Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Jungle Storm Preview

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon is one of the preeminent political fiction novelist's most successful game franchises, supported by an extremely dedicated fan base since the game's PC release in late 2001. While its slow, methodical pace and its unfaltering dedication to realism made it unattractive to those seeking a more immediate, fast-twitch experience, Ghost Recon--along with its two, subsequent expansions--managed to thaw the curmudgeonly hearts of one of the most difficult-to-please subsets of the gaming community: the grognards (wargamers).

Now, as the release of Ghost Recon 2 looms, Gameloft is finalizing development on an N-Gage version of the franchise, entitled Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon. Although the title's storyline and map designs are original, the game bears a close resemblance to its PC brethren, especially the Island Thunder expansion, which shares the mobile version's South American setting.

The N-Gage Ghost Recon pits you against a large, Colombian militia called the MFLC. The group is apparently responsible for a large portion of cocaine exported from the country. In order to combat this menace, you must complete eight missions, most of which involve toasting terrorists, freeing hostages, and destroying opposing vehicles.

The gameplay mechanics of the N-Gage Ghost Recon will be familiar to veterans of any iteration of the series. Gamers will still enjoy the phantasmal ability to switch from one "Ghost" unit to another--an important component of the original Ghost Recon that will likely be absent from its sequel. Control follows the console shooter mold, with the N-Gage's directional pad controlling the player's viewpoint (as would the console controller's second analog stick), and its numerical pad controlling basic movement and strafing, as would a console's primary analog stick. The number pad also is responsible for controlling shooting, team orders, grenade tossing, reloading, and switching weapons. At first, this cramped, digital control scheme gave us the distinct impression of piloting an SUV, rather than an agile, war-weathered soldier. Eventually, however, this sensation became less acute.

Judging by the current build, Ghost Recon's graphics will easily be among the best on the N-Gage. The game's character models looked sharp, and its textures crisp--in or out of night vision mode. Almost every mission ends with a real-time cutscene in which everything explodes. That is rarely a bad feature in a game.

The game's robust Bluetooth multiplayer options include support for up to eight players in games of Defend, in which teams must guard their respective locations from attackers; Deathmatch, a killing free-for-all, co-op mode, which pits you and some friends against the MFLC; or Survival mode, in which players fight to stay alive. Slight latency issues occasionally arose, particularly for those not hosting, but this slowdown did not cripple gameplay.

Upon its release, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon will almost assuredly be a top-notch title, worthy of the Gameloft name.