Game - Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon 2 Vs. Counter Strike
 djhufford  rates it:    Community rates it:
   177 of 347 readers found this review helpful.

I felt like going to war. Only there are so many war games to choose from, I had trouble deciding which one to get. I chose two games sitting on the best-seller shelf. Both are similar in age, and both have similar cover art. Both enjoy a huge fanbase and both have online capabilities. Only thing left to do is kick the tires and give em’ a whirl.

Ghost Recon 2 is pretty straightforward. Within seconds of loading the disc you are thrust into action. Not much to set up or configure here. You can play in either first person or third person viewpoints. You are in charge of two teams, each consisting of three members. You are given a primary and secondary weapon of your choice, and grenades. The setting is North Korea and the pressure comes from being behind enemy lines. The single player missions come off as rather redundant. It’s your classic go from point a to point b and shoot everything in between. There is no game planning to speak off. You kinda just run towards the action with your troops and do your best not to get shot. This game is basically Rainbow Six with less tactics. It gives you a hefty 15 missions with which to get your bloodthirst on. So at least it takes more then one sitting to defeat it. The graphics are spectacular. And that says allot. After such titles as Doom and Resident Evil4 I did not think it was going to be possible for me to be wowed any longer with this generation of systems.

Where GR2 really shines is it’s multiplayer options. From Hamburger Hill to the various deathmatchs and rescue missions, online play is not lacking anything. I prefer the straight up deathmatches and I found loads of rooms from with to choose. Playing last man standing is also quite a ruse. I found the online experience to be intense and emotional.
Probably the second best online experience only to the mighty Halo 2.

Counter Strike comes with some baggage. To truly enjoy this game you have to understand a little bit about it’s history. It is made by a company called Valve. Valve has been credited with creating two of the top PC games of all time, Half-Life and Half-Life 2. Counter-Strike was invented by college students as a “mod” for Half Life. Valve really enjoyed this homemade mod, and actually bought the rights to it and enlisted the college students as employees. Since then, this homemade mod has spawned about half a dozen games across several platforms. Not bad for a couple of college students.

Unfortunately, Counter Strike doesn’t have the brilliant storytelling of Half-Life. This incarnation is much more straight forward. You choose a side. Either a terrorist or a Counter terrorist. Then you proceed to wipe out the opposite team. There are not many plot-twists or Easter eggs in the 11 mission campaign. Just shoot till your sick of shooting, and then shoot some more. Luckily for us, I have been told how great multiplayer is, so I’m dying to try it out. I jump online and....nothing. Maybe I just played this game too late, but there was not one person in the world online for me to play with. I waited for over an hour. I can’t describe the frustration of this. I can’t really blame this on the game though.

Counter Strike was dated before the XBox 2003 release date. It originally came out for PC in 1999. I am extremely pleased that Valve did not rest on its laurels and did not produce a straight port. The actually made tweaks to the engine and improved the graphics greatly. The missions seem to be more intense and quicker paced. This is not a bad way to
kill a few hours.

As I look at these two shooters, I do not see many differences. They both involve squad based war. The controls on each come off as tight and solid. Actual shooting is done really well with the physics at least seeming accurate. The both have better then usual graphics for this genre. They both take about the same time to beat. Although you can download additional content for Ghost Recon 2. The multiplayer options for GR2 are fabulous. I can only trust the Counter Strike was equally as fun online, as I didn’t get to play with anyone! Yes folks, I am going to score this one a draw. Both games have earned a solid 3.5 cans. I cannot really recommend one game over the other.

Added:  Monday, October 17, 2005

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