You're on your belly trying to read a map. The rain's coming down hard and visibility is so poor your sniper can't see fifteen feet in front of his face. You move forward a few yards to try and get a better vantage point from the ridge ahead. Big mistake. All hell breaks loose. Bullets ricochet in the dirt around you, and the sickening thud of a round making contact with flesh and bone makes you fire blindly in panic. You need to do something quickly. You've got one man dead and another wounded - the wildlife will eat well tonight if you stay here any longer.

Your other squad is a few clicks to the west; can you get them to provide cover quick enough? Welcome to Ghost Recon, the only Xbox game that has so far managed to capture the action, suspense and strategy of modern-day guerrilla warfare - and then made the whole experience Xbox Live-compatible. Bye-bye social life, hello Alpha team.

And now Recon returns as a stand-alone mission disc, meaning you don't need the first game to play this new instalment. Out goes the ultra-nationalist Russian scenario of the first offering, and in comes a near future vision of Cuba. In 2006 Castro smoked one too many cigars and turned his toes up; since then a succession of thugs have been in charge but now democracy has started to take its first few tentative steps, and with a full-blown election around the corner your job is to ensure the people have the right to be heard without gunfire drowning out their freedom of speech.

For any of you unlucky enough not to be familiar with the first title, here's a quick overview. Ghost Recon is a first-person squad-based shooter where you control two three-man teams who can either be individually switched between or controlled as a unit by the use of a map screen. This means if you have split objectives to the east and west of the playfield, you can command one team yourself while sending the other squad to clear out the trouble on the other side. The mix of strategy and action works extremely well as you won't be spending any longer than a couple of moments in the map screen before resuming your role as a first-person killing machine.

Island Thunder provides an eight-mission single-player campaign where you'll travel between the jungle, the beaches and the city during your Cuban tour of duty. The multiple mission objectives are the same as the first title, as is the gameplay - go there, kill bad guys, grab an item or secure an area and skidaddle, sharpish. But it's not always a meal for one. You can also play splitscreen, System Link and ultimately Xbox Live - where this title is transformed from a solid off the shelf release into an insanely addictive online experience. Many of the new additions are tailored towards online play, including eight new multiplayer maps and four favourites from the original title - so you won't be missing out on the most popular maps if you don't have the first game. We'll have more to say on online play when the game hits the high street and we can really get in the thick of it.

This mission disc does what it says on the tin. It's the same game with some promising online bells and whistles. But if the original left you cold, so will this. The graphics are pretty much the same with slightly better character detail and a bit more colour, but the playfield textures still lack the level of polish we expect to see at this level. But thanks to fantastically atmospheric sound effects the illusion of tense combat is never broken. It's a testament to the excellent gameplay that the visuals are really an afterthought when wrapped up in the whole combat experience. And the punchline? It's 20 quid - half the price of many games that are only half as good. Go buy it.

1. Great value
2. Retains the atmosphere and tension of the original
3. Tropical maps!
4. Huge online potential

1. Not going to win any beauty contests

Power
Quick load times and smooth framerate - but then the visuals aren't demanding.

Style
Generates more atmosphere than the rainforest thanks to realistic sound effects all the way through.

Immersion
An exercise in sweaty palms and twitchy trigger finger awaits - and that's only the offline game!

Lifespan
Single-player is good for both campaigns and missions, but get on Live and there's no going back!

Summary
It's back, it's half price and it deserves to be played. Fans of the first title will love the new missions, as will everyone else.