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Let me quell the fears of many veterans by saying this right away: Ghost Recon did not turn into Call of Duty with Future Soldier.? Well, not completely. It IS readily apparent that the Ubisoft developers were influenced by the world?s best selling franchise when it comes to the game?s campaign events.

After a dirty bomb kills a team an American Ghost Team named ?Predator?, you become part of Ghost Team ?Hunter? as they travel from Bolivia to Russia and everywhere in between, unraveling a Russian conspiracy every step of the way. As expected of any military shooter made in the last 5 year, there are large amounts of uncontainable explosions and acts of military machismo being delved out, and Russians serve as the main enemy and point of conflict in the game. But instead of focusing on the now ubiquitous threat of total nuclear warfare in games, Future Soldier deals with much more covert, behind the scenes battles, and does so with some well polished gameplay.

Where Ghost Recon: Future Soldier really separates itself from the popular first person shooters is in its teamwork, technology, and stealth oriented gameplay. The really stellar missions in the game will have you infiltrate a highly secured area using all of your abilities to remain unseen and unheard until the deed is done. To help with this, the game provides you with an arsenal of instruments ranging anywhere from the extremely handy MAV drone that can spot and mark enemies from above to an incredible ?Dog? mech that walks on all fours while blasting the hell out of anything in sight. There?s also an awesome ?Team Shot? mechanic where you can spot up to four enemies and eliminate them on your cue in sync with the rest of your team. The game does nothing mind blowing in the world of third person shooter gameplay, but creeping your way through the game just feels right, and provides an incredibly satisfying challenge, especially on those missions where its ?Game Over? if someone sees as much as the big toe attached to your body.

For those who don?t enjoy exercising their inner Solid Snake, running and gunning is somewhat possible in this game, but doing so will likely leave you looking like Swiss cheese and wondering where it all went wrong. Even in the game?s enjoyable competitive and cooperative multiplayer, a team?s success depends much more on seeing and not being seen than it does on twitch reflex shooting like most of today?s games. Whether trying to complete objectives before an enemy team, or taking on waves of enemies in the game?s version of ?Horde? mode, Future Soldier never abandons the foundation Ghost Recon has laid over the years, and that?s a good thing.

The only somewhat major misstep Ghost Recon: Future Soldier makes is in its absolutely frustrating design choices at certain points in the game. For the most part, the game?s style really sends the futuristic message home.Holographic words that remind me of your location and mission fill the sky at all times, and the HUD is nicely woven into your character and the action on screen rather than being a stagnant overlay. During specific missions, such as one where you infiltrate an airport at night, the backdrop and environment look absolutely gorgeous and fresh, with lighting, colors, and graphical bells and whistles that really pop and add to the futuristic feel of the game. They are almost Cinema-like, and really enjoyable to look at as you snap necks in the dark.

But at many other junctions, the game throws you in the same old woody forest or broken down urban jungle that appears in every modern shooter. Unlike the well designed set-pieces some of the other levels show, these more pedestrian areas of operation look dull, jaggy, and even grainy at certain points. I have never seen a game go back and forth from Stunning to Humdrum as much as this game does, and its really unfortunate because the graphical fidelity would be there if Ubisoft held to their artistic guns the whole way through.

Also, some of the mission design itself is questionable. I could?ve done without some of the On Rails segments, especially when a game champions its stealth prowess. Another particularly major mission later in the game devolves into an annoying footrace through an enemy-infested, which makes absolutely no sense story or gameplay wish. This mission seems to only be designed that way to move the game along at a pace that felt completely unnatural in comparison to the rest of the narrative, and really hampered the overall experience quite a bit for me.

Some poor design choices aside, Ghost Recon: Future Soldier advances the series several years forward in time both plot wise and gameplay wise. All the little techno-goodies the game puts at your disposal are a blast to work with and help shake up a genre that is quickly going stale. if you are a Ghost Recon fan, this game is a must have. For anyone looking to get into the franchise or just wants a game that is chocked full of new concepts, lots of style, and rock-solid gameplay, give Ghost Recon: Future Soldier at least a little of your time, as well.

Source: http://bgbureau.com/2589/review-ghost-recon-future-soldier-xbox-360-ps3-pc

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