The Gun Show – Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier

Don’t move. Just stare down the scopes. He doesn’t see you, can’t see. That’s because you’re basically invisible, a product of technology. He’s walking aimlessly with his comrades, smoking or talking or doing nothing at all outside of harnessing his semi-automatic. You’re behind a window, and your three squad mates are with you. Poised. So you set marks and targets, and do it on up to four of your enemies. Once everyone is in position, you make the call and all four targets drop simultaneously.

There are a number of cool small details in Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Solider, but perhaps none can match the Sync Shot. As described above, it’s a way to rain death on multiple enemies at once by utilizing the ghost squad you have around you. Throughout the single player campaign – and it seems to happen a lot – you can pinpoint any number of computer opponents, give commands to your teammates and they’ll get in the best position possible to take them out. It feels real, and it feels right.

In fact, overall the single player campaign is quite enjoyable, and while it doesn’t consistently reward obnoxious gun-touting or itchy trigger fingers, it’s not all about stealth either. Of course, there are many missions that require you to slit numerous throats without anyone noticing. But it’s not all muted violence either. You’ll have your share of gunfights, and it should keep even the most fidgety players involved and intrigued.

There are also a number of goodies to play with in the game that don’t necessarily have anything to do with rifles. There’s an active camo suite that literally allows you to become basically invisible, while there are also maneuverable drones to detect enemies. These add a degree of versatility to a genre that’s become somewhat stale lately. It’s gotten to the point where I know my snipers, my assault rifles and my grenades inside and out, but couldn’t tell you a thing about advanced gadgets. It took me some time to get a handle on my entire arsenal. But once I did, the benefits were enjoyable.

There were a few noted glitches – at certain checkpoints, you’d have to wait for teammates that would never come – but I’m assuming I’ll be continuing to play this mode over and over again.

And as usual, the opportunity to team up with other players and play through the missions together takes everything to the next level. In fact, many of the challenges throughout the single player mission almost seem to require more human players. Of course, most of my friends would rather shoot ’em up and destroy everything in sight, and thus I’ve ended up having more success with the computer. Old habits I guess.

For veterans of multiplayer matches on other first or third-person shooters, there are some pleasing differences here as well. For once, the weapons actually have more realistic fire rates and recoil, and that makes a big difference, especially when playing against people who have already leveled up and unlocked scopes, larger magazines and camo. It’s harder to shoot, and therefore, actually easier to have fun with (Ironic right?). There are differing spawn points, which you can choose, and a number of versatile maps. Along with the previously noted gadgets that you can use to track and tag enemies, the game doesn’t feel as random. The “I kill you, you kill me” annoyances of other games don’t exist here as much.

For someone who still calls upon Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 for online play, it can be hard to introduce me to a new environment with new techniques and buttons. I was a HUGE fan of Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter, and it’s still one of my favorite games to date. I didn’t anticipate this game coming close to the experience I once felt with GRAW. But Future Soldier brings it in nearly every way.