The dry spell continues this week with nary a thing coming to video game store shelves. It’s time we look at yet another oldie (By video game standards anyways) but goody

Remember. Release dates are quite literally made at the whims of the publisher.  The following are subject to change without any warning.

20/20 

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars  (3DS)

Original Release Date: Tuesday March 27, 2011

Let’s face it. Launch line ups suck, and the 3DS may very well go down in history as having one of the worst. But occasionally, one game does come out on launch day that doesn’t suck. Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars didn’t catch anybody’s attention back when it came out alongside the 3DS, but it may very well have been the reason to own the 3DS on launch day.

Instead of being a shooter of any kind (First person, third person, squad based, etc), Shadow Wars plays out on a grid with you taking control of a squad of six units of the Ghosts Recon team. Each turn you move your characters around the map and have them take aim at enemy units. Basically, think Fire Emblem but with guns and modern tech like invisibility cloaks. Each of the Ghosts has a unique role in the group. For example, the Sniper has amazing range and damage, but they sacrifice mobility to do so. The Recon unit uses the aforementioned invisibility cloak and can even fire while cloaked. Don’t let her get spotted though. Her low health means she can’t withstand a firefight for too long. In keeping with the Fire Emblem analogy, these Ghosts gain experience points from every fight, which then unlock weapons, armor, and upgrades to their health, range, and mobility.

Ubisoft does have an unfortunate tendency to take the shotgun approach when it comes to releasing games for a new console, but whether intentionally or not, they managed to hit the mark with Shadow Wars. The levels make for an entertaining exercise in strategy and tactics as you’re normally up against a small army versus your team of six, all of which by the way you have to keep alive at all times or it’s game over. Moreover, it comes with a fairly sizable amount of bonus missions with some pretty interesting twists added to them like having only four snipers to take down twenty-something enemy units or dealing with an army of zombies. Admitedly, the Strategy genre doesn’t have as much mainstream traction, but with a lifetime sales of about 40K units in the U.S. Shadow Wars deserves better.

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