Ghost Recon: Future Soldier Review

Addictive Online Multiplayer
In addition to the intense single-player campaign, there is lot more waiting for you in the multiplayer portion. Following the successful beta that launched several weeks ago, it seems that everything in the final game is smoother.

Everything that you loved in the single player campaign can now be brought to the multiplayer portion where gadgets, such as the drones and optical camouflage, can be used in a real time match with other people. Out of the four modes that are playable (Conflict, Decoy, Saboteur and Siege), the one that stands out to me is Decoy; it involves a lot of tactical approach and since this is a game where tactics are mostly used, the Decoy mode shows how tactical gameplay is done, unlike the mindless shooting that we’ve been experiencing lately in other games. As for the unlocks, more is revealed in the final build. The more points that you get at the end of the match, the more advantageous your multiplayer experience is as you will get to unlock more stuff.

When it comes to the stability of the multiplayer portion, my experience so far is near-perfect. Between the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions, I find more players playing on the Xbox 360. There is less lag within the game and finding matches is smooth.

Co-Op/Guerilla Mode
For the co-op mode, up to four players can join a single party. This can be done on the campaign options and only invited friends or LAN can play the game’s campaign together. Unfortunately, there’s no option for random people to join. The co-op is only for LAN Parties or if you get an invite from someone on your friend list. While that may be slightly disappointing, I think it’s for the better as it filters out those jerk co-op partners who randomly leave the group. Similar to how co-op is set up, there’s also a Guerrilla mode that acts similarly to a Horde mode where up to fifty waves are waiting to be played. Since the horde mode feature is becoming popular in shooter games, I found it enjoyable in Future Soldier as I can get to use all the fantastic gadgets in the game.

NOT

Dated Visuals are Disappointing
Ghost Recon: Future Soldier would’ve been great if it weren’t for its dated visuals. Comparing the visuals of Future Soldier to other shooter games like Battlefield 3 and Modern Warfare 3 for example, gamers will find Future Soldier’s in-game visuals dated as the textures look rough, and characters are just plain ugly. Since the game was supposed to be released in 2010, this explains a lot. From the two years that the game has been delayed, Ubisoft failed to revamp the visuals to this year’s standards. The terrain and environments of the game looks phenomenal, but when it comes to closely looking the ground and everything you get closed to, you’ll see that the team behind Future Soldier didn’t do the best job in polishing the visuals.

As for which version delivers the better visuals, I would go with the Xbox 360. Between the two, the Xbox 360 delivers a smoother frame rate and has minimal screen tearing. The textures might look rough, but it’s a lot cleaner and streams without jagged edges on the visuals and environments.

Glitches and Pop-Ins
In my playthrough in the campaign mode, I encountered several glitches. These glitches that I found aren’t really annoying, but along with the dated visuals, it makes the visuals is Future Soldier become worse. The frequency of encountering glitches seemed minimal, but when you get to see it, you’ll be telling yourself that this game was supposed to come out last year along with Black Ops or Modern Warfare 2.

Can’t Manage my Squad
The futuristic gadgets and exemplary tactical aspect of Future Soldier are great, but it’s missing one thing that I love in every Ghost Recon games and that’s managing my squad. In Future Soldier, you will no longer be able to direct your squad on what to do. The only time where you can tell them direct orders is when you perform a Sync Shot, which is tagging an enemy for your squad to take out. There’s no more pointing on a location and tell your squad to move. From a Ghost Recon fan, I was disappointed they removed this feature.

VERDICT

Ghost Recon: Future Soldier is an addictive third person shooter that shines in both Single and Multiplayer modes. However, the quality of the game will make you feel that it should have been released last year or the year before that. The graphics are reminiscent of what you would expect a year or so ago, which gives you an idea just how many times this game has been delayed. Despite the visuals, Future Soldier still lives up to the Ghost Recon name, but it’s not the best one I’ve ever played. The single player is enjoyable and the robust multiplayer will definitely keep you coming back for more, which may be just enough to help people overlook the game’s other flaws.

[Editor’s Note: Ghost Recon: Future Soldier was reviewed on both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 platform. The game was provided to us by the publisher for review purposes.]