have a Best Buy gift card handy and will have to pick this up.

Does playing the campaign mode unlock weapons the way the old GR did? That was a big motivation to play the single player for me.

Also, are you guys using grenades/explosives this time around, or still sticking to bullets only?

Spooky · Post by **Spooky** » Thu Nov 18, 2004 10:59 am

pk500 wrote: P.S.: It was nice to see Spooky at work with his infamous sniper rifle again, too. He was picking off people left and right from long range in the AWESOME Trenches map. That is a superb map.

Take care,
PK

Thanks for the props PK!!!

I was having a good round but still need practice as my hit percentages were down around 69%.

The game is absolutely great fun! I REALLY like the new maps so far and am really enjoying the 3rd person (well, over the shoulder) perspective. For those who are skeptical...listen to what everyone is saying here. It is not "new game smell", the game is for real and does a nice job of brining the GR series into the 3rd year of X-Box LIVE.