Ghostly jungle jaunt
Ghost Recon: Mission Pack Island Thunder
http://www.ghostrecon.com/islandthunder.php
Ubi Soft Entertainment http://www.ubisoft.com

I spent a fair bit of my leave period replaying the complete Ghost Recon series. After battling it out in the streets of the failed state of Georgia in Ghost Recon and then moving into the deserts of Eritrea for Desert Siege, I was very happy when this latest mission pack took me into the heart of the Cuban jungle.

Island Thunder is a new expansion pack for owners of the original game. It adds eight new single-player missions, five new multi-player maps, 12 new weapons, new Cuban and allied vehicles and, best of all, helicopter insertions.

The expansion pack is the culmination of a couple of years’ experience by the developers and this really shows with well-designed levels and probably the best single-player experience I’ve had with the game. The enemy AI is particularly switched on and makes for some extremely difficult encounters (and much swearing as well I must say).

All up it is great expansion and if you own the original it is a must-have purchase. If you don’t have the original, Ubi Soft recently released a Ghost Recon complete pack with the original game and the two official mission packs ... everything needed to get started in this great gaming world.

While I’m on the subject of Ghost Recon, the modding community has really matured in the past few months. Over Christmas a complete WW2 mod Day of Infamy was released, but perhaps of more interest is the development of a Timor mod. Yep, this mod will explore what would’ve happened if the guys landing at Komoro were opposed on that very first day in September 1999.

The author already has mods for the original game and Desert Siege to introduce Aussies to the game (Aussie SAS as seen in Afghanistan for the Desert Siege mod). Keep an eye on his Op Stabilise mod or pick up the ADF uniform mod here http://www.users.bigpond.com/ajbenke/index.htm

Other Ghost Recon news is the recent release of the game on both XBox and PS2. The console release includes the Desert Siege mod and although it takes some serious getting used to, it is an easy way to waste a few hours in front of the TV.

Ghost Recon (and its official mods) require at least a 450 MHz processor, 128 MB RAM and a 16MB 3D card to play.

Combat Flight Simulator 3 puts you in the pilot’s seat of famous WW2 planes

COMPETITION

The Gamesman has a copy of Combat Flight Simulator 3, the Ghost Recon complete pack for PC as well as a PS2 version of the game and a copy of Blinx: The Time Sweeper for XBox to give away. Entries should be e-mailed to ADFgamesmen@telstra.com with the name of the game you would like to win in the subject line. Only one entry per person, subsequent entries will be discarded. Please include your full name and mailing address in the e-mail or your entry won’t be accepted.

Combat Flight Simulator 3
http://www.microsoft.com/games/combatfs3/
Microsoft Games Studios http://www.microsoft.com/games

CFS3 puts players back in the European skies during the height of the fighting in WW2. While many sims have done it in the past and Ubi’s IL-2 Sturmovik remains the pick of the hardened prop-sim crowd, this latest version of Microsoft’s long-running franchise does manage to add something new the genre.

CFS3’s dynamic campaign is about the best I’ve seen in a WW2-era game (European Air War got close) and for those not really interested in the tactical-level flying and fighting, many hours can be spent fighting the operational-level war. For those not really inclined to wear the stripes of an air vice-marshal, the computer does a pretty reasonable job of controlling the higher-level activities and allows the player to strap in to fly and fight.

Microsoft combat sims have never been the most technically correct so as to attract a wider cross-section of pilots. While the hard-core crowd may turn their nose up at the dumbing down of a sim, they can’t fault the MS crew for leaving a lot of options and the ability to completely recreate flight models and aircraft using published developer’s kits.

CFS3 also introduces some of the what-if aircraft of WW2 to the gaming environment. Reminiscent of Lucas Art’s Secret Weapons of Luftwaffe, CFS3 introduces aircraft that never made it into production before the end of WW2.

Planes such as the P-80 Shooting Star, the very futuristic looking Curtiss XP-55 Ascender and the Dehavilland Vampire can now mix it up against the push-pull Dornier 335 Arrow and the huge flying wing Gotha Go 229. All up Microsoft include 18 flyable aircraft but there are numerous more to be downloaded from the web.

My biggest disappointment with CFS2 was no co-operative multi-play. The latest version of the game has fixed this by adding it to several other multi-play options and it is now possible to play online in huge battles with squad mates to support your chances of becoming an ace.

Some people have had a fair bit of difficulty getting it to run but I was lucky in that it played no probs on my system.

Microsoft does recommend using Direct X 9 for those who haven’t got it and a pretty decent gaming rig will obviously only help in that all-important push for frame rates.

At the time of writing Microsoft had just released the first patch for the game. I would encourage everyone to get it ASAP as it really does make for a more pain-free experience (particularly for hardened simulator pilots).

It’s not IL-2 but then again it doesn’t try to be. CFS3 is the WW2 sim for the masses and in that respect it does a great job.

Microsoft recommends at least a P400, 900MB HDD space, 16MB 3D graphics card and 64MB RAM. I would definitely double these if you are thinking about getting the game.

Console Corner: XBox
Blinx The Time Sweeper
Microsoft Games Studios http://www.microsoft.com/games

It seems each console must have it’s cute, cuddly – but very vicious – gaming hero.

Following the well-worn path of Sonic, Banjo and Crash, Blinx is a cat with attitude that must battle evil in order to save the day.

This is a fast paced, high-energy and extremely bright (as in flashy colours) 3D platformer that adds the extra dimension of time control to the mix.

It takes a while to get confident controlling Blinx and the camera at the same time so the game has a gradual learning curve in-built.

Basically the player uses Blinx and his amazing vacuum to clean up monsters who are causing time to decay and the world to plunge into chaos ... oh, there’s also a pretty damsel in distress to rescue.

In between you can manipulate time after sucking up the required combination of time crystals in order to reverse damage, get an extra lease on life or just pause time to go on a cleaning spree.

Bright, loud and very anime-inspired it will appeal to kids and adults alike (if they can get past the bright colours).

Not the best platformer out there by any means but an interesting new twist on this console favourite.