Publisher: Ubisoft

Developer: Ubisoft

Release Date: 3/22/2011

Available Exclusively On

When you think of Tom Clancy or Ghost Recon, you probably aren’t thinking of turn-based strategy. Ghost Recon takes the weirdest and most unlikely departure that is sure to become a disaster, but works well and culminates into a great little TBS game. This would be a great game, whether it had the Ghost Recon name or not. Traditional fans of the series may cry foul or turn their nose up, but portable fans and turn-based strategy fans will likely get hooked. Ghost Recon has never been known for deep or complex stories, and Shadow Wars is no exception. You play a squad of elite soldiers trying to stop a war between the Russians and Kazakhstan. Due to the lengthy campaign (a good 15 hours or so), you get an entertaining story that you actually want to see an ending to. While the characters aren’t very deep, you do grow somewhat attached.

Of course, you want great tactical gameplay in a game like this, and Shadow Wars delivers. While it may not be very deep, it’s suspenseful and has various missions that will put you on edge sometimes. The enemies are just regular soldiers, but as the game moves along and you level up, they get tougher, and eventually you get drones thrown at you, which are pretty tough against anything but explosives. Each of the six ghosts is completely different, such as one who uses a mini-gun, which is good for up-close firepower; Haze is the sniper; and Banshee uses a cloaking device, so she is invisible to everything unless right next to an enemy. You will use each ghost and rely on their powers and abilities because each mission will require you to really choose wisely how to move about the map.

Each ghost can gain command points by killing enemies, which can then be used for their special power. Duke and Banshee can use Rapid Strike, which gives them one extra turn, or Haze can use Super Shot, which is pretty much a hit-kill sniper shot. Of course, their secondary weapons can be used this way too, like grenades or Duke’s portable missile launcher. Most maps have various command flags that you can capture to earn command points for the entire squad that can be used to give a ghost another turn, give everyone a huge command point boost, or call in an airstrike on outdoor maps for devastating attacks. You can use cover, like in regular games, that will reduce damage, such as going into buildings or being next to obstacles. You also have an attack range that will be reduced the farther the enemy is, but this isn’t anything new to TBS players and should fit right in.

While all this sounds deep, it really isn’t. Sure, on the field, you have to use your brain and decide how to move about the map wisely, because 99% of the time you’re greatly outnumbered, and a dumb move can cost you the game. Each map is completely different, but most objectives tend to be the same. After a mission is complete, you can distribute points to level up your ghosts, which gives them more health, further movement, and more damage. You can also equip weapons, but I was greatly disappointed in this because each ghost only gets one other option for each category, and I stuck with the first one through the whole game.

There are other problems with the game being way too hard on anything but easy, and even then, you’ll fail missions a lot. Thankfully, there’s a save feature, but towards the end, you’re greatly outnumbered by enemies that take forever to kill, even if you’re at the highest level. I found this unfair, and despite being intense by getting out with a hair of health left, it was exhausting because some levels dragged on forever. Despite these shortcomings, the campaign is varied and mixes things up a lot, so this kind of help.

Don’t expect anything deep that you expect from most turn-based strategy games; just come in expecting a lot of fun activities. The game is extremely tough and doesn’t offer a deep and really interesting story like most turn-based strategy games do. The graphics are also nothing special, even with decent 3D effects. You’re not going to see anything that you haven’t seen in a portable TBS game. Shadow Wars is a great entry into the 3DS and will keep you busy for quite some time.