In the single player campaign, the player assumes the role of Ghost Team leader, Captain Scott Mitchell; Mitchell is described as "a consummate soldier", being a veteran of several armed conflicts and can use weaponry from any soldier class, including assault rifles, carbines, submachine guns, sniper rifles and more. In several missions the player is inserted alone and must complete the mission without assistance from the other Ghosts. Such missions render assistance in the form of air strikes the player can call in.

There are several variations of multiplayer mode in Ghost Recon 2.^[10] Co-operative games are available in the campaign mission, battle, defend, firefight, garrison, recon, and scout modes, in which players must work together to accomplish a single goal. Garrison mode, for example, is when players must keep enemy troops out of a marked area, for a designated time.

Adversarial modes are divided into two categories; Solo, where players work separately, usually against one another, and Squad, where players are divided up into opposing teams.