Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier

Tom Clancy's

GHOST RECON: FUTURE SOLDIER

(xbox360, ps3, pc)

In a world thats saturated by run and gun first person shooters, where you are pitted against faceless, infinite and sometimes even idiotic enemies, its nice to see a company carve its own bullet riddled path into the world of "simulated shooters". 

The Ghost Recon series, in all honesty, was never one of those franchises that had me giddy as a schoolboy, as some have, (much to my embarrassment) and so when during one of Ubisoft's E3 presentation back in 2009 I was less than interested at the prospect of yet another first person shooter blasting its way into our gaming community.


However one boring, rainy sunday night, I was somehow directed to the presentation of Ghost Recon Future Soldier. Not having much else to do (as is all too often the case!) I decided to stay and watch it. Fifteen minutes later, I was practically salivating onto my laptop (not a regular thing for me to do I should add). Three long years later and no sooner had my pre-ordered copy of Future Soldier arrived, than I slammed the game into my 360 and away it went.  

Let me just say straight away, its been three weeks since I first played the game and I still absolutely love it. It has got to be by far one of the most entertaining and involving shooters of this year, so far. With the prospect of yet another Call of Duty and Medal of Honor (sexy though it may look), Future Soldier has the common decency to offer tactic choices and weapon experimentation for all. To real game "gun nuts" (myself included) this is a seriously tantalising prospect, giving an unprecedented amount of choice to mix and match your weapons (realistically that is). 


Another thing to mention is that now the tried and true first person shooting aspect that the G.R franchise has used for years has been dumped for a new, gritty "embedded journalist/cameraman" feel to it, and sometimes makes you feel like you are following these four men into actual combat. Again with choice , one of the game's strongest elements is its immersion into this brutal and deadly world of covert military action. 


The game certainly has added a lot of cinematic flare since its last foray, clearly influenced by the recent rebooting of its cousin franchises, Splinter Cell and Rainbow Six, which feature or action packed and brutal worlds. This is clearly a direction that they plan to follow for sometime and I happily follow them down it. Personally I cannot wait for the next instalments of the Tom Clancy's gaming franchise.


Having such its praise I have to admit that though this game is extremely appealing to action fans and shooter geeks alike, the game suffers from unpolished in game graphics that holds the game from achieving real potential, as well as the occasional glitch. My problems however are minor as the game offers enough to the player that most issues can be overlooked. Look forward to see what else the Clancy universe has to throw at me in the future.


Summary


PROS:
- Great blend of action and stealth


- Fantastic customisation options.


- Varied and immersive experience.


- Musical score adds to the atmosphere and creates tension and excitement.


- Likeable and believable, if a little stereotypical, characters that form the "Ghost Team" help you to want to see them through the game.




CONS:
- Dated graphics during cutscenes pulls you out of the world at the more important, expositional moments.


-The occasional but obvious in-game glitches can be jarring at times.


- Despite all the weapon customisation choices, their aren't that many weapons to equip, something that they will hopefully remedy in future titles...


-Story is a little cliched and can come across as being a little clunky.




  OVERALL SCORE: 


 
 A must by for action and military shooter fans!