Previews// Ghost Recon: Future Soldier

Many war-based shooters have nailed the feeling of being in a battlefield. Explosions everywhere, bullets flying by your head, squad mates yelling commands, and countless ‘do or die’ situations. But few have actually conveyed the feeling of being a badass soldier. The Ghost Recon series is different - and the upcoming Future Soldier really ups the ante.

I have played a good chunk of the campaign’s opening stages, and every step of the way I felt like a pro, making calculated moves and executing commands whilst staying aware of my surroundings and focusing on the mission at hand. It’s a somewhat refreshing change to playing the part of a dude with a machine gun who runs around a lot.

A lot of it is down to the fluid, refined controls and visceral sound direction - from the very first mission, titled Nimble Guardian, you can get a real sense of the slower, rhythmic pace of this third-person tactical shooter. Whilst sneaking around, you are handed many opportunities to cap unsuspecting terrorist soldiers in the head. Each shot feels powerful, and every kill returns a satisfying ‘thud,’ making you feel a little bit like Superman every time.

In Future Soldier, America’s worst enemy has once again become the Russians. A para-military faction looks to overthrow the current Federation and re-establish the country as a superpower. Sounds cliche, I know, but you won’t care once you start getting knee-deep in the game’s solid mechanics and believable AI.

The aforementioned Nimble Guardian mission tasks you with finding a US spy called Paez who is in danger of being caught by the enemy. Once you spot him in a nearby market, all hell breaks loose and you need to stay measured, calm and collected to cleanly take out incoming terrorists whilst protecting the mole. Targets are yelled out over your intercom, and you’ve really got to pay attention and listen in order to spot them all.

While the fantastic animation and cool augmented reality-style visuals helps make Future Soldier an engrossing experience, where Ubisoft has really laid down some impressive work is in the artificial intelligence. Your squad mates are smart enough to know where to go, what to do and how best to assist you without the player issuing any commands whatsoever.

Similarly, the enemy AI has been improved to the point where you will be fighting against formidable opponents. Without paying attention to the benefits of the future-age gadgets you wield and the nuances of the game’s mechanics, you’re going to fall pretty hard. This is best represented in a mission that pits your squad against a legion of terrorists in a traffic-packed city street. The enemy won’t sit still behind one car - they will tactically move around, be it towards behind bigger vehicles for better cover or just repositioning themselves so that they’re never sitting still for too long.

There are many gadgets at your disposal to help you in the many combat situations you’ll face in the game. Optical camouflage helps you sneak around with ease whilst crouching or conducting espionage missions. The Flight Drone can be used to survey areas and identify targets, who will appear with an orange outline on your AR visor. Various heat and night vision goggles provide ample compensation for difficult environmental conditions, and when you can’t get a Drone in the air you can chuck sensor grenades which can silently pinpoint the location and status of any nearby foes.

While there are plenty of scenarios where you’re stuck in a gunfight with multiple bad guys, for a large majority of the game your aim is in fact to infiltrate enemy territory and accomplish Recon objectives without being seen. You are a Ghost, after all. And it is here where you feel a lot of power and suspense. One mission has you locating a CIA agent by passing through a wrecked building and exploring a beach - multiple enemies can be taken out by aiming at them and pressing a command button to line up a Sync Shot. This marks an enemy for one of your squad mates to take out, with an icon at the top of the screen lighting up if they have a clear shot.

Each of your squad mates can be assigned to one enemy each, meaning that on your command all nearby threats are neutralised without your presence being detected. However, you can muff this up - if you happen to miss one, things go into slow motion for a split second, offering a chance to correct your mistake before the alarm is raised. Sneaking around and taking out enemies in this way is preferable to an all-out gunfight, but sometimes you just can’t avoid conflict.

While the main game is looking exceptionally tasty, one area that I was less impressed with was the Kinect-enabled Gunsmith mode on the Xbox 360 version. Here, you can use your limbs to pull weapons apart, interchange modules and other parts in a Minority Report style interface and try them out in a shooting gallery. Sadly, the mode is gimmicky and the motion controls utterly unresponsive. It’s bold of Ubisoft to try out the peripheral, but ultimately wise that they stuck its uses into a mode that’s only good for a curiosity.

Graphically, it’s not the best war shooter I’ve ever seen - especially as games like Battlefield 3 have raised the bar so high. Ubisoft tells me that the visuals are about 78% done however, so there’s still room for improvement. If we can get a game that looks as good as it’s promising to play, we could have an unforgettable experience on our hands.