Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon 2

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon 2 moves the tactical series from the Balkan and South American conflicts of the first game to a near future and tense situation on the Korean Peninsula, where the player commands a team of elite Ghost unit soldiers. Compared to the first game, the Xbox version puts greater emphasis on action and accessibility, missions are more linear and the pace brisker, but the core principle - planning an approach, using cover, and coordinating with squadmates from a distance - remains the heart of the game and sets it apart from the more straightforward war shooters of the time.

Development was handled by Red Storm Entertainment, the same studio co-founded by author Tom Clancy that was also behind the first game, and the Xbox version benefited from the console with the most powerful hardware on the market at the time, offering larger environments and more enemies on screen at once. The player leads the team through a set of commands for positioning squadmates and directing their fire, which gives even the solo campaign the feel of commanding a small unit rather than just controlling a single soldier. Multiplayer via Xbox Live was one of the series' big draws at the time, enabling team matches with up to twelve players, an above-average feature for a 2004 console and one of the reasons players kept coming back to the Xbox version even after finishing the campaign, and why it became the definitive version of the game. The Korean Peninsula setting, from snowy villages to industrial zones, also gave the missions a visual variety that the first game, set mostly in a single region, didn't offer, further contributing to the impression of a considerably larger and more ambitious sequel.

Why play it: The Xbox version is the original, most direct form of Ghost Recon 2 as designed by Red Storm Entertainment, with the strongest graphics of the consoles of the time and the most extensive online mode of any release of this installment, making it the natural choice for anyone who wants to experience the series at its strongest form of the era.