E3 First Impression: Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon:Future Soldier

GAME:
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier

DEVELOPER:
Ubisoft Paris
Ubisoft Red Storm
Next Level Games (Wii)
Virtuos (PSP)

PUBLISHER:
Ubisoft

PLATFORM:
PC / PS3 / Xbox 360 / Wii / DS / PSP

RELEASE DATE:
March 2012

GENRE:
3rd-person tactical action shooter; single player, multiplayer, co-op

DESCRIPTION:
Another modern military shooter game [sigh] -- but a really well-done one!

THOUGHTS:
The reaction on Giant Bombcast to this title was blasé at best. They cite their "gun fatigue," i.e. being sick of games where you running around shooting a gun. While certainly a valid point, it's not fair to poo-poo a good game (or any piece of media, for that matter) on premise alone. I mean, plenty of great stuff has a lame premise.

GR:FS provides an excellent case in point for why publishers are so desperate to control the flow of information coming re: their games. Like most big titles, this one has been through a series of delays. Per Wikipedia:

The release of Future Soldier was initially targeted for the 2009–2010 fiscal year, however Ubisoft later announced that the release date would be pushed back until the 2010–2011 fiscal year to "strengthen" its video game line-up. In May 2010, Ubisoft announced that the release of Future Soldier would be delayed until the "March quarter of 2011". On November 15, 2010, Ubisoft announced that Future Soldier would be delayed once again for an April 2011 – March 2012 release.

The PR side of marketing can make or break a game just as the advertising side can, and you can't expect journalists to get excited about old news. Furthermore, March 2012 is still a long ways off. I remember getting stoked for GR:FS at last year's E3 (and being disappointed there was no playable demo). That was all before Black Ops had come out. How much more "gun fatigue" will we have after the upcoming "third" installments of MW and Battlefield?

Notwithstanding, this might be my favorite game of the handful I played at E3 this year.

The weapons handle well and sound awesome. All the AR HUD stuff is really cool and looks splendidly future-tastic. The camera is both intuitive and cinematic. The destructible cover is spiffy and I'm a fan of the cover-to-cover mechanics.

They've certainly made good on their promise of a hyper-realistic military "vision," which feels appropriately fleshed-out, not just in terms of the much-hyped, super-cool, "real-future" weapons tech, but even as far as the sound design and dialogue go -- and it's definitely to a game's credit if it can manage to sound good on the noisy expo floor.

What I played of GR:FS feels very polished and well-paced. The seemless single-player in-engine cutscenes enhance the game's flow rather than interrupting it. There's a nice variety of gadgets, features, and mini-scenarios that add variety to the otherwise standard-fare military shooter gameplay. The team- and intel-oriented multiplayer feels both familiar and refreshing.

Overall, GR:FS delivers explosive action without going preposterously over-the-top. I can't find much not to like about this game, aside from the obvious point that, thematically, it's still more of the same military shooter stuff.

Last year's Medal of Honor was rushed to shelves. The single-player campaign especially suffered -- it needed a better story and a lot more time in the QA oven. IMO, that was a mistake, the game was generally received as a disappointment, and sales (and EA's reputation, if any) suffered for it. Even if Ghost Recon: Future Soldier will be arriving a few years late to the party, I'm looking forward to playing it.