Review by: Michael Barnes

Julian Gollop is chiefly known in gamer circles as the man behind the classic X-Com titles as well as the woefully underappreciated Magic & Mayhem. He’s turned up once again to lead development of Ubisoft’s first shot at porting its Tom Clancy brand to Nintendo’s new 3DS platform. Despite its title, Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars bears virtually no resemblance to either the similarly named tactical shooters or the foul rail shooter that released on the Wii last year.

Per Mr. Gollop’s CV, it is a turn-based strategy game wherein you are charged with controlling a squad of up to six Special Forces agents as they do battle against the classic Tom Clancy bogeymen, those dreaded Russian ultranationalists. Along with Super Street Fighter IV 3D, it represents the best of the 3DS launch games but it does practically nothing to leverage the functionality of the new platform and could have been just as good on the 2D DS—or even as an IOS game.

What is most striking about the game regardless of its lack of innovation is that it is incredibly streamlined, easy to get into, and its core wargaming rules are presented in a stunningly slick way. Many turn-based strategy games take into account factors such as cover, range, line of sight, suppressing or support fire, armor, terrain, and elevation but few that I’ve seen do it with such grace and accessibility. Information such as how many steps a character can take and the attendant reduction in firepower due to mobility is presented with simple colors and small numbers.

The bottom screen contains iconic information regarding a unit’s special class abilities, weapons, and other important factors, but it remains easy to parse and comprehend. Advance Wars has been the standard bearer for bridging the gap between casual gaming and more serious turn-based strategy, but I think this design is even more accessible and immediate. It’s also refreshingly Western, with none of the worst excesses or over-complications of the Japanese strategy role-playing strain.

The visual presentation is good, and the 3D effect does impart a cool, tabletop miniatures look that I found rather endearing. Does it impact gameplay? Not in any way. The already-typical 3D layering of menus and visual assets is present, but the game plays just the same in battery-saving 2D. The graphics aren’t particularly good anyway, furthering the argument that there is very little in this game that couldn’t have been done on the DS or on an iPhone. Add in the lack of any kind of Internet or even local multiplayer—it’s strictly hotseat here, folks—and there simply isn’t anything in the game that needs a $250 3DS to function. You don’t even really use the touchscreen; it’s all D-pad and buttons.

There are 37 core story missions complete with silly between-mission banter that tells a story just north of GI Joe levels of comic book absurdity. Most missions are of the “kill ‘em all” variety, but there are some variations therein, as well as a gradual but appreciated increase in complexity over the course of the game. There are also 20 non-story missions that play out like tactical problems, with you given generic Ghosts in place of the core characters to complete a variety of tasks. Ten multiplayer missions are available, but they’re strictly pass-and-play. The game is not apparently aware of the 3DS’ wireless antenna. Or that it’s 2011.

Despite the local-only multiplayer, there is a lot of gameplay in this title, with missions ranging between 15 minutes to almost an hour to complete with some requiring multiple objectives and some trial-and-error play. Be advised that like any turn-based strategy, this is hardly a fast paced, breakneck game. Slow and steady wins the race, and careful play is absolutely required on the higher difficulty settings. Losing one squad member in the campaign mode is an instant loss.