Review update: 10-22-04

© B Y ..S T E V E ..W E L S H
Oregon MacPioneers User Group (Omug)

Prologue:
The following comes directly from the pages of my best friend’s diary. His family doesn’t know I’m sharing this with you. Shoot, they probably never knew he kept a diary. Even his fellow soldiers didn’t know. But I did; like I said, I was his best friend. I don’t think his family will mind my letting this out, I mean, somebody has to know... and if somebody has to, it had better be his family. It won’t hurt if you know, either. After all, this never really happened — you’ll never read it in a newspaper or the back pages of some congressional report. No, this never really happened. But he was my best friend. If he wasn’t with us that day, he probably would have been a journalist in Kansas City. That’s probably why, even though it was against orders to write anything down, he kept a diary. My name? That’s classified, and so is his. But don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine. It’s time I let my best friend tell this story...

Diary Entry 1: Somewhere near Tacoma, Washington, 1600 Hours (4 p.m.)

Our unit of 6 Ghosts is taking a break right now in the afternoon sun. Ha, if you can call laying belly down in grass and mud behind an abandoned cabin while 30 punks with AK-74 assault rifles roam the hillside just across a dried out creekbed a “break.” But I’m in charge of these Ghosts, and to make sure we don’t become real ghosts, it’s time to become One with the dirt. If I were here alone, there’d be no time to jot these entries down, but, since I’ve got company, keeping this little journal helps keep my sanity while we try to do the insane.

It was only 20 minutes ago that that our helicopter dropped us in the farmland hillside not far from this cabin. Funny, this cabin reminds me of the one I used to sleep in when I attended MacCamp years ago in my teens, back in Oregon. I smiled, even here, thinking about those days. But I wasn’t packing my Mac with me now, just my sniper rifle and other essentials.

This was a small patch of farm land, and we were fenced in. Because the drop point was so close to this cabin, the noise from the chopper blades announced our arrival, unfortunately. We took down 2 of them within seconds of landing — one of ‘em even tried to rush us in the open. Not a smart move. But it was quiet now, except for the sound of some birds in the trees.

I looked through my scope to check up on my buddies: Hans, our demolitions specialist, was camped out at the southwest corner of the cabin with Susan, one of our riflemen ...well, riflewomen, if I’m going to be politically correct, right? You know, I don’t care what equal rights bull led to our forces makeup, it still doesn’t feel right having a gal out here in harms way. But, I’ve got to hand it to her, she can shoot. The 2 of them made up our Bravo group.

Off to my right, in a clump of high grass on a slope to the right of the cabin, is Bobby, our other sniper. Got to hand it to Bob, stealth is his game. He is so decked out in grass and mud I had to look 3 times through my scope to spot him — and I knew where he was. About 10 feet behind him is Javon, with his MP5 (submachine gun with silencer). They are my Charlie outfit.

Covering my back is Brandon, a guy who can handle just about any weapon. For this mission he picked a new piece of test arsenal, the OICW (Objective Individual Combat Weapon), which he quickly nicknamed “Chunky.” Chunky can do everything the M16 can do, but has a 20-mm grenade launcher mounted on top, with a 6-round cartridge. Brandon is our Arnold Schwarzenegger, plenty of muscles, so he can handle Chunky. Brandon and I are the Alpha unit. Anyhow, we... uh, oh, looks like our break is over.

Diary Entry 2: 1630 Hours (4:30 p.m.)

Letting my heartbeat come down some. That was close. Too close.

I had just given hand signals to Bobby and Javon to plant 2 sensors up ahead, one close to the ridge near the creekbed, which is out of our sight, and the other near the top of the ridge to the right of the cabin. Javon, who was packing the sensors, took the lead and made his way to the right ridge first, taking cover behind the cabin and then under the trees. He had to crawl 60 feet at a snail’s pace before planting the sensor. Bobby covered his back. Then they traced their steps and headed for the west side of the cabin.

Bobby gave a nod to Susan, and she relayed the “all clear” from Hans back to him. Bobby took cover behind a bush near the farm fence and gave Javon the “go.” I could see Javon as he crawled up toward the big rock near the creekbed ridge. We could only guess at how close the enemy was, but when you are outnumbered 30-6, the “Sounds of Silence” is your favorite Paul Simon song.

Javon planted the sensor in front of the big rock like a hen laying her only egg. He then started his crawl back. But as he turned slightly, his body snapped a big twig with his weight shift, and I could hear the “c-c-c-cack!” echo across the yard.

And if I could hear it...

