Set in the wake of one of North Korea’s worst famines, an insidious North Korean general instructs the government to secretly divert humanitarian aid to beef up its army, slowly gaining power in the process.

Fearful that North Korea is amassing huge quantities of weapons, China severs all ties with North Korea and stops the sales of arms to the corrupt general. In response, the North Korean army strike a secret agreement with Russia, who assist the general in an invasion of China, who he blames for the countries famine crisis and poverty.

Fearing a possible nuclear war China limits the level of response, but agrees to a multinational force to safeguard the border; whilst unofficially the Ghosts are sent in to cripple the North Korean army and bring an end to the corrupt general’s regime.

Ghost Recon 2 promises a host of improvements upon its predecessor, including an all-new graphics engine that incorporates the Havok physics engine to startling effect; featuring dynamic lighting, multi-texture passes and ragdoll physics, Ghost Recon fans can truly expect an outstanding visual style to the forthcoming sequel.

However the main innovation stems from an all-new camera system that switches the view from the traditional first-person to just over-the-shoulder, allowing players to view your character and weapon from an advantaged position. The change stems from the introduction of hand-gestures to control your group, giving the player a wide scope of commands to control both silently and efficiently.

Ghost Recon 2 is scheduled for release on Xbox, Playstation2, GameCube and PC in Q3 2004; we’ll have a closer look soon.