quote IGN.com

August 11, 2003 - Ghost Recon, the popular first-person squad-based shooter, has now made an appearance on all three current generation consoles, and the public's response couldn't have been more extreme. On one hand, the Xbox version of the game, perhaps the most like its PC counterpart, has received more praise than not, thanks in no small part to the inclusion of online play. In fact, Ghost Recon is officially the most-played game on Microsoft's Xbox Live service. On the other hand, the PS2 version of the game had no online component at all. Worse yet, the single-player experience was watered down for no apparent reason with the implementation of an all too accurate radar and highlighting reticule.
Not long ago, Ubi Soft announced Ghost Recon: Island Thunder for Xbox, an Xbox-only expansion disc that only appeared to dig the knife that much deeper into PS2 gamers' hearts. But with today's announcement of Ghost Recon: Jungle Storm, it looks like Ubi Soft was actually saving the best for last.

For release exclusively on the PlayStation 2, Jungle Storm is not really a sequel to Ghost Recon, but more of an expansion, much like Island Thunder. In fact, Jungle Storm contains every mission and map from Island Thunder, as well as an equal amount of new, exclusive multiplayer and campaign missions. Now if that's not some love for us PS2 gamers, than we don't know what is. Well, Ubi apparently didn't feel content with giving us a game twice the size of Island Thunder (there are 31 multiplayer maps and 16 campaign missions) and has given every Ghost Recon fan (on the PS2, anyways) exactly what they wanted: online play.

Jungle Storm will be a broadband-only (DSL, cable, T1, etc) title, and will allow for 16 players simultaneously. The game will also include ten varying multiplayer modes, three of them being completely new, though no details were given as to what we might be able to expect. But as exciting as the inclusion of online play is, there's still more to this game than meets the eye. Much like SOCOM, Jungle Storm will support voice commands to AI teammates. We were told that the game will have 160 voice commands. We have no earthly idea as to what the majority of these commands will be, but regardless, 160 is a LOT of commands. Let's hope players will be able to remember all of them during gameplay!

The mic support serves a double purpose: voice communication. Like many of the newer online PS2 games, Jungle Storm will fully support voice chatting, not unlike the Xbox version of Ghost Recon. We were unable to play the game online so we don't know how giving commands and chatting with your buddies will work, but we assume that holding a specified button will let you alternate between the two. To make the online experience as complete as can be, there needs to be a detailed stat-tracking system, and lucky for us, that's exactly what Ubi Soft intends to have. While details are still being kinked out, we were assured that at the very least there would be monthly and overall statistics available on Ubi Soft's official website. Oh, and did we mention that online play is completely free? Sounds good to us.

As mentioned earlier, the entire Island Thunder game will be included in Jungle Storm, as well as new single and multiplayer missions set in Colombia, as opposed to Island Thunder's Cuban locale. The new missions, in the context of the story, take place a few months after the events in Island Thunder and have the Ghosts coming to aid of the Colombian government. You job? To take out the Colombian drug cartel before they can take the initiative and strike a retaliatory blow to the government that shut them down.

The single-player game has received several tweaks that should make the campaign a more intuitive and accessible experience, yet still keep the tension and atmosphere that the Ghost Recon games are known for. First off, players can now point the reticule at the ground and press the R2 button to shoot an invisible red beam that will set a waypoint for either the Alpha or Bravo team. It's a quick way of moving your teams around without having to access the map screen. Of course, for more detailed commands you can still use the map screen, but for quick orders, the new method is quite a convenience. Also, we didn't turn in enough playtime to feel the difference, but we're told that the enemy AI is being completely reworked so that the opposition will be deadlier than ever.
Other notable improvements are found in the game's visuals. If you've played the previous Ghost Recon game, you should know that it wasn't always clear where the environmental boundaries were; a hill that looked shallow enough to walk on was too often an invisible wall. In Jungle Storm, a greater emphasis has been put on letting the player clearly know where these boundaries lie. Slopes are steeper, and also colored slightly different, making the distinction much more explicit. Actually, the game as a whole has received a bit of a facelift with an overall brighter, more varied look. It definitely beats the muddy browns and flat greens found in almost every level of Ghost Recon.

Ghost Recon: Jungle Storm looks to be everything the last game wasn't. With a good helping of single and multiplayer missions, the now requisite online play, support for voice commands and communication, scheduled online tournaments, and improved graphics and AI, there's very little Ubi Soft is leaving out. Heck, there's even a four-player online co-op mode that can be played during the campaign missions. But there must be some potential downfalls, right? To some extent, yes. The reticule that lights up when placed over an enemy is still in (though there are talks of making it a user-defined option), and then there's always the problem of online cheaters. We've all witnessed the fate of SOCOM, and nothing makes us not want to play online games more than cheating.

Ghost Recon: Jungle Storm is scheduled to ship this November for the PlayStation 2. Check back with IGN for more in-depth coverage of the game in the coming weeks. And if you're itching to catch a glance of Jungle Storm, check the media page below for a number of new, high-res shots.

-- Kaiser Hwang

quote BigBalla118

This is where all new news from Ghost Recon: Jungle Storm will be posted.

