War. War never changes. But in Ghost Recon: Future Solider it’s definitely evolved. But has it evolved enough to stand out from the pack? In my opinion it does, but just barely.
Ghost Recon: Future Soldier is yet another third person shooter (or a first person shooter at times) in a market oversaturated with the genre. What makes it slightly different, or at least until Black Ops 2 hits, is that it takes place in the not so distant future. But the enemies and reasons for war are the same. Someone detonates a dirty bomb killing off a Ghost team and its up to you and your squad to figure out who the culprit is. What follows is a confusing trip through Bolivia and Russia that involves chasing down an arms dealer, infiltrating an airport, rescuing a loyalist and an attack on an enemy base. If this all sounds familiar, it’s because the story isn’t really anything new to the genre. I found myself lost at certain points but always knew what I was doing in the particular area. And even though I didn’t know why I was there, I still had a blast going through the levels.
And that’s because of the arsenal that’s available to you. There are sorts of gun available, from machine guns to pistols and every inch of them are customizable. You can change everything from the paint on a gun all the way to the stock. Some aspects are more notable than others, but I didn’t play around enough to notice the difference between gas systems. There are also all kinds of grenades and a sensor that enables you to identify the enemies in an area. You also get a drone to play with that you can send in the air to scout or roll out on wheels to let out a pulse. There’s also a robot that comes with you that can launch missiles and you can use for cover.
The game sounds and looks good, but mostly during the gameplay. The environments are varied enough from a favela to a worn torn streets all the way to a snow covered battlefield, the levels are exceptional. The cutscenes don’t look as good as other games and the dialogue seems overly scripted. The voice actors do a decent job but the lines they’re forced to read seem like the writers were trying too hard to make it sound “real”. I had no connection to the characters unlike Soap in MW or Marcus in GOW during their first games. These characters were just Ghosts doing a job to me. Maybe if Hunter Team does continue to become a franchise, I might be able to develop a link with them but during their initial tour of duty I felt nothing.
There isn’t too much new about the gameplay. There’s a cover system, stealth takedowns and the option to aim in first person view. One of the best features of the game is the cloaking. Crouch will automatically trigger the cloak and you can sneak around virtually invisible. It’s an awesome feature but does tend to screw up at times. During cutscenes when you’re on your feet, there will be times when you’re still cloaked. This doesn’t make much sense due to the fact that the cloak doesn’t work when you’re upright. Also trucks will pass through your squadmates when they’re cloaked but that same passing truck can kill you. Speaking of your squadmates, they are almost too good at times as you can mark up to 3 enemies and have them take them down for you. I imagine playing the campaign with friends instead of the AI would be more interesting as the chance to miss would actually exist. The game is very well paced as missions go from straight run and gun to rescue missions in the middle of civillians. The multiplayer is nothing new here as it has competitive modes but as stated earlier you can go through the entire campaign with friends.
Ghost Recon: Future Soldier is a step in the right direction for the genre. The gameplay, story or multiplayer isn’t revolutionary but nothing is bad about any of them. The pacing of the game is something other shooters might want to copy and the arsenal is full of wonderful gadgets. Future Soldier does most things just right which is good enough for me. War hasn’t changed but the tools have.