I glanced down at the hand-held computer, kinda’ like a Palm Pilot, only this one mapped out the readings from the sensors. I half-laughed. Apple could have made this much easier to use, I thought. Then my face dropped. I saw a red blip move about 3 meters north of Javon, just over the ridge. It was moving toward him! I pulled my scope to my eye and quickly scanned the brush and trees at the top of the ridge. THERE HE WAS! I could see his head and shoulders silloutte against the clear sky, carving a bust out of the web of tree branches. I took a small breath and slowly let it out, waiting for my sight reticle to calm to the center...

I squeezed the trigger.

The black, shadowy figure appeared to wobble slightly, then fell to the ground. “Kill confirmed,” Bobby whispered over the radio earpiece. I moved my scope down slightly and saw Bobby, who was 20 feet behind Javon, take his right hand off his rifle and give a thumbs up without looking back at me or moving his head. He kept his eyes straight ahead at the ridge, just over Javon’s shoulder.

I took the shot — even though I was 70 yards behind them — because I was in a slightly better line-of-sight and could see the top of the ridge a few more degrees better than Bobby, since he was on the low end of the ridge slope. But even though I was using a soft-sound sniper rifle, the acoustics in this little valley were dangerously good... I could hear my shot echo back faintly. I looked down at my screen — damn, 3 more red blips!

“We’re taking some hits!” yelled Hans over the radio. I could see white tracers hit the dirt 20 feet in front of me to the right, leaves falling from the trees as the bullets knifed through them. “We’ve got wounded!” It was Susan’s voice. Since we Ghosts fly in pairs, she probably was talking about... I moved my scope to the right... yep, Hans face was wracked with pain, his jaw clenched and teeth grinding, as he crawled backward. Susan moved up quickly and took one knee to the front and left of Hans, pointing her rifle at the source of the tracers.

I heard the “pop, pop, pop!” of 3 different weapons. Thank God they were all ours. Like dominoes, 3 more enemy dropped to the ground.

Diary Entry 3: 1710 Hours (5:10 p.m.)

We haven’t moved in 15 minutes. By some miracle, whatever horde of enemy left over that ridge did not come rushing over to us after that last firefight. Maybe there was more “room” than I thought. I pulled out my map and checked the terrain ahead. There was supposed to be 2 or 3 more cabins on the other side of the creedbed, and that’s surely where the rest of our prey were, but we will have to get up to that ridge for a closer look.

It was time to move.

I signaled Charlie unit to take the right ridge. Bobby’s voice cackled into my ear, “We’re on our way.” Bravo group was to stay put and cover Brandon and I as we moved up toward the creekbed. And besides, Hans wasn’t going anywhere with a wounded leg. We kept checking our sensors as we crawled forward, stopping every 10 feet to listen and scan up ahead. During one of these stops, I couldn’t help but notice how peaceful this little patch of land seemed — everywhere I looked there were trees swaying in the wind, and those birds ...those birds sang like ... Shoot! Pull it together! Got to stay focused. Haven’t had much sleep in the past 2 days, but that’s no excuse for a Ghost.

I inched near the top of the ridge and gazed between blades of grass at the hillside across the creekbed. Yep, 3 cabins. No, wait... 4 cabins. And, good Lord, I can see a dozen enemy patroling the hillside without even looking through my scope.

We’ve got our hands full. As usual.

Brandon inched his way to about 10 feet to my right, just behind me, and took aim. I checked my clip to make sure it was full, then started counting silently as I went from left to right with my scope. Three in front of the first cabin. Two more in the creekbed below, near the rocks. Two up near the third cabin... I was almost done when I heard a faint gun shot far off to my right. “Goooooodbye” came the word from Bobby. I saw 3 or 4 enemy suddenly crouch and scramble for cover near the cabins. They know we’re here...

NOW!

I zeroed in and fired. “Kill confirmed” said Brandon. I swung the barrell one inch to my right and fired again. “He's history.” I took out 4 more before the bullets started hitting close to us. Brandon fired 2 grenades between the cabins and took out 2 more. But the grenade explosions only seemed to be honey for the bears. Suddenly, my sensor screen showed 10 more blips!

Diary Entry 4: 1735 Hours (5:35 p.m.)

It’s quiet again, but barely. That last firefight seemed to have lasted 20 minutes but after checking my watch it was only 2. The cockroaches we didn’t gun down were in hiding, behind bushes, trees, boulders or the cabins. Brandon and I checked our sensor readings again... nothing. Hmmm, now it was too quiet...

“WRROOOF!”

Brandon and I nearly jumped out of our uni’s. A dog?! Here? It had to be a stray, we spotted no enemy patroling with leashed dogs. I looked over at Brandon and saw a small patch of teeth showing between the mass of face paint, a small smile — which made me do the same. I then pulled out my binoculars and started scanning through the trees on the hills to the right, where the bark echo had come from. Hmmm, don’t see him...

