Creating a very interesting and challenging environment to fight in, Island Thunder is one of the best in the series.

User Rating: 8.7 | Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Island Thunder PC
Ubi Soft Entertainment has done yet again, bringing us players a new expansion pack for Ghost Recon, Island Thunder. This pack provides veterans and new players alike of Ghost Recon eight new missions to play through. New maps include lush, detailed jungle environments. One new feature of Island Thunder is that you will witness the insertion and extraction of your squad members via helicopter or jetty. It adds more to the realism of the game, as in the previous two Ghost Recon games, you would just start out at a certain point, but you really didn’t know how you got there. Not too many new weapons will come up, but one in particular, the MMI grenade launcher, will add more power to the arsenal. Similar to the last expansion pack, Desert Siege, you will be able to add experience points to the soldiers, but the change from four points to five will symbolize that yet another year has passed between the two expansion packs, giving them more training and experience. The eight new missions will be a challenge, as the foggy forest environment makes it hard to pinpoint enemies, thus testing your skills of stealth and strike. Overall, like its two predecessors before it, gameplay hasn’t really changed too dramatically, but AI has been improved, as enemies will try to flank you in attempt to take you out in the battlefield. I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the new soundtrack that was part of the Island Thunder package, as it really adds to the atmosphere of the game, and it breaks the shell from the classic Ghost Recon music. Several different new tracks to accompany the eight new missions available in Island Thunder, and I really liked the campaign ending music, as that perfectly portrayed the mood in that moment. Sound has definitely taken a boost in Island Thunder. Like Desert Siege, Island Thunder does not come with too many extra features, but does include five new multiplayer maps. A plentiful addition to the online action, and it also improves the amount of fun you’ll have with fellow players as you push your way through them. All in all, the five new multiplayer maps and several new weapons makes multiplayer a little bit more fun for everyone. Well, like all the other Ghost Recon games before it, the hardware requirements still haven’t changed. Intel Pentium II 450MHz, 128MB RAM, 16MB 3D Accelerator, 4x CD-ROM drive, 1GB disc space. Still the same low requirements so that the player base can be broadened, and I think Ubi Soft still succeeds in bringing high quality gameplay to those who can’t afford a high-end PC. The storyline of Island Thunder now shifts from the Eritrean-Ethiopian conflict to the Cuban theatre. It’s been four years since Fidel Castro’s death in 2006, and now the Cuban government is holding free elections to determine who will be the new ruler. The FDG (La Frente Democratica de la Gente or People's Democratic Front) is an anti-American political faction, which is using violence as a mean of coercion, and now the Ghosts have been sent in to stop the FDG’s plans. The story overall is probably the most interesting out of the entire three so far in my opinion, since it’s fairly easy to understand and is very linear to follow. Good solid base storyline, and I’m sure that people will enjoy it. The graphics in this game aren’t too differently structured from the previous games, but all in all, it’s still the same. The major difference is that the game switches from a desert environment to a jungle one. The new jungle areas are impressively mapped out, and they are very nice to play through, as they are very rich in detail. Rag-doll still hasn’t been mastered in this expansion pack, but hopefully we’ll see it in action when Ghost Recon 3 comes out in stores.