Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier
UBISOFT (XBOX 360, PS3, PC)
If the nonstop firefights of Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3 have left you with post-traumatic stress disorder, consider this latest Tom Clancy–stamped shooter a sort of smart-weapon therapy. The war zones here—scattered from South America to the Middle East—are no less treacherous, but victory depends on more than having the reflexes of a 12-year-old smart-ass assassin. You’ll need to master strategic leadership of your four-man squad and careful use of tomorrow’s weapons.
Future Soldier’s developers recruited the help of Navy SEALs to arm the game with gadgets fit for duty in the next few years. Your arsenal includes remote-control surveillance drones, targeting grenades that mark enemies on your map, and optical camouflage that cloaks your body armor in a see-through shimmer (like the dreadlocked alien from the movie Predator). Commanding your three squad mates is a simple matter of pointing and clicking. (Real-life players assume their roles in coop er ative multiplayer missions.) You can order them to scout ahead, con centrate their shots on a single enemy, or target multiple enemies for one synchronized surgical strike when you pull the trigger. Real-time satellite surveillance provides the lay of the land before you dash into the next area.
Most firefights here are fought from behind cover. You lead your guys from obstacle to obstacle, automatically crouching behind cars and flattening against buildings at the touch of a button. Of course, you can just ignore
all these tactical advantages and send in your squad with guns set to full-auto, but that seems like an oldfashioned
way to play a game called Future Soldier.
