Ghost Recon Future Soldier Preview

Unless you’ve been living under a rock – and welcome back if you have – it can’t have escaped your attention that Ghost Recon Future Soldier has been a long time coming.

Despite being announced and delayed on multiple occasions, it’s been somewhat bizarre that no real reason has ever been given. It’s not like it’s the dreaded curse of the new IP either.

After years of competing in the tactical shooter market, the Ghost Recon series has a reputation and foundation to build on, even as recently as the Xbox 360’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter and its sequel.

Why, then, we hear you ask, have so many apparent problems hampered a franchise that has a strong following and already plenty of success? We asked Adrian Lacey, Ubisoft’s IP development director, to clarify.

“I think one of the things – particularly when you go from a big game like GRAW and you’re trying to expand it and take the experience further – I think you get carried away with the ideas,” he begins.

“Then a load of shooters are coming out and it just adds loads of more information to us as a team, and you try and do a bit of everything. I think what happened with that gap is we went a little bit far and we had to rein ourselves back in.

"I think as well we had to refocus – we’re not chasing the others. We are Ghost Recon and that was a big tipping point: we are a Ghost Recon experience. We’re an [over-the-shoulder shooter].

Ubisoft has no problem in raising the stakes when necessary, but Ghost Recon shines when it’s slower and more methodical.

"You see your character. We have that cover-swap system, so we had to go back to the roots of it and bring it back into line, and that was hard.”

In a world where many publishers are seemingly rushing their games to market, it’s a pleasure to hear that Ghost Recon has not only been able to acknowledge its mistakes but rectify them as well.

It would also appear that, at one point or another, the wealth of shooters currently doing the rounds, led by the mighty Call Of Duty, even managed to infiltrate the minds of the Recon team, despite the franchise itself existing a good two years before the debut of the reigning king.

“It was a bit more [action-heavy] but with a lot more tools and features,” creative director Jean-Marc Geffroy tells us. “It was really complicated. It felt a bit artificial.

"We wanted to create a situation where the player can do what he wants and the AI reacts to that. In order to be in the field, in order to be spec ops, you don’t need to think too much about a lot of stuff, otherwise you will be killed.

"It’s more about being quick and efficient, so it has to be simple and then, if we add stuff, it has to be more in line with the fact you can use it for recon or action, and that was a big focus. The drone, for example: are you using it for recon or for action? It’s important and it has to work like that.”

It’s not too unfamiliar to hear words such as these, but the delays give them some weight. There’s no better evidence than actually sitting down with Ghost Recon Future Soldier to see how it’s shaped up over these past few years. Unsurprisingly, it feels like an extension of everything that has come before it, keeping that tactical edge central to the mix.

The long development time means Future Soldier isn’t the nicest-looking game in the world, but it’s pretty enough.

Nimble Guardian, the first of the very oddly named campaign missions, serves as nothing more than a tutorial, reminding its fans of the Ghost Recon template and introducing the new blood into its world.

From there it’s into Subtle Arrow, though, where all of a sudden Ghost Recon Future Soldier’s very unusual take on the shooter comes into its own.

With arms dealer Dede Macaba threatening to wage war against the globe, the SEALs are sent in to extract as much information as possible. Rather than place a gun in your hand and let you run amok, however, the focus is clearly on the art of stealth, so much so that if you get caught, it’s game over for you.

Rather than restrict your options, mind, Ghost Recon actively encourages that you experiment with as many as you can think of – there’s not just one route or a perfect method to abide by.

As such, slowly moving your way towards the target is achingly tense and enjoyable, every step and choice having to be intelligently considered.

It’s certainly not like the genre hasn’t toyed around with such ideas before – and Ghost Recon itself would be the first to admit this is where its genius lies – but with so many frantic shooters currently out there, it’s incredibly satisfying and therapeutic to return to one where your brain is as important as your weapon.

It’s also a fine way to introduce Ghost Recon’s Sync Shot mechanic. It’s an offshoot of what already exists in the likes of Rainbow Six and Splinter Cell, and at any point you can pick specific targets and order the rest of your team to get into place to kill them as and when you decide.

In the future, apparently, all the info you need in battle will just be floating around your head.

Given the ability up to mark up to four enemies, you can get in on the action yourself, the rest of your posse firing when you deem it right to pull the trigger.

Missions such as the one we find ourselves in are ripe for using such a technique, eradicating certain groups of guards simultaneously and quietly, as has to be the way.

It’s a testament to the AI that Ubisoft is keen to boast about, as Lacey explains: “[Even with] all these futuristic items that everyone would love, [the Navy SEALs] were like, ‘Yeah, that’s doable and actually in progress, but it’s gotta work.’

"It was crazy things like that we had to reconsider, because we didn’t think of it in that way. They brought us back down to earth, and as Jean-Marc always says, reality sometimes creates more innovation than fantasy, and it really proves that.

"It made us focus more on that characterisation, more on the motion capture and how you work and react to the team with the AI and how they support you.

"Then you’ve got the [Sync Shot] feature, so it couldn’t be clunky or ‘Alpha 240, please go over there’. [The SEALs] were, like, it should be ‘Get the f**k over there. They should be over there anyway because they know they should get behind cover.’”

From what we witnessed, that’s exactly what they do, bursting into life as an order to take out Macaba comes in and a firefight breaks out. The now-classic nature of the franchise is certainly present, made relevant by the new tools at your disposal.

The usual range of gadgets are still at your disposal, serving you as well as they ever did.

While there are certain pillars that Ghost Recon sticks to, it’s not afraid to play around with them, as can be seen when Ghost Recon Future Soldier dumps you in the middle of a city in Tiger Dust.

The free-form dynamic is replaced with a more frantic setting, topped off thanks to the introduction of civilians. It was a complete mystery why they didn’t exist in the heavily populated Mexico City, GRAW’s central hub, but Ubisoft has amended such a problem and then some.

In this scenario, the streets are littered with them. Running in your direction, screaming for their lives among a smattering of cars, your objective is a weapons dealer holed up at the other end.

Instead of just being able to shoot your way to glory, it’s a genuinely anxious ride as you try to pick off exact targets without adding to the innocent casualty count. The sense of failure can actually be quite palpable when you take away someone’s life by accident.

With the desire to tell a story of global conflict, Ghost Recon Future Soldier still has some ideas up its sleeves, hence Valiant Hammer changing up the scenario entirely.

Harking back to the original in the series – all the way back in 2001, for those wondering – a huge, woodland region serves as the landscape. It’s completely non-linear in its approach, and the reliance on your drone is heavier here than it has been previously.

That gadget is now a portable device that can be deployed and controlled at will, and you have enough at your disposal to get through the entire level – including infiltrating an enemy base – without ever being detected. Be it in co-op or with computer-controlled allies, the element of teamwork has been masterfully worked in.

You’d be forgiven for thinking that, given its time away from the limelight, Ghost Recon has gone through a major transformation, but, as odd as it may sound, we’re pleased to say it hasn’t.

Certainly a few trinkets have been added, but the base concept remains the same and has the potential to be one of the better shooters of 2012.