Ghost Recon: Future Soldier - Page 4

Kotaku gave another positive GR review:
http://kotaku.com/5912223/ghost-reco...-kotaku-review

excerpts:

Like many a military shooter these days, Future Soldier's main menu is broken into three gameplay types: The story-based campaign is a meaty chunk of gaming that lasts anywhere from 8 to 12 hours and can be tackled by up to four players in co-op. Versus multiplayer involves four types of objective-based game-mode, and "Guerrilla" mode is a cooperative multiplayer mode centering around fending off waves of enemies.

I'm going to defy reviewing conventions by talking about multiplayer first, because I am crazy like that. Also, because the versus multiplayer in Ghost Recon: Future Soldier is a whole lot of fun. Ubisoft's messaging pushes GRFS (please, yes, can we please call this game "Gurfs"?) as a "thinking person's shooter," and to a great extent that's trueand it's most clearly true in multiplayer.

Future Solder's four multiplayer modesconflict, saboteur, decoy and siegedon't bring much new to the table by way of design. Conflict hustles players between ever-changing objectives, keeping every map fresh while giving more structure to the shooting. Saboteur involves escorting one character with a bomb across the map to plant it. Decoy is a fun riff on assault/defend, with the assaulting team hacking three possible locations to determine which one is the real objective and which is a decoyteams must smartly deploy, since there are too many possible objectives for a protracted defense/assault. Siege gives every character one life with no respawns, and sets them about similar objectives to the ones found in the other modes. It's good funwith no respawns, the match where I, left all alone, took down the remaining three enemy teammates to win the match was a unique thrill.

I can say without exaggerating that Ghost Recon: Future Soldier has the most unfocused, nonsensical plot of any military video game I have ever played. It makes Modern Warfare 2 seem like Die Hard by comparison. One minute you're in South America, the next Africa, then three seconds later you're storming through huge bases in the arctic with a mechanized tank. Then onwards to Russia, to take part in a vague coup so undeveloped and under-explained that I was shaking my head and laughing with each tiny, inconsequential cutscene and every bit of nonsense satellite-map exposition.

I suppose it doesn't matter all that much. Ghost Recon: Future Soldier may prove that a game like this doesn't "need" a storyits campaign is essentially a collection of unconnected missions, much like multiplayer. The upshot of any given cutscene is that the four Ghosts you control are big huge badasses, and they are way cooler than all the know-nothing jerk-off soldiers on the bases and aircraft carriers where they hang out between missions. That about sums it up.

The entire campaign is playable by up to four players in co-op, which is a cool featureif you've got three good friends with Xbox Live, you could certainly do worse than to get this game and work through the levels on the hardest difficulty. I played some co-op with a fellow reviewer, and we came to the conclusion that while the game was fun in co-op, the auto-fail stealth sections would require one hell of a lot of coordination, and would probably get frustrating very quickly.

Despite that, and despite trying to streamline a few too many different things into one game, for the most part Ghost Recon: Future Soldier is a success. It simply feels good to playthe third-person camera is gritty and interesting, and guns are punchier and easier to control than ever. The sluggishness of GRAW has been done away with almost entirely, as has some of the unit micromanagement that, while cool in theory, never worked too well with a controller. GRFS is also quite nice-lookingwhile some of the game's textures are a bit crusty, the overarching look is strong and distinctive, continuing Ubisoft's tradition of austere, considered art design embellished with some neat visual flourishes and moments of real natural beauty.

so same MO as BF3...

I have no problem with an online pass as long as the online stays available for the duration.

hear me, EA? EA sells an online pass and then close down the servers early when a newer iteration of the game comes out.

Joystiq gave 4.5 stars out of 5 and a very positive review:

http://www.joystiq.com/2012/05/22/gh...iew/#continued

excerpts:

No two missions in Ghost Recon: Future Soldier are the same, and the diversity in locales and armaments means there's always something new to see - and shoot.

There's a loose narrative thread tying together the campaign, but the story isn't terribly memorable. You're a member of an elite squad dispatched to hot zones across the globe to rescue people, shoot other people and generally protect America's interests.

Some of the locations are places you've been to before countless times in previous games, like the sun-drenched dunes of the African desert. But what makes these encounters stand out are the set pieces. For example, in the African level you move through small tent enclaves trailing a warlord and offing his crew as you move forward, eventually arriving at an airport and shooting down a plane. You then have to defend yourself in the wreckage from the remnants of his crew as you search for the black box.

Another one of my favorite encounters is escorting VIPs through hot zones. These on-rails sequences happen a few times, in which you're dragging along a civilian with one hand and shooting enemies with the pistol in your other hand. These moments are tense, thrilling and chaotic.

The way Ghost Recon: Future Soldier eases you into every new mechanic and gadget gradually is one of its strengths, presenting situations where these things can shine. In the first mission you gain access to the warhound - an armored quadroped with an endless supply of missiles and mortars - but you aren't immediately blowing up tanks and clusters of conveniently-placed red barrels. You do that stuff eventually, but you're eased into the experience of having an endless supply of carnage and fiery death at your disposal, a slow buildup that is indicative of the tension and approach so masterfully executed in Ghost Recon: Future Soldier.

But that gadgetry also leads to one of the game's greatest weaknesses: you're far too powerful.

There is full online co-op functionality in Future Soldier's campaign, and support for up to two players on the same TV. If possible, it's definitely the way to experience the campaign. Playing with other humans is preferable to the AI, though the absence of drop-in, drop-out is a bit frustrating.

The online suite isn't anything groundbreaking, but it's a solid foundation of accepted core game modes. And with several customizable classes to play as online and tons of guns and attachments to unlock, there is a dizzying amount of content for the online component.

Whether you're looking to play online with your friends or simply want a lengthy, entertaining military campaign, Ghost Recon: Future Soldier is easy to recommend. It's one of the best military shooters I've played. It doesn't push the boundaries of what we expect from that genre, but Future Soldier takes an approach that leaves little room for stagnant gameplay or retreading ground.