Game Review – Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier – Best Tom Clancy Game

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier was just released on May 22, 2012 in the U.S. for the 360 and PS3 (The PC version will be released on June 12.). Future Soldier was developed by Ubisoft Paris (with help from Ubisoft Red Storm and Ubisoft Romania ) and published by Ubisoft.

It is rated M (Mature) for blood, intense violence and strong language. The genre of Future Soldier is a futuristic tactical shooter video game. Third-personcover is the primary point-of-view, but does contain single-player precise aiming as well. Single-player and multiplayer (online) are the major game modes.

Future Soldier was originally supposed to be released in the earlier portion of 2010. It was then pushed back until the next year, where it was later pushed back to the next fiscal year. Though, it was delayed again. However, it was delayed finally for the next fiscal year, which happens to contain the actual release date. The PC version was cancelled late last year, but early this year it was declared as in production.

Future Soldier is technically the fourth installment in the mainline Ghost Recon series . Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon (2001) is the first in the series and Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter (2006) is the prequel. It is unknown if a sequel to Future Soldier will be made, but judging on the success of the newest game and the length of Tom Clancy video games, it is very likely.

Gameplay for Future Soldier involves having the camera shake and vision blurred when being fired upon by machine guns. Optical camouflage is the new feature; the camouflage makes the user players harder to pinpoint. The camouflage deactivates when the user fires their weapon or moves too fast. Players have the ability to control drones again, but with new features. The drone “can transform into a radio-controlled car and emit a sonic pulse that disables nearby electronics or temporarily stuns enemies” or “provides a birds-eye view of the battlefield” ( Simmons ).

Future Soldier has differences from the past games. The biggest difference is how the player manages the squad. Instead of micromanaging, the player marks targets for the squad to fire upon. Gunsmith is the new feature that allows players to try/customize their weapons in single player or multiplayer. The Kinect can be used for weapon customization.

As for multiplayer, competitive and cooperative game modes areavailable. The cooperative mode is another way of playing the campaign and is also used in the new Guerilla wave-based mode, similar to Gears of War ’s Horde mode. There are four multiplayermodes, with Decoy being the greatest of the four. In Decoy, two teams must take three objectives, but only one is the real target.

Positives for Future Soldier includeneat effects, amazing sound effects, smart tech, gorgeous graphics, great action gameplay, good pacing and the little improvements, such as drone, cover-switch and tagging. The lasting appeal is long because thecampaign’s co-op is worth another go-around and due to the enjoyable multiplayer, thoughthe campaign only lasts about tenhours.

Negatives for Future Soldier include forgettable dialogue/soundtrack, bad textures, waxy faces and boring backgrounds. Metacritic gave it aMetascore of 79 out of 100 for the 360 and 80 for the PS3.

Even though Future Soldier has a couple of downsides, it is still worth buying, unless you are not a fan of the Ghost Recon series orthird-person shooters. For those who don’t fit those qualifications, this game is perfect for you and can be purchased here in St. Louis.

Future Soldier is about $60 for the 360/PS3 at Target , Walmart , Kmart , Best Buy , Toys “R” Us , Hastings and GameStop . The paperback strategy guide is $15 at Target and Walmart, $18 at Sears and $20 at Best Buy and Toys “R” Us. A pre-owned game at GameStop costs $48 and eventually will be $45 at Best Buy.Great used deals can also be found at Amazon.com.