Ghost Recon Retreat
GHOST RECON 2 E3 PREVIEW
Ubisoft's GR2 Display: Shock & Awe
Lights and sounds flood the Los Angeles Convention Center like a hurricane hitting
the southeastern coast. The bright lights and many displays rival the majesty of Times Square in New York. Making my way
through the sea of bodies swaying back and forth to see the latest game or display, I finally make my way to the Ubisoft area. As I walk around the corner past the Far Cry display, there it is ... Ghost Recon 2.
Oriental architecture in GR2's display
reflected the game's East Asian setting
There before me is a camouflaged Humvee with a portrait of a screaming fighter jet in
the background. In the Humvee's machine gun turret stands Red Storm's Christian Allen, one of the Game Designers working
on GR2. He is decked out in the latest and greatest combat gear (the same as what was used to model the gear in GR2). Above him is the GR2 logo in all its grandeur standing 25-feet high on an oriental arched gateway.
GR2 Game Designer Christian Allen in the Humvee turret
Ubisoft's GR2 booth has three large plasma screens showcasing only the Xbox version
of Ghost Recon 2. Let me say early on in this article that no demo of the PC version was on display at E3. Although Ubisoft
has officially announced that the PC version of GR2 is in production concurrently with the Xbox version,
the staff at E3 didn't say anything regarding the PC. I tried to pry and pry in different ways, but it didn't work ;-)
Along with Christian Allen, I meet several other Red Storm staffers who are on hand to demo GR2:
Heather Chandler (GR2 Producer), Robbie Edwards (GR2 Producer), and Travis Getz (RSE Marketing Coordinator).
GR2 Producer Robbie Edwards being interviewed by a TV crew,
and Travis Getz manning the Humvee
The way that the demo worked was the person in the Humvee turret
was responsible for giving the commentary, while another person sat at a console beside the Humvee to
run the demo. The crowd is about three bodies deep trying to get a good look at
the main display overhead. That’s when Christian starts his running commentary of the demo ...
Christian Allen takes a turn beside the Humvee
to operate the GR2 demo
The New Ghosts
Christian first discusses the characters and their weapon
loadouts. GR2 has adopted the approach of Raven Shield Xbox where the player controls only one character
throughout the whole single player campaign. You play as Captain Scott Mitchell, a rifleman and squad leader.
Different from the fixed kits found in GR1, you can now pick primary and secondary weapons separately.
In the E3 demo, Mitchell's loadout includes the M8 assault rifle (the current XM8's name after going operational) without grenade launcher. For anti-armor, the Ghosts are no longer using the M136 (AT4). Instead, the Ghosts in GR2
will use the 84mm M3A2 MAAWS (Multi-Role Anti-Armor Anti-Personnel Weapon System), an updated version of the M3 RAAWS adopted by the U.S. Army Special Operations Command in the 1990's. This is a reloadable system that the Ghosts can carry into battle.
Accompanying Mitchell are three other Ghosts. First is Alicia Diaz. She is a Marksman carrying a variant of the M16 called the
M16SPR (Special Purpose Rifle), which is the primary weapon of Special Forces Marksmen. This is a semi-auto sniper/counter-sniper weapon utilized for precision fire.
Next is the Gunner, Sgt. Nick Salvatore. He uses the Mk 46 variant of the M249 SAW (Squad Automatic Weapon)
for squad support and cover fire.
Last but not least is is Master Sgt. Derrick Parker, who is a Grenadier. He packs an M8 with a M320 grenade launcher,
which he uses to lay down indirect fire on enemy positions.
E3 Demo: North Korean Airfield
The beginning of the demo shows the Ghosts in the wooded periphery of a
North Korean air force base. They run to the airfield from the insertion point and encounter some opposition.
Instead of using GR1's threat indicator that gave players a general idea which direction the enemy was at, GR2 uses a
threat radar at the top right corner of the screen. The explanation for where the player is
getting this info is from a UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) which is giving a video feed.
In addition to this, as the player's teammates spot enemies, they will appear on the radar.
In the demo, the S.A.S. (Special Air Service), the British special
forces, are pinned down at a location about one o’clock from the Ghosts entry point of the airfield. They
request assistance and the Ghosts heed the call. Obviously it is up to the player to determine which route they take,
but the demo was fairly linear to show some of the assets that GR2 has to offer, which is to be expected at E3.
Entering the base behind the enemy, the Ghosts encounter some resistance, but quickly do away with them.
The S.A.S. can now safely enter the scene. As the Ghosts and S.A.S. start to move forward to eliminate hostile opposition, a North Korean helicopter appears overhead. The player can now man a stationary anti-aircraft gun emplacement to take out the chopper. The chopper explodes mid-air and the parts of the aircraft (including spinning rotor blades) fall
realistically to the earth. This gives us a great demonstration of the Havok 2 physics implemented in GR2.
From here, the rest of the demo level unfolds ...
More Impressions ... Next
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