It's been said that with Tom Clancy's name on a product, you can't go wrong. I'm still waiting for someone to disprove that. In the meantime, we get the next installment for the powerful and popular Xbox game Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon.
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon™: Island Thunder™ is Ubi Soft's latest title that will pull money out of our wallet and put some incredible squad-level destruction into our hands. Developed by Red Storm Entertainment, the developers raided their PC expansion packs for new-to-Xbox maps and delivered a classic Clancy-esque story line for all the armchair commanders among us. And, the reason we are seeing this so quickly? The need for more Xbox Livecontent for the growing rage of fanatics out there who turned the original Ghost Recon into such a big hit. Thanks, guys.
It's been said that you can get too much of a good thing. I'm still waiting for someone to disprove that, too.
Got your back!
So, what do we get? To start off, 20 maps. Four of them are repeats from the original Ghost Recon, but 16 are new to Xbox, pulled from the PC expansion packs. From plantations to the high sierra, a polling center to a prison, you've got plenty of territory to cover. Gameplay modes are Single, Team, and Co-op, with some maps unique to a particular mode. The types of scenarios include Reconnaissance, Firefight, Defend, Siege, Domination, Sharpshooter, and (my favorite) Hamburger Hill. There's more than 10 mission types, and again, some of them are unique to certain gameplay modes. You wanted variety? You got it.
And, in case you are worried, that someone got a "bright idea" and decided to really mess up an awesome title, don't. It's Ghost Recon: Island Thunder, so no one's been able to muck around with the tried and true Ghost Recon formula too much. (And, hopefully no one ever will, if you want my couple of coppers.) You don't need the original to play the new game, but for those of us who did wade through the blood and mud of Ghost Recon, there's still plenty of life in the old digs.
The Ghosts are in town.
What's the story? Try this on: Cuba, post-Castro. We're talking a couple of years from now because, Holy Sugarcane, that guy is getting old. Anyway, Castro's demise has left one of the largest power vacuums behind for you to clean up. A bunch of would-be dictators are trying to put themselves into power as the head of a new "puppet-democracy," and they're willing to beg, buy, and butcher the local people to get their votes.
Do you hate these guys yet? Good, because the Ghosts are being sent in to keep the election on the up and up. Try and keep the intimidation to a minimum, and push back against brutality where you see it. It's a taller order than it sounds. Remember, this ain't the U.S. It's not even the Florida elections. This is Cuba. The wanna-be dictators learned their lessons well from the old maestro, and they know they can get further with a kind word and an infantry division than they can with just the kind word. You've got to stop that. It's been said that a good man can't get elected anymore.
Yeah. Still waiting.
Jungle. Camouflage. I live for this.
It basically comes down to this, soldier. If you enjoyedGhost Recon, you are going to enjoy Ghost Recon: Island Thunder just as much, if not more. If you are an XboxLive player, this will be a must-have, unless you want to sit there and watch your online allies and enemies moving on to other wars without you. And, if you just get a thrill out of Tom-Clancy-style stories, what are you waiting for? You have interesting people to meet, greet, and kill. It's been said that the Ghost Recon license can't support too many more titles.
