Rock, Paper, Shotgun

I haven’t paid much attention to Ubisoft’s Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, which seems like it might have been a mistake, because a) it’s supposedly quite good, b) it has the biggest muzzle-flashes I have ever seen, and c) it’s a game full of high-tech techno-tools. DLC for the game has just arrived today, amusingly dubbed Khyber Strike, and it features a number of said gadgets – look at that little turret thing! I know what our next household pet will be. There’s also a new map, a new game mode, and some expanded character progression, for those of you who are keen on expanded things. And let’s face it, who doesn’t want to expand something? See all these features wrapped in the loving arms of a trailer, below.
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When some players report that keyboard and mouse don’t work with their PC game, you know you’ve got a problem. And that’s only the beginning of a laundry list of issues leaving players feeling rather haunted by Tom Clancy’s Ghosts. While some players are reporting mostly functional experiences, others have found themselves plagued by unadjustable resolutions, framerate caps, chugging performance, crippling server connection problems, and show-stopping crashes. But, at the very least, Ubisoft is officially on the case.

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Quick bit of unfortunate news: If Ubisoft’s rather, er, atypical ads are to be believed, you’re spending every waking moment and sweaty, sleepless night fantasizing about Gunsmith in anticipation of GRFS‘ (pronounced “gurfs”) PC launch on June 15. And since the target audience for those ads totally exists and you’re definitely part of it, an out-of-nowhere delay to June 29 may be an actual tragedy worthy of tears.

Ubisoft, however, nonchalantly changed up its release schedule, offering no explanation for the Future Soldier future slippage. I can’t imagine how two weeks would make a difference in terms of, say, piracy, but Ubisoft’s policy on these things – though improved as of late – has typically tended toward mystifying. Regardless, I’ve sent a mail, so we’ll see what comes of that. For now, then – on all fronts – we wait.

Tom Clancy has written and directed loads of adverts for his Future Soldier game and the latest is a launch trailer, although the PC version isn’t actually launching until mid-June. Nevertheless, it’s my favourite advideo to date, featuring as it does the word co-operative over and over again. I like co-operative games so maybe I’ll actually enjoy this latest Clanciful vision of tomorrow’s conflicts, even if previous attempts to convince me of its worth by comparing players to addicts and going all gloomy didn’t particularly convince. There was also the worst advert for anything ever, which you may have been lucky enough to miss. Please don’t feel obliged to prove me wrong by sharing worse adverts below.

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Continuing its trend of, er, nontraditional trailers, Ubisoft’s stirred Ghost Recon: Future Soldier‘s pre-launch pot with a taster that’s… well, it won’t bore you. That much is certain. It’s not quite a sadvertisement along the lines of, say, Dead Island or Mass Effect 3‘s case of the sunflower weepies, but it does attempt to get inside a soldier’s head both on the battlefield and off to, well, mixed results. Basically, this faux-documentary makes a leaping grasp at somberness, only to bellyflop into a cavernous abyss of cheese below. Fortunately, if that’s not your thing, it still ends with the requisite solid minute of explosions. It’s basically National Geographic: Explosion Edition, honestly. A tropical city? Smithereens. Frozen wastes? Sorry global warming; the Ghosts beat you there. A jungle? Sure. A forest? Duh. Space? Does that make them space ghosts? I’ll stop now.

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The phrase “gunsmith” always makes me imagine the Ghosts ducking into a wartorn alleyway, only to discover a comfortable alcove occupied by a jolly, thick-bearded dwarf and his robust set of smelting tools. They sit down and banter for a bit over a thick hunk of black bread and some finely aged cheeses. It’s all very pleasant. Evidently, however, Ubisoft and I don’t exactly see eye-to-eye on the subject of mythril and its effectiveness in modern combat zones. Granted, when someone else says “gunsmith,” I don’t imagine that this is what immediately springs to mind either.

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When you think about it, Ghosts of the Tom Clancy variety actually have quite a lot in common with ghosts of the Casper, The Friendly persuasion. After all, I mean… you know… well, they both have “ghost” in their name. They both, uh, talk to people… Oh, and invisibility! That’s the ticket. The latest Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, however, absolutely ruins my clever analogy. And I could tell you what exactly you’ll see with death-defying feats of linguistic gymnastics, but instead, I’m opting to take full advantage of the under-appreciated art form that is comic book sound effects. So, in short, BOOM, THOCK, KABIFF, POW, ZOTT, SPLUSH, RATTA-TAT, WHAM, BAM, THANK YOU MA’AM. Dramatically dive behind the break and shout something about “tangos” to watch the full trailer.

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Like me, you may have become a little confused about what Ghost Recon games are coming to PC, and which aren’t. Let me explain. Ghost Recon Online is, Ghost Recon: Future Soldier wasn’t, but is now. Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars was for the DS. Ghost Recon: Have We Found The Ghosts yet won’t be, but then will, but then won’t be again. Ghost Recon: Elizabethan Attack definitely will be for the first three months. And Ghost Recon: Ghostly Reckoning will only be on PC if you install it on PS3 first, and play via your 360. Glad to have cleared that up. Below you can see the latest trailer for Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, which is coming out on the 15th June for PC, rather than 25th May for consoles, because Ubisoft just cannot help themselves.

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And frankly pretty impressive. The first trailer for the upcoming tactical shooter shows off a bunch of the gadgets that players will have access to as they sneak and infiltrate, the best of which is clearly the quadrocopter drone (I am so buying the toy one of those for myself soon…) which can be used for scouting out enemies ahead and allowing you to plan your route. It all looks incredibly fancy too, with a lovely balance between the washed-out real-world environments and the Tron-like tech overlays. Actually paying attention to this, now. Take a look.
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While Far Cry 3′s social features are a bit baffling, Ubisoft’s new Ghost Recon Network makes a whole lot more sense. It’s not a traditional social network, really, as it has more in common with Call of Duty Elite: it will allow you to track stats from any device, customise your weapons and find other customisations from other players, set up and manage squads. It’ll come in web or Android or iPhone app form on May 25th, with the release of the console versions of Ghost Recon: Future Soldier. The PC release is June 15th. You could use those tweaked weapons in Future Soldier Guerilla mode, the four-player co-op mode that we forgot to mention last week.
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We know very little about Ghost Recon: Commander, so little in fact that I only just found out that it’s going to exist. I’d rather be a Commander than a Future Soldier or an Online so I was pleased about the prospect, but then I saw that it’s a Facebook/mobile game and my interest spiraled away like chocolate syrup down a motel shower drain. However, Chris Early of Ubisoft has told Pocketgamer.biz that playing Commander will unlock advantages in the other two upcoming Ghost Recon games, and vice versa. I suppose the idea is that spending a spare half hour on Facebook could earn you a gun rather than a dubiously rekindled acquaintance with a former sort-of-friend. Quotes and thoughts await below.

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