“GOT HIM!”

That was Susan. Her shout almost knocked my earpiece out. What?! But she’s behind us... how...? I looked over my right shoulder behind me and saw the slumped body of a guerrilla about 3 feet behind my right boot. My heart was almost pounding out of my shirt. Susan had gunned him down with one shot just before he was about to put one in my back. Where did he come from?! I quickly looked for Brandon. Yep, there he was, underneath that bush, and just as blind to that guerrilla as I was. We looked into each other’s eyes and just shook our heads slowly. Then Charlie grouped checked in. But not how I had hoped...

“Friendly down!” yelled Javon over a burst of gunfire. NO! Not Bobby! I had to shake my head of the fog that seemed to be instantly clouding my brain. Not Bobby... okay, okay... LET’S FINISH THIS!

I signaled to Brandon to fire one more grenade up near the cabins, so we could bring out any enemy left in hiding.

Final Diary Entry/Mine, not Jerry’s:

That was Jerry’s last entry.

I found his diary tucked beneath his kevlar jacket. The battle was over now. We had eliminated all of the guerrillas — mission completed. We lost Bobby and Jerry. Only 2 with these odds? But that was 2 too many. Jerry was our leader, a helluva’ guy, any one of us would have... well, maybe the last thing I can do is finish this for him. I’ve got time to write this as we fly back in the choppers. Here’s how it ended:

The grenade explosion I fired served its purpose, we saw a handful of red blips move, and I sighted 2 more moving quickly between some trees. Down they went. Jerry took out 3 more as they tried to cross the creekbed toward us. But there was one more red blip near the rocks. I pull the scope up to my eye and peered between the boulders — there he was! But his arm was slung down as if he had just thrown something...

I heard it land to my left and roll through the leaves on the ground, right next to Jerry... NOOO! Too late to get up and run, for either of us. Jerry quickly took his eyes off the grenade, sighted his scope at the punk who threw it and squeezed the trigger a half-second before the explosion. When the smoke and dirt finished falling, I lifted my head and saw Jerry laying on his back — gone. I had taken some fragments in my left arm, but I didn’t really feel anything. Nor could I hear anything, except a loud ringing in my ears that lasted for 30 minutes.

Jerry, Jerry. It was just like you to be a Ghost up to the last second, making sure you used every shot to make the mission a success. I’m going to miss you, buddy. I don’t know who is going to lead this group of Ghosts now. Javon? Maybe even me. But we’ll have to decide soon. One of the copter pilots just handed me our next mission specs...

We drop in 3 days. It’ll be time to disappear again. I mean, that’s what Ghosts do best, right?

POST-MISSION REPORT

The mission above really did happen, but, thankfully, only on my Mac.

I was playing Aspyr’s Mac version of Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Desert Siege, and the map titled “Creekbed.” And I have to say, for someone who last got into a first-person type shooter game years ago with Marathon, well, reality has come a long way, baby. It’s time to change my diapers.

After trying my hand at several maps and missions, it was easy to see why Ghost Recon won the Game Of The Year award in 2003. The graphics quality, sound effects and attention to detail almost make this a simulator or a training aid for mission combat for our armed forces. I wouldn’t be surprised if it IS used by our military, if only as a recreational “get pumped” supplement, like Madden Football played by NFL players. But it is that good.

I tested/played Ghost Recon on a 700 mhz iMac G4 first with 256 mb of RAM. I prefer testing RAM and graphics-demanding games on the low-end of the system requirements so I can quage the quality of play for the “common user.” If it plays well here, even impressive, then it can only shine better when you have tons of RAM, a faster processor and a high-end graphics card. With Ghost Recon, playing the game with lower-end hardware/system specs — 256 mb RAM in OS 10.2.5 —was impressive. And that’s a salute to the Aspyr programming team (and original development creators Red Storm Entertainment).

Obviously, your graphics card does play a key factor in quality of game play. My iMac’s nVIDIA 32 mb VRAM card is considered a lower-end one compared to the current array of Mac models, but it still performed quite well in Ghost Recon.

Thankfully, the software install will automatically adjust the game preferences and graphic/sound settings to fit your system. But you can tweak and adjust the settings anytime you want, changing the level of detail (even in shadow areas) in your soldiers, the enemy, the terrain. One of the changes I did make was to uncheck the “Blood On” option. I’m not a blood and gore kind of guy, and can’t stomach that much realism. This is why I’m not a surgeon, too.

GR is rated "Mature" for violence, gore and blood.

