Ghost Recon Online review

[the_tyrant]

Ghost Recon online, a free to play third person online shooter. Can ubisoft really pull off a good