I got to play Ghost Recon: Future Soldier at E3 2011, something I was quite happy about. I was interested in the game following the hype surrounding it, plus I tend to enjoy third person shooters better than first person ones. During my hands on experience, we had a four player co-op session going on one of the levels of the campaign. The old Ghost Recon games are something I never really got into, but Future Soldier was extremely impressive and very easy to just jump in and play. As a squad leader you can obviously give your team commands as you play as different characters during the co-op campaign. For instance, breaching a room as one character was exactly that, taking out the enemies and clearing the room. When I got my hands on playing as the squad leader or host, right after breaching the same door on the same level it put me right into a cut scene with me grabbing the main target in the room. So depending on who you play as, you will have the opportunity to have four unique experiences in co-op.
You have different equipment such as night vision and camouflage with all of them being easily accessible, which is what I think is the biggest difference from the previous game. There is an ease and flow to the gameplay, so commanding team mates or switching equipment doesn’t slow down the gamplay at all. Most of the short demo involved me gathering with my team to a rally point to do things like breaching doors. You also can’t stray too far away from you squad, the game will prompt you to return closer to your squad. Overall I would have to say that, aside from Gears of War 3, this looks like one of the best third person shooters yet. I had the opportunity to ask the the Game Director a few questions which I will enlighten you with below.
Q: Any news on when the beta will be available to play?
A: I cannot talk about the beta.
Q: What kind of co-op modes will the game offer?
A: You can play the campaign with up to 4 people from beginning to end. (With the assumption that the campaign is the extent of co-op)
Q: What kind of locations will be in the game?
A: You will start off in South America, in Bolivia and on to Africa then Eastern Europe.
Q: Does the game have any similarities to GRAW (Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfare)?
A: There are similarities in the sense that we kept the tactical depth of them game and the cover system, in fact we improved many things, for example the Intel System is the core of the gameplay. Getting the information before you shoot is crucial when you’re playing and you will have several tools to get the Intel. The fact that you can play co-op with four people means you can share Intel, giving new depth to the game. There are more than ten ways to get Intel such as your drone or an Intel grenade. [Differing from GRAW] All locations are crowded with civilians that you can scare or tell them to get out of your way adding another new dimension to the gameplay… Not a run and gun game.
Q: Will the game tie into any of the other Ghost Recon games as far as the story goes?
A: It is a whole new story, but is related to many things that have happened before and you will have characters from the previous Ghost Recons.
Q: How much will the optical camo effect gameplay?
A: We did not want this feature to be too powerful, if you want to play stealthy you can but the enemy can see you if you are 20 meters. It is not invisibility, it is inspired by the real technology from US forces and research.
Q: Is the game more strategy or shooter oriented?
A: It’s a mix, because you can play the way you want. If you want to have a gun fight you can, without being very tactical, but it can be harder if you don’t use tactics. Even in gunfights you can still be tactical because there are many ways to give orders to your team mates by using the drone, using Intel to reveal where all enemies are, you can order your team mate to stay in a certain position and then go flank.
Q: Will there be destructible environments?
A: All the cover can be destroyed, because we do not want the player to feel too stationary so you will be forced to move from cover to cover.
