Ghost Recon Future Soldier is back, well if you count coming in 2012 as back, with a host of new features, a stack of new weapons and a new campaign to master. It's also got Kinect support, and plenty of other treats in store. But should you wait out until March for the game or just go early with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. We go hands on at this year's E3 gaming convention in Los Angeles to find out more. 

Name

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Future Solider 

What platform is it on?

PS3, Xbox 360

When's it due out?

March 2012

What other game is it like?

Rainbox Six, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Battlefield 3

Does it use any new tech like 3D, PlayStation Move, or Kinect for Xbox 360?

The pitch

Created by the award-winning team behind Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter and Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2, the game will feature cutting-edge technology, prototype high-tech weaponry, and state-of-the-art single-player and multiplayer modes. Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier will go beyond the core Ghost Recon franchise and deliver a fresh gameplay experience, with an unparalleled level of quality that will excite long-time fans and newcomers alike.

The storyline

In the role of Sergeant John Kozak, a new squad member, fight alongside 3 veteran operators in a character-focused 10h storyline. Your team takes the battle to 8 spectacular locales, from the heat and dust of Africa to the Arctic Circle.

Trailers, demoes, and videos

Our first impressions

Opting for the Xbox 360 version will, if you’ve got Kinect, give you extra features above and beyond the PS3 offering, but ultimately it’s not a massive deal breaker. While games like Mass Effect 3 will feature the ability to order your team around in game, Ubisoft, the publishers behind the new Ghost Recon game, have opted to use the Kinect sensor in the set up parts of the game in an area it’s calling Gunsmith.

Using the sensor you’ll be able to fieldstrip your weapon, manage it with your hands and then use it to practice shooting. You’ll also be able to bark orders at it saying that you want a gun that’s good for long range for example.

That demo aside we were able to get to play a level in the game based in Nigeria, where you are tasked with finding a VIP that’s been held hostage, breaking them out and then getting the hell out of dodge, so to speak.

Weapons are responsive, the game area limited - it starts to go fuzzy if you try and stray too far away, and you have to get into positions to continue through the game.

Helping you do all of that are a series of weapons - there are over 50 in the game - and drones, it is future soldier after all.

Back in our play and we’ve hit the village, there are screaming civilians all over the place with the guys using them as cover. It’s a lot more Rainbox Six to be honest, but the pace is quick and the action fast with the added bonus of cover. However, as Ghost Recon uses the Frostbite 2 engine everything is destroyable and that means cover isn’t going to offer you cover for very long, especially if you're under heavy fire.

We eventually find our VIP and then have to continue the firefight making sure he’s not injured - something that we are pleased to say we managed to do.

Ghost Recon is still very much a tactical third-person shooter where you’ve got to manage your team to get the job done. You can go at it all gung-ho, but this tactic won’t serve you well in the long run and ultimately it’s going to be a lot harder. Team work is the key, as the Wonder Pets will tell you.

With campaign levels to complete and more importantly multiplayer to enjoy Ghost Recon Future Soldier doesn't bring much new to the genre, but it does look and feel polished. Polished enough that it will be a nice welcome after 6 months of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, when it comes out in March 2012. 

Please note

The E3 games convention is a fantastic chance to see the latest games due out over the coming year, as well as, letting us get a glimpse into what is going to be the big titles and the ones to avoid like the plague.

The big problem however is that for most of the titles that glimpse is, well, just that. At the show you'll get to play a level here or a multiplayer map there or even have a product manager walk you through a specific level.

So with that in mind we present you with our Quick Play.

What we've done is broken down the key facts you need to know and then given you our first impressions based on around 15 minutes of gaming. For us that 15 minutes isn't enough to do a review or even a First Look review. How can you rate a game that offers over 30 hours of gaming on just 15 minutes of play? However, it should hopefully give you an idea, a feeling, a notion, of what to expect come launch day.