The Ghosts acted intelligently, followed orders well and seemed much more of an asset than in GR 1. They will follow multiple orders including frag, engage armour, man fixed weapons, flank, suppress and hold. Reportedly 25% of the processor requirement goes towards running the AI routines. Run and gun if you dare, see you in the after action screens when you try!

A recon command was also in the works, this involved a member of your team moving covertly forward and clearing the ground ahead and giving a sitrep.

You play as Grant, a marine heavy gunner who, along with a squad of seven other soldiers, must infiltrate a North Vietnamese prison camp to rescue some American POWs. The game's most remarkable feature is the way the story plays out. Rather than break everything into discrete levels, the game flows more or less seamlessly from your initial helicopter insertion to the final extraction. You have the sense of experiencing an actual event rather than a series of disjointed action scenes.

In the shadowy world of international terrorism one real name is feared: the S.A.S. Trained in the most realistic conditions and honed to a fine edge, the S.A.S. are the World's most respected and feared counter-terrorism force.

Based on briefings and scenarios supplied by S.A.S. veterans, The Regiment is a tense, accurate simulation of close quarters combat. Lead four-man teams in assaults on terrorist strongholds. Rescue hostages held at gunpoint. Recreate the deadly climax to the Iranian Embassy Siege of 1980. Fight battles in Britain's corridors of power in a daring rescue at the Houses of Parliament or tackle the nightmare scenario of a terrorist takeover of a subway system.

A whole mess of vehicles will be available for commandeering on the battlefield, including personnel carriers, jeeps, tanks, riverboats, and choppers. A large part of the demo that I got to sit in on focused on a pretty intense chopper scenario, in which my squad got to man four separate stationary guns mounted on a bird. While it was largely an on-rails affair, the fact that I was able to switch between team members for strategic purposes lent it a decent level of interaction that would be otherwise missing from something like this.

Overall, it looks like Zombie is doing a good job of enhancing Shadow Ops to fit in with similar offerings on the PC. The addition of the new multiplayer maps will make it more appealing to gamers who like playing online--which, in the PC world, is just about all of them--and the simple addition of mouse-and-keyboard controls will likely make the single-player game all the more playable as well. Shadow Ops: Red Mercury is slated to hit the PC in October, so look for more on it soon.

Grenade play is going to be quick and furious in Shadow Ops as well. You won't have to holster your weapon and switch to grenades in Red Mercury as there's a quick grenade button that instantly lowers your primary weapon, tosses a grenade and brings your rifle back up screen in one automatic sequence. This is a much more believable way of including grenades in your offensive assault. However, thrown grenades aren't always going to find their mark. Enemies will recognize and react to hot grenades by kicking them away, picking them up and throwing them back at you or even jumping on it to protect their buddies from harm. Seeing bad guys take one for the team is definitely fresh and exciting.

The game takes place in ‘Nam in 1968, when a group of four US soldiers find themselves behind enemy lines. They task is to get back to friendly territory, all the while trying to stay alive through the Vietcong held jungle…

One of the key differences is that the game focuses on the story of the four men, and not the timeline of the Vietnam War, which should mean that the player should feel more empathy with the soldiers as they try to get back to safe territory.

With a solid set of boats, helicopters and drivable vehicles as well as a very modern weapons arsenal, there is a lot of fun to be had with this game. We just can't help feeling that it doesn't do an awful lot to distinguish itself from the more arcade-oriented, but equally team-based, games like Battlefield 1942. Indeed, the very long engagement ranges mean that players looking for visceral combat thrills may find Operations a little too tame. But players looking for a tense environment where seeing the enemy before they see you is half the battle will find this a very satisfying experience.