To be honest, I hate guns — the real ones — don’t own ‘em, never touched one. So maybe playing a game like this is just testosterone driven, or “guy-hardwiring”? I certainly don’t recommend a reality, shooter-based game to anyone 15-years of age or younger, for the same reasons I think the age of a military draft (if it ever exists again) should be 22 or older: Too much reality, too soon, is too impacting. And believe me, I’ve seen some other games that bank on raising the reality bar with dismembered body parts and excessive blood. No thank you.

And yet Ghost Recon serves another purpose — almost like those crash movies shown at driver education classes — you can experience your heart-pounding or see the horror of combat through its amazing graphics and sounds without going overseas. I mean, no matter how realistic the game is, it’s far better than "playing" the real thing.

I got a bit hooked a few years back on “Day Of Defeat”, a Half-Life World War II mod game. But It was only available on a PC. It was one of those games that I was, excuse the pun, dying to see brought to the Mac platform. It was one of the more realistic, and certainly historic, battle-playing games I came across, and really shined when played online or on a network. And when version 2 of DOD came out... well, wow! But still no Mac version. (Note: Aspyr now has a couple of great WWII battle games for Mac, “Battlefield 1942 Deluxe” and "Call of Duty").

Still, Ghost Recon transforms a two-dimensional screen into a 3D feel with a multitude of textures — sounds that fade or increase depending on distance, images in the distant horizon that appear hazy but increase in clarity as you move a foot or two closer, leaves and bush rustle as you brush up against them, tree or bush limbs that sway with the wind (sometimes blocking your view if you are wedged too deep in the brush). Truly, the terrain detail is what blew me away, all those individual trees moving so slightly, different parts of a tree dancing individually with the wind. Birds chirping. I even heard what sounded like the clicking-sighing sound the Predator (from the movie) makes, and that spooked me!

In Ghost Recon: Desert Siege you get a handful of extra maps that give you a very wide selection of terrain and battle environments, more than the original GR (Desert Siege is the expansion mission pack, but included with GR). You can have missions at night and of course use the U.S. military’s calling card, night vision (everything with a heat-signature or light-colored appears green). There are swamp, cave-dwelling, rain-soaked, in-city, farmland, ravine-climbing, castle- or fortress-penetrating, naval docks, village pillaging, railroad-crossing and other maps to test your Ghost skills in.

Again, the details are amazing. You might find yourself distracted by the crystal-like snow flakes falling softly all around you on the "Mountain" map, or even feel the stinging cold as you see the white vapor trails coming out of yours and your teammates mouths on the "Embasy" map in winterland Moscow.

Thankfully, you can’t wear yourself out on the game too soon because there are different skill levels to advance through: Recruit, Veteran, Elite. And you had better believe that as you move up a skill level, so does your enemy.

Each level can be approached in different modes — Firefight (kill all or be killed), Mission (specific plans of rescue or attack) or Recon (get in, get out, without raising a fuss). You have several soldier types to choose from, too: Rifleman, Demo, Support, Sniper... and each soldier’s ability varies (so pick your team wisely). Advancing and succeeding in missions can unlock access to a small gallery of Specialists (the Top Gun of soldiers) that you can choose from on your next mission. Oh, and this is a multi-national platoon, son, so you are getting the best from several countries to choose from.

If you want to experience the full range of GR, then use the Campaign mode, and you will taste the full set of missions as you advance. Be careful, racking up too many Purple Hearts is not going to be rewarding, soldier.

It took me a while to feel comfortable controling the other units or members of my team, which is done with a key toggle and a different screen. But once I figured it out, I became better and better at managing the 6-member team in coordinated, military strategic stages (advancing one group to make sure an area was “clean” first or to cover our backs as another unit moved to a forward position). I’ll say it once: teamwork can keep you alive.

GR does a nice job of training the rookies, too. You can hone your weapons skills on the Training Course as often as you like, before you take on that first nail-biting mission.

Online play? Well, again I tested at the low-end, hosting several games at 56k dialup speed and inviting 2 other Mac players to join. Only occasionally did we experience some lag (something you don’t have total control over due to several online/connection variables), but overall play was very good, quite smooth and never once did I lose a connection. Pretty amazing at 56k. I’m sure performance drops some as many more players join, as it does with most online games. But I’m also sure the experience shines with broadband speed, too.

SUMMARY
I later tested GR on this iMac after bumping the RAM to an athletic 768 mb and flexing my OS muscles to Panther (OS 10.3). I noticed slight improvements, most noticeably in online play. But that just confirmed how well GR plays right out of the box. If my enthusiastic thumbs-up comes after playing GR on a 700-mhz iMac, well, I’m drooling to find a friend’s G5 to play this puppy on and cranking every option to the max.

But first, I’ll need to find a good kevlar vest.

END