Here is an article from IGN.com [+++]

quote IGN.com

August 11, 2003 - Ghost Recon, the popular first-person squad-based shooter, has now made an appearance on all three current generation consoles, and the public's response couldn't have been more extreme. On one hand, the Xbox version of the game, perhaps the most like its PC counterpart, has received more praise than not, thanks in no small part to the inclusion of online play. In fact, Ghost Recon is officially the most-played game on Microsoft's Xbox Live service. On the other hand, the PS2 version of the game had no online component at all. Worse yet, the single-player experience was watered down for no apparent reason with the implementation of an all too accurate radar and highlighting reticule.
Not long ago, Ubi Soft announced Ghost Recon: Island Thunder for Xbox, an Xbox-only expansion disc that only appeared to dig the knife that much deeper into PS2 gamers' hearts. But with today's announcement of Ghost Recon: Jungle Storm, it looks like Ubi Soft was actually saving the best for last.

For release exclusively on the PlayStation 2, Jungle Storm is not really a sequel to Ghost Recon, but more of an expansion, much like Island Thunder. In fact, Jungle Storm contains every mission and map from Island Thunder, as well as an equal amount of new, exclusive multiplayer and campaign missions. Now if that's not some love for us PS2 gamers, than we don't know what is. Well, Ubi apparently didn't feel content with giving us a game twice the size of Island Thunder (there are 31 multiplayer maps and 16 campaign missions) and has given every Ghost Recon fan (on the PS2, anyways) exactly what they wanted: online play.

Jungle Storm will be a broadband-only (DSL, cable, T1, etc) title, and will allow for 16 players simultaneously. The game will also include ten varying multiplayer modes, three of them being completely new, though no details were given as to what we might be able to expect. But as exciting as the inclusion of online play is, there's still more to this game than meets the eye. Much like SOCOM, Jungle Storm will support voice commands to AI teammates. We were told that the game will have 160 voice commands. We have no earthly idea as to what the majority of these commands will be, but regardless, 160 is a LOT of commands. Let's hope players will be able to remember all of them during gameplay!

The mic support serves a double purpose: voice communication. Like many of the newer online PS2 games, Jungle Storm will fully support voice chatting, not unlike the Xbox version of Ghost Recon. We were unable to play the game online so we don't know how giving commands and chatting with your buddies will work, but we assume that holding a specified button will let you alternate between the two. To make the online experience as complete as can be, there needs to be a detailed stat-tracking system, and lucky for us, that's exactly what Ubi Soft intends to have. While details are still being kinked out, we were assured that at the very least there would be monthly and overall statistics available on Ubi Soft's official website. Oh, and did we mention that online play is completely free? Sounds good to us.

As mentioned earlier, the entire Island Thunder game will be included in Jungle Storm, as well as new single and multiplayer missions set in Colombia, as opposed to Island Thunder's Cuban locale. The new missions, in the context of the story, take place a few months after the events in Island Thunder and have the Ghosts coming to aid of the Colombian government. You job? To take out the Colombian drug cartel before they can take the initiative and strike a retaliatory blow to the government that shut them down.

The single-player game has received several tweaks that should make the campaign a more intuitive and accessible experience, yet still keep the tension and atmosphere that the Ghost Recon games are known for. First off, players can now point the reticule at the ground and press the R2 button to shoot an invisible red beam that will set a waypoint for either the Alpha or Bravo team. It's a quick way of moving your teams around without having to access the map screen. Of course, for more detailed commands you can still use the map screen, but for quick orders, the new method is quite a convenience. Also, we didn't turn in enough playtime to feel the difference, but we're told that the enemy AI is being completely reworked so that the opposition will be deadlier than ever.
Other notable improvements are found in the game's visuals. If you've played the previous Ghost Recon game, you should know that it wasn't always clear where the environmental boundaries were; a hill that looked shallow enough to walk on was too often an invisible wall. In Jungle Storm, a greater emphasis has been put on letting the player clearly know where these boundaries lie. Slopes are steeper, and also colored slightly different, making the distinction much more explicit. Actually, the game as a whole has received a bit of a facelift with an overall brighter, more varied look. It definitely beats the muddy browns and flat greens found in almost every level of Ghost Recon.

Ghost Recon: Jungle Storm looks to be everything the last game wasn't. With a good helping of single and multiplayer missions, the now requisite online play, support for voice commands and communication, scheduled online tournaments, and improved graphics and AI, there's very little Ubi Soft is leaving out. Heck, there's even a four-player online co-op mode that can be played during the campaign missions. But there must be some potential downfalls, right? To some extent, yes. The reticule that lights up when placed over an enemy is still in (though there are talks of making it a user-defined option), and then there's always the problem of online cheaters. We've all witnessed the fate of SOCOM, and nothing makes us not want to play online games more than cheating.

Ghost Recon: Jungle Storm is scheduled to ship this November for the PlayStation 2. Check back with IGN for more in-depth coverage of the game in the coming weeks. And if you're itching to catch a glance of Jungle Storm, check the media page below for a number of new, high-res shots.

-- Kaiser Hwang