By Jim Rossignol on April 13th, 2010 at 4:54 pm.
Alec has vanished into the Oxford countryside, probably on a mission of some kind, but it could just be he got loose after dark. Either way, his preview of Ghost Recon: Future Soldier is up over here. Here’s a bit that is illustrative and relevant:
All these omni-death abilities mean Ghost Recon is no longer a game of skulking behind rocks, picking people off from great distances. Combat is much more close quarters, enemies far more plentiful and the cover system is far more like the one in Gears of War. While the use of gadgetry and teamwork means it’s not a straightforward corridor-pounder, it’s definitely much more of an action shooter than a tactical shooter.
Read on! Also, what the hell is going on with that dude on the right?
13/04/2010 at 16:57 Sobric says:
Why is that man wearing a shower curtain?
13/04/2010 at 17:23 Zyrxil says:
You guys have no imagination :P I mean it’s obviously (not even being sarcastic here) a tarp made of futuristic see-through camoflouge material. See:
http://steinbaugh.com/journal/invisibility-cloak/
13/04/2010 at 17:41 Jesse says:
The confusion stems from the fact that the invisibility cloak pictured here is not in ‘stealth mode’, but rather in ‘light up like a big blue electric tarp’ mode.
Cool-looking futuristic technology is so played out. The new face of the future is silly-looking, and I for one say it’s about time.
13/04/2010 at 19:32 Zyrxil says:
Well if the camouflage tarp was actually in invisibility mode, then you wouldn’t be able to see him, would you?
13/04/2010 at 19:44 FunkyBadger says:
The dude on the left is wearing the cloak switched “ON”.
14/04/2010 at 00:33 RC-1290'Dreadnought' says:
@Sobric this is actually the result of the Aperture Science project about shower curtains.
Wikipedia (14-04-2010 01:31:00) has this to say on shower curtains:
“The shower curtain has two main purposes: to provide privacy and to prevent water from flooding or spraying into the bathroom.”
I expect the third new found purpose to be added soon.
14/04/2010 at 06:22 noilly says:
I was thinking a Nazgul…. with a gun
14/04/2010 at 16:33 Dave says:
It’s his Combat Snuggie.
13/04/2010 at 17:05 Mario Figueiredo says:
I must say I’m all for trying to turn shooters into family games. And nothing works better than the soldier bringing to combat his wife still wearing the wedding dress.
13/04/2010 at 17:10 Karhax says:
Is this Mass Effect? Why is there a geth there?
13/04/2010 at 17:31 westyfield says:
That was my first thought as well.
For a similar reaction, see also: miners’ helmet lamps; hoodies.
13/04/2010 at 17:14 Petethegoat says:
Why does the guy on the far left appear to have a gun-hat?
13/04/2010 at 17:15 Mario Figueiredo says:
I agree. Looks ridiculous!
13/04/2010 at 17:39 Jimbo says:
You guys don’t have gun-hats? They’re all the rage round our way.
13/04/2010 at 18:30 Octacon100 says:
Rumour is it’s the next TF2 hat.
13/04/2010 at 18:47 kyynis says:
@Sobric
It’s the skul gun, obviously.
13/04/2010 at 17:23 lumberjack_wannabe says:
In the greyscale semi-darkness of the not so distant future, there is only war. And stealth camouflaged shower curtains.
13/04/2010 at 17:36 Shadowcat says:
“Venkman! What happened? Are you okay?”
“He slimed me.”
“That’s great! Actual physical contact! Can you move?”
“I feel so funky.”
“Spengler! I’m with Venkman! He got slimed!”
13/04/2010 at 17:44 WTF says:
So, a franchise that is based utterly on stealth is throwing of stealth entirely. Did GRIN not do enough to destroy this franchise with utterly-fecking-awful GRAW series?
Dear god. Is there anything left for people to screw up? Lets bring back Dig-Dug as a dating sim and be done with…
13/04/2010 at 18:09 ChaK_ says:
I’m so much with you on that one.
Ubi keeps ruining everything they touch.
R6…check
pop…check
splinter…check
ghost recon…check
I mean come on, that’s more than a 180° turn compared to the original ghost recon.
And those stupid console junkies saying the real ghost recon is GRAW…curse on you monkeys, curse on you
13/04/2010 at 22:23 RedFred says:
Better throw Silent Hunter in that bag also.
13/04/2010 at 17:45 Vinraith says:
I always say this, but I truly miss the days when Ghost Recon and Rainbow Six were proper tactical shooters with full squads and planning/orders systems. I still break out Rainbow Six Raven Shield from time to time because it’s the last game of its sort that I know of, even if it is looking pretty dated.
13/04/2010 at 17:53 Howard says:
Here! Here!
Raven Shield and the original (plus 2 addons) Ghost Recon were the last good stealth games ever made (ok – bar SWAT 4).
This idiotic, joypad-friendly crap is just sickening.
13/04/2010 at 18:03 JB says:
Agreed. That reminds me, I could dig out Raven Shield right now =)
13/04/2010 at 18:13 ChaK_ says:
oh dear, that sweat in my hands while playing R6.
“Should I just pop my head around the corner? Damn I don’t wanna die”
*pops*
bang, dead.
So many tension, so many long planning, with zulu codes and all. Damn, I’d sell my grandmother for a new rainbow 6.
I remember playing without the crosshair, every single opponent was something to be feared
13/04/2010 at 20:13 Subject 706 says:
Sigh. Those were the days. Hopefully they’ll come again. But not from a megapublisher, that’s for sure.
13/04/2010 at 18:06 Springy says:
How is Rainbow Six and SWAT 4 stealth? You stick explosives to the door, blow it to shreds and shoot the people inside in the groin.
13/04/2010 at 18:07 Springy says:
@Howard god damn it. And I meant the original R6, not just Vegas.
13/04/2010 at 18:14 westyfield says:
But up to that point, they have no idea you’re there.
Now that’s stealth!
13/04/2010 at 18:18 Octacon100 says:
But shooting people in the groin is the ENTIRE point of stealth! Nothing hurts more than surprise groin punches, so I’d imagine surprise groin shots are the worse shot ever.
Also, the screams hide your footsteps.
13/04/2010 at 18:18 Bret says:
Groin shots are inherently stealthy, as we learned from the Fallout 3 debates.
13/04/2010 at 18:15 Jakkar says:
Ah. Curses. Everything funny has already been said. Until death do them part <3
I dearly miss the planning systems of the original R6. Imagine the potential with the procedural animation systems of today for the teams to seek dynamic cover and hurl themselves through windows in dramatic fashions.
Side-note; Rainbow Six: Vegas was slightly entertaining, despite failing horrendously at being a Rainbow Six game.
13/04/2010 at 18:57 ChaK_ says:
I too enjoyed both vegas episodes.
Though they do not deserve R6′s name. More something like “shoot’em : vegas 2″
13/04/2010 at 19:27 Jimbo says:
Hostage Hold’em: Vegas Over Deuces
13/04/2010 at 21:31 MWoody says:
Not EVERYTHING has been said. For example, no one has yet pointed out that the figure on the right looks like a six-foot-tall sparkling blue vagina holding a gun.
13/04/2010 at 19:02 Optimaximal says:
I thought RPS weren’t giving Ubisoft games any coverage what-so-ever until DRMageddon resolves itself?
14/04/2010 at 06:34 DarkNoghri says:
This is what I thought as well. Although, to be fair, this actually appeared elsewhere, where they were paid to do it, or so I assume.
13/04/2010 at 19:19 El Stevo says:
So they take a pretty unique series and make it exactly the same as countless other games out there. Good plan.
13/04/2010 at 19:19 Nick says:
I’m looking forward to the Navy based sequel Future Sailor(s).
13/04/2010 at 19:30 Lack_26 says:
Features will include Confused Affection over Male comPatriot (or C.A.M.P.™) and seafaring innuendo.
13/04/2010 at 19:58 Thants says:
It already has a theme song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAbkh4TMRqg
13/04/2010 at 23:08 Nick says:
That is to what I was alluding, yes ¬_¬
14/04/2010 at 02:29 Thants says:
Ah, well I live in Canada, I guess I’m used to no one else having heard of The Mighty Boosh.
13/04/2010 at 19:29 Malleus says:
@WTF
Come on, GRAW for the PC was actually pretty decent. The only bad thing about it was the mostly linear level design, and maybe the futuristic stuff. But the weapons, the animations, the AI and the aiming (sight/scope) was quite well done.
13/04/2010 at 19:32 Vinraith says:
@Malleus
While I was very annoyed with the GRAW games for not even being in the same subgenre as the original GR, they weren’t bad games unto themselves. By far my biggest problem with them beyond misuse of the name was the lack of AI squad mates in multiplayer co-op, which is just bizarre and pretty badly undermined the entire reason I bought them in the first place.
13/04/2010 at 23:37 WTF says:
@Malleus
No. Just no. GRAW was a total abortion of a game from start to end. Every single thing about it was hateful in the extreme:
-The engine was a train wreck that could not be persuaded to run properly regardless of hardware
-The GFX were diabolical
-The bullshit, consolised looks/control/feel just drove me crazy
-The AI was utterly insane – in an attempt to make a “serious PC game” they simply made the AI psychic, allowing them to know where you are at all times and giving them the ability to headshot you with any weapon from any distance without any reaction time.
-The entire concept was utterly broken. Retarded placement of checkpoints (whose use at all invalidates the game) left it unplayable and the idiotic thing about it being game over if you lost the lead character was just laughable.
I could go on and on and on for pages about how utterly, mind-fuckingly terrible GRAW was. It is the only game on which I have ever sworn physical violence against a DEV and actually meant it. GRIN need to be purged form the earth as everything they ever made was bad beyond belief and their incompetence tied with UBI was just a match made in heaven
14/04/2010 at 00:12 Jimbo says:
GRIN closed down last year.
14/04/2010 at 00:37 Malleus says:
@WTF
Lol! The only thing I agree with you is that the checkpoint system sucked and that it would’ve been cool to be able to switch characters, but otherwise, it’s like you’re talking about a completely different game. :)
But each to his own, I guess. :)
13/04/2010 at 20:24 yourgrandma says:
By far the worst thing about the pc version was the FOV you basically couldnt see anything and with snipers on rooftops just about everwhere they game was a nightmare to play. The weapons and shooting was great though.
13/04/2010 at 21:13 Jochen Scheisse says:
Wow, futuristic Super Soldiers, in a shooter. What will they come up with next? WW2 shooters? Demons in Space? Modern Warfare? I just love living in times where the unfettered creativity constantly elevates popular culture to new levels.
13/04/2010 at 21:23 /V/endetta says:
Oh boy!
Another generic, boring shooter with health regen, cover system casual gameplay mechanics like Vegas 1 & 2. And it will be another shitty console port.
Ubicrap, can f*ck off.
Yes, I’m mad.
13/04/2010 at 22:09 Skurmedel says:
To be fair to GRIN, they did not do the new games, merely the PC ports of them.
13/04/2010 at 23:39 WTF says:
Wrong. The GRIN GRAW games were utterly separate from the console ones. There was no connection at all bar the name.
14/04/2010 at 00:32 Springy says:
The thing I remember most about the console GRAWs was when playing the on-rails minigun sections all I could think about was how much the constant, powerful rumble feature was draining my precious controller’s batteries.
Obviously it was a significant impression those games made.
14/04/2010 at 09:03 Skurmedel says:
There is nothing wrong with that statement at all. I played both versions and it was a PC port, no matter how little they resembled each other. They did not design the game or write the story hence you can’t really complain about them changing the mechanics since it was not their decision. The PC port was rather rubbish, I agree, but at least complain about the right things.
14/04/2010 at 01:21 EthZee says:
Don’t know if there are many PS3 owners on here that spotted this, but the dude on the right appears to be the sniper class from Killzone 2, even down to the cloaking:
http://www.wallpaper4me.com/images/wallpapers/download_unlockable-610656.jpeg
So. What the?
14/04/2010 at 01:54 Mario Figueiredo says:
The explanation is in Alec’s preview at Eurogamer and that Jim linked to us on this article. And it reads:
The thing is that the snapshot makes it look absolutely ugly. Which, I have no doubt, indeed is. However, in all truth these things only really work when seen in motion.
While I think this all sci-fi tech makes a game like Ghost Recon already look stupid, it’s the fact they chose a ghillie suit model for the optical camouflage thingy that really proves to me the worst thing ever happening to the gaming industry was the concept of franchising. And I can’t wait until all these moronic studios leave to make games somewhere else and leave my PC platform alone.
14/04/2010 at 09:59 Bananaphone says:
I guess I’m alone in absolutely loving R6 Vegas (never played the earlier games, and it had the best cover system ever) but this:
“it’s definitely much more of an action shooter than a tactical shooter”
…is baffling. There aren’t enough action shooters around that they need to take a franchise known for tactical combat and make it into a shooty-bang-bang twitch gaming fest? Why not create an entirely new franchise for your rubbish sounding generic FPS and leave the Ghost Recon be.
14/04/2010 at 17:10 PHeMoX says:
It’s because their designers lack the imagination required for truly original designs.
I hate that kind of stuff though, but I’m sure you can’t force developers into being ever more innovative and creative when there’s the option of going for the easy-money-safe-stuff.