The many screens and movies of the game gave me the impression I would be taking on a topgame but quickly it became clear I was seriously mislead. Most sites bombarded Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon 2 to a classic with scores of up to 90%, something I find totally unacceptable!
If you don't agree with me, better to first read my review completely!

As with any Tom Clancy title, this game concerns countries that are a threat to world peace. We write North-Korea in the year 2011 and you're captain Scott Mitchell. There's a huge famine in the country but all help is being misused by an evil general who wants to form a strong army with it. When the country falls in a deep pit, a new government is formed. The weapons suppliers in Beijing (Peking) are caught by the new rulers and that's bad news for the general who can't manage to get new guns into the country. Therefore he goes to the Russians who are interested in supporting the general.

North Korea again gets hit by famine and at that moment the general has almost the entire army under his lead. He blames China for the famine and attacks. China sends its army but fears a direct confrontation since Russia has nuclear weapons. However, international troops are there to give help and the mission is: get rid of the general and his army.

The story indeed sounds interesting but that's it, while playing you won't have the feeling you're part of a web of intrigue. During the cut-scenes you see soldiers who give a bit of comment on the mission but the gameplay hasn't changed much from its predecessor. At first sight, nothing much has changed.

It's nice to perform a certain tactic on your opponents and one thing that did change is that the enemy is much more and better hidden behind grass and such. The A.I. however is laughable, both the enemy as your own troops are stupid as hell. Your partners make it their job to run in your way while your opponents like nothing more than getting slaughtered. Luckily your team mates are one small bit more intelligent than the enemies (who all suspiciously look alike - the milkman in North Korea must have had a very busy time...)

A real shame is the fact that there's no blood to be seen anywhere. "Unnecessary" you might say. Still, I think it should be present and the ability to jump also seems pretty necessary for me. Reloading goes extremely slow and you'll constantly get to see loading screens. Very irritating while playing !
Also when you're throwing a grenade, you've got no possibility to move. Talk about sitting duck...
The possibility to play in third person perspective is new and makes a change for once but I still prefer first person although that perspective doesn't contain a weapon model, only a crosshair, and again we've found another downpoint...

For the start of your mission you no longer get an overview map and selecting your teammates isn't possible anymore either. Too bad as you do get the option to unlock team members while afterwards you're not able to select them... You can also unlock weapons, vehicles and other stuff.
The weapons could have been done a lot better and then I'm talking about the sounds which are definitely below standard, a downpoint that was also present for Ghost Recon 1. This sequel has more negative sides than positive like the controls which are difficult and could have been made so much simpler. I've often found myself looking for the correct controls while trying to shoot down an enemy...

‘Lone Wolf’ is a new part in Ghost Recon 2 and this is definitely worthwhile. As "Lone Wolf", you (Scott Mitchell) are a soldier of the future. You've got a brand new gun that's currently still being tested by the US army and with it you can watch over obstacles and fire. There's a miniscule camera present that projects everything on a screen in your futuristic helmet. An original and good idea.

Also you'll have your own fighter plane that blows up all obstacles that come in your path but it need quite a long time to return into position. However, in the meantime you can use your "Air Bust" grenades (we'll let you find out about this mean little thingie yourself but the question remains whether you'll need it against the dumbasses of enemies). Nevertheless, Lone Wolf is a fun and original concept.

From one positive thing to another: If you've got Xbox Live I would suggest to buy this game anyway as Live is great in Ghost Recon 2. It's a lot of fun and will keep you clustered to your screen for hours.

Thanks to the "Lone Wolf" addition the points for concept raise a lot. The graphics aren't up to par and the gameplay is decent at most (which is not good enough for such a title). The sounds are very good but then I'm not talking about the weapons. If you've got Live and you like this type of games, then I would suggest buying it. Be warned though, the game contains a lot of downpoints and in my opinion there aren't enough pro's to make up for the con's.
If in doubt, get Halo 2.