Original Ghost Recon

[Stryder 0]

I know the original GR is up for free download at a few sites (ad supported) and was wondering if it's worth playing. It's a pretty old game. How does it compare to the original OFP?

[-Snafu- 79]

Some people here have spoken highly of it and there are quite a few mods/addons for the game.

I thought the ad supported GR1 was pulled?

[sander 14]

Hi,

The original Ghost Recon series is a nice game, but it offers a much more limited type of play than Flashpoint (no vehicles, smaller squads). Missions take place on a much smaller area than OFP ofcourse, but the levels were quite detailed. Forests had trees moving in the wind which caused me to fire at the environment several times being used to equate any sign of movement to enemy presence in OFP's static bushes. Similar to OFP careful and slow tactics would yield much better chance of success than the run & gun Rambo approach. The fact that the enemies spoke some phrases in the appropriate language added much to the atmosphere (e.g. Russian, Amharic, Spanish and in the Sum of All Fears derivative Afrikaans as well).

Regards,

Sander

[scubaman3D 0]

Why bother with gathering opinions. If its free, try it for yourself

Personally, I loved it at the time - and of course its dated now but the crazy part is people are still playing it online.

And with regards to how it compares with OFP, they are very different. I'd say OGR is more similar to Rainbow Six than it is to OFP. The story is a bit more realistic (as evidenced by recent events) and focuses more on small unit tactics, CQB, ambush and assault. OFP is a bit more of an RPG, and is more about larger scale, pitched battles.

[NeMeSiS 11]

I always played it in splitscreen COOP on my xbox, was alot of fun.

[Balschoiw 0]

Quote[/b] ]but the crazy part is people are still playing it online

I´ve recently been invited to a wedding and one guy at my table told me that he´s playing Blackhawk Down online and just recently joined an online clan. I told him about Arma, Flashpoint, COD4, AA and other multiplayer FPS and he didn´t even know one of that titles. I was a bit speechless

[SWAT_BigBear 0]

When GR was 1st released, about the only real fun our group could have was, setting a server up with small maps and the weakest pistol only.

It was very comical the way you could hit some one in the legs/arms and make them twitch and turn with every hit, up to 10-12 bullets before they died. The faster you could shoot....the funnier the animation looked and it made it very hard for them to get a clean shot back at you. (Would have made for great videos). A headshot would drop them like a fly though.

Both of my Asus 8800's came with free copies of GR Advanced Warfighter...... but I've yet to open them.

[funnyguy1 0]

3x yes...in fact I'm still playing it with my friends, and it still rox;)

[sander 14]

Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter is quite unlike its predecessor. In my opinion both the R6 and GR series have gone astray from the original games. While I can recommend playing GR1, I was not too fond of GRAW.

Regards,

Sander

[sanctuary 19]

Ghost Recon is one of the best tactical combat games ever, i continue to play it from time to time after all those years, the immersion in some missions and environment is unmatched.

The replay feature is just great to observe your mistakes and you great achievements inside of a mission.

Tons of community contents is available for it in the very bizarre case you would be bored with the stock ones and its 2 expansions.

Be sure to give a look into the awesome Centcom and Frostbite, along some other unofficial expansions like these 2, that features as much content as the original game.

[Baff1 0]

Ghost Recon is a rocking title.

It came out with in a month of Operation Flashpoint and was far more addictive for me.

I played it 10 hours a day every day for two years.

Like Flashpoint it plays as a battlefield simulation, only it is a squad based tactical shooter. You have no access to vehicles.

The maps are obviously far smaller (although considered huge in their day) and more along the scale found in America's Army.

If you enjoyed America's Army, this is the same kind of gameplay but with a single player and co-operative campaign.

I concur that GRAW and the R6 series are poor imitations of the Tom Clancy series up until that point.

I would imagine that the graphics look very dated these days although they far surpassed Operation Flashpoints.

It's well worth a look even if it's only to see how the genre evolved.

[Journeyman 0]

I played coop with my wife with this game for over a year, we loved it and still sometimes play it despite all the newer titles.

In terms of graphics it was well ahead of its time and still looks quite good against all the newer stuff. But it is the CQB element and the seemingly realistic enemy reactions and animations that make it such fun!

Also like has been said there is still a big community and an incredible amount of downloadable content available which is equally impressive!

There are two official expansions 'Desert Siege' and 'Island Thunder' which are a must have also.

I recently just bought the 'Gold Edition’, which is a 3 in 1 from Focus with the two expansions and all the patches on a DVD for around 10GBP (UK)! A great way to reinstall everything official without having to find all the various cases and patches. It also plays fine on Vista ... not many old games will do this!

Just like OFP1 this game is a legend in it's own right and you have no business not having it!  

[AwesomeWalrus 0]

I've been considering finding the freeware version of it just for the story. It's hilarious to me that the game is set in 2008 during a Georgian-Russian conflict.

However, I can say that OFP and Ghost Recon are two absolutely separate genres that have little to nothing in common.

[Lepardi 0]

I loved the coop in Ghost Recon.

[mr burns 132]

*hint* Make sure to check out the Spetsgruppa Vympel Mod *hint*

http://www.baconbomb.com/modworks/

[Rhodite 3]

I picked up GR1 when it was released and really enjoyed it.

It is certainly not a large scale game but what it does it does well.

The coop modes are fun as well as the adversarial team play modes.

As has been stated already the graphics were pretty cutting edge back then, but times have indeed moved much further on.

I used to play in a team for a short while untill said team realised just how rife the cheating was in the MP adversarial matches. This forced me to put the game down with dismay.

Nevertheless it's a fun title and worth a look if you find it in a bargain bin.

[BlackScorpion 0]

The graphics and the gameplay are quite outdated nowadays, to say atleast, but it's still an atmospheric game, especially if you got a few good people on TS and you're playing together, coop preferably. The mods help a lot, and on more difficult settings a pair of Ghosts has a helluva lot to do.

[monty67t 0]

The original Ghost Recon is an outstanding game. To me it's impossible to compare any FPS with the original OFP. They are way too different to compare, not even the same genre in my opinion.

There are some outstanding mods for GR, such as CENTCOM and No Easy Day that I would recommend. I still play it and enjoy it very much.

[Journeyman 0]

Indeed GR is a totally different game to OFP. The emphasis with OFP is with large-scale military engagements over open terrain and the ability to manipulate/use different weapons/vehicles during play.

GR on the other hand was more geared to small street battles or engagements in and around buildings although it was able to simulate quite large outdoor maps also it was best played in urban environments. You cannot interact with dropped weapons or vehicles in GR and your environment is smaller, but it is the detail that went into these environments and the atmosphere created by the detail to the enemy characters and their behaviour and the various sound effects that stood it apart from OFP.

In OFP most of the time you are shooting at small pixels with a set death animation which gets monotonous after a while.

In GR your enemy is often hiding around the back of that door that you just past and would be in your face with a bullet if you weren't quick enough! The animations were better done and there is much more tension in sneaking and engaging.

Unfortunately GR was never sequeled. The GRAW games play differently to GR and are not any way near as impressive IMHO!

[sic-disaster 311]

I wrote a review for Ghost Recon a while back.

Contains some screenshots as well as 2 gameplay video's seen from the replay function.

Might be an interesting read for you

http://www.freewebs.com/tacticalgamingrefuge/ghostrecon.htm

[dmitri 0]

OGR had some many good things in it, it's a shame none of that carried through into later "sequels".

Details like the players clothing actually appearing damp when they wade through water.. Great example of how much thought went into it.

[Heatseeker 0]

It was nice for an xbox game, but was also very overhyped... I liked:

-Interface.

-Level design.

-Environmental sound FX..

Thats it im afraid, i didnt like much more about it, some stuff i actually disliked alot!

[CameronMcDonald 146]

Let it suffice to say that I believe the original GR was the best of the series - the others are simply letdowns in comparison. Give it a go.

[Blackhawk 0]

I know the original GR is up for free download at a few sites (ad supported) and was wondering if it's worth playing. It's a pretty old game. How does it compare to the original OFP?

What sort of Sites are these?  

The Only Ghost recon i've played was GRAW (Came free with my computer) and Vegas (Which was crap).

I played one of the Console version of an Old Ghost recon which took place in a Jungle, Can't remember what it was called, But it was really good.

[chammy 7]

Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter is quite unlike its predecessor. In my opinion both the R6 and GR series have gone astray from the original games. While I can recommend playing GR1, I was not too fond of GRAW.

Regards,

Sander

Yes I have to agree, GRAW has lost that original GR feel, I really loved the old GR's, the mods that came out were just awesome. I would still play it but been too busy plus, . I still have the 3 CDs heh. The atmosphere is a bit more emersing than OFP was though with all the sound effects and such, GR had a different system to play sound files such as an automatic rifle, the ai actually fired auto and it sounded good, the AI even took cover. Now with GRAW, the only thing that makes it shine are the graphics and realistic movements. The sound is still shite I think though, ithink GR's sound was more raw and emersing, I think I am spelling that wrong. But I still play original OFP, both games take me back to those good ole days.