I’ve played Ghost Recon on and off since…well forever. I first played it on PS2, and it’s the only game to get the honor of first install (and never uninstall) on every PC I’ve ever owned, paired with the incredible Heroes Unleashed mod. I’m going to try to explain why I still come back to it. I’ll take you along with me via screenshots I took over my last few outings.

First let’s set the stage. It’s the futuristic year of 2008 and the world teeters on the brink of war. Radical Russian nationalists want to restore the old Soviet Union and invade neighboring Ukraine and Belarus, with Georgia soon to follow. In response the US sends your light infantry special forces unit known as the Ghosts to pull off important missions before and during the impending war. Far fetched I know.

Let’s address the elephant in the room - the graphics. Ghost Recon isn’t a looker, even for it’s time. You can’t even see your gun, just a reticle. Back then it was done due to limitations but today I still think it helps a graphically limited game hold up better than they would have. Your imagination helps fill in the gaps. Just look at this sick reload animation!

When you get down to playing and you’re trying to figure out which bush hides the guy that just smoked your sniper team, all the graphic details are the last things on your mind. What you’re focused on is moving in on the bad guys

At it’s core the game is a tactical shooter. You use your team of 6 guys broken in up to 3 teams to scout ahead, lay down cover fire or flank. They don’t do a lot on their own but the cool part is you can jump to any member of your squad. Controlling them remotely is done with a simple map, no in depth planning like in Rainbow Six/DoorKickers. You just tell what team where to go (you can link multiple waypoints to do flanks), how bold they should be in movement (stop when shot at or move forward no matter what) and how they should engage enemies (don’t fire unless fired upon, normal aimed shots, or suppress/use grenades). If you want to get fancy you can even tell them what direction to face when they get to their destination

Compared to Arma 3, Ghost Recon AI is limited in functionality BUT they are so much easier to control in my opinion. In Arma it always feels like I have to be a keyboard pianist to do anything with them, let alone break them into separate teams doing separate things at once. In Ghost Recon I can’t expect miracles but I can manually control them at any point to do the trickiest/coolest parts. This simplicity lets me focus on what’s going on and not what key command to get them to do the right thing. More than anything I think that is the key to immersion in games, and Arma Reforger is doing well in that regard.

Enemy AI is surprisingly good for its time. If you shoot at them their first reaction will be to run for cover or maybe take some pot shots in your direction. If you pull back and hide they will slowly make their way towards you or try to flank your last known position. They will make you regret your mistakes. Under most circumstances if you are careful and have another team nearby to back you up you’ll pull through okay. If you like to live dangerously Heroes Unleashed has game modes with XXL versions that spawn way more enemies than normal and you’ll probably end up regretting your life choices!

Let me talk about the Heroes Unleashed mod real quick. It takes the core vanilla game and adds HUNDREDS of maps made or imported over the years, made them all compatible with all game modes, added tons of weapons and gear etc. Gigs worth of stuff added to a base game that takes up a few MB. It feels like a massive “more of the same but better” type of mod which is the kind I like most. And if you don’t like something it’s easy to change it through included mini mods that act as a settings menu. You can truly feel the passion which is always great to see!

The use of mid size levels instead of wide open worlds is underrated too. I love a good open world don’t get me wrong but there’s something to be said for having a game where you just load it up, make a few choices and get right to the fun without a ton of travel. Most missions will last from 15-30 min which makes it nice for busy schedules.

The simple, serious and surprisingly immersive fun it provides still holds up better than many. The controls are different (but not bad) and the graphics are very dated but it has earned a spot on my desktop even to this day. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk!