Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

20 to 40 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Immersive"

Ghost Recon 2 is a great sequel to a great game. There are many new additions and features that makes it a vast improvement over the first.

Story - Basically, a regenade North Korean General has gone nuts.

Graphics - Very nice. Great weather effects, character models, vehicles, and terrain. Nothing to complain about over here.

Sound - Good, but not great. All weapons sound pretty much the same as they were in the previous games (though that's not a bad thing). There are nice ambient sounds such as wind, water, and crickets at night. There is also a cool guitar riff tune during the menu. What sucks is the fact that there's no in-game music. Unlike GRAW or the GameCube/PS2 versions, gameplay is pretty much silent, which can get boring at times. Having some music would contribute a lot to suspense and feel of the missions.

Gameplay - Very fun. Squad mates are directed by a pop-up menu rather than a command interface, which makes gameplay much faster and efficient. What's also new is the 3rd person perspective (though you can switch back to 1st at will) which adds a different style of play. The levels are very open, allowing you to tackle objectives through multiple ways. There are 15 missions that take you all across Korea, such as airfields, cities, forests, and more.

Although very impressive, there are a couple of setbacks. First, there is no blood in the game. With no type of hit indicator, it's hard to tell whether you've killed an enemy or not since a lot of times their animations can be really misleading. Second, going stealth is pretty much impossible. No matter how hard you try to hide or evade, the AI will find you almost single time. Lastly, there are invisible trigger points in the levels. There could be nothing in the area, and suddenly a ton of soldiers and vehicles will suddenly appear. While it doesn't detract from gameplay, it can get irritating.

Multiplayer - Up to 4 people can play split screen, and 16 online. While deathmatch can be fun, the co-op modes are what stand out the most. There is a ton of replay value found here.

Overall - Pick this up if you ever see it. You won't be disappointed.