Ghost Recon : Shadow Wars 3DS Review

Tom Clancy is back and this time in the Ghost Recon warfront.  Tom Clancy’s titles have been hitting our consoles for years and now finally hit our handhelds in a “tactical” turn-based combat. Those who have played any of the previous Ghost Recon titles or any Tom Clancy titles you may have noticed that this is in fact the first Tom Clancy turned based title, and it’s also in 3D. If you have played Advance Wars and you loved it so much you couldn’t put it down, well you will have the same feeling with this title.

Story

The story is based around the modern/futuristic world where the Russian political party is sabotaging the Presidents reputation. The Russian Political Party will do whatever it takes to take out there President. It’s a bit odd, but develops more as you progress. Let’s just say oil plays a big part in the old democracy. Throughout the story you will come across quite a few characters that are shining in the role of being a hero. You will come across Banshee and Mint who are both very childhood related friends. Banshee who is a camouflaged spec-ops character as Mint is an engineer.  Haze the sniper, Duke the solider and Ritcher the heavy weapons expert. You will also see Saffron who is a female medic. The balance of characters is nice and the use of the story’s dialogue isn’t to repetitive so no complaints.

Gameplay

Anyone who is a fan of turn-based games will easily enjoy this, it’s the same system that we have been playing for a numerous of years but with it’s own touch. The use of the maps and weaponry make the game very unique compared to other turn-based titles. Throughout the game you will encounter a lot of different things that will make you go “oh that’s nice” by this I mean in certain areas you will notice that instead of having to run up to an enemies in a radios, you can actually shoot through walls, making it seem pretty realistic.  There will be countless moments where your team will come under fire; this is where the support mechanic plays a big role as you will need to support your team a lot. The characters have their own special ability which is key to winning the fight; you will come to love Banshee as she has the ability to stay hidden until an enemy has found her, giving you the advantage of being able to sneak behind enemies. It’s a nice use of character development and it portrays very well in the gameplay. The single player has a variety of missions to keep you on your guard, including missions where you will have to take control of flag points to earn ‘Command Powers’. This is basically a feature that allows you to fill up a characters ‘Power Points’ bar to allow them to use a special attack, heal them or call in an airstrike.  Other missions could also have you only being able to take 4 characters into that said map to complete a mission, again is a great function as it constantly drives at you to think tactical, whilst not being too hard.

Design

The 3D effect isn’t outstanding on this game compared to Super Street Fighter IV but this said it is very easy on the eyes and is a great title to pick up if you want to get use to a 3D title that isn’t too quick. The map designs are very good and unique, with a lot of nice little effects.

Overall

Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars is a great title for those who enjoyed Advanced Wars. The game might not appeal to everyone due to it’s turn-based nature but you shouldn’t let that put you off. The game is very addicting and has a huge variety of different maps and missions. The 3D isn’t amazing, but is gentle and pretty on the eyes. A must have for turn-based fans.

The Good

• Nice Story
• Great character development
• Great use of maps, shooting through walls is a nice feature
• A lot of missions to get through
• 3D is easy on the eyes

The Bad

• The 3D isn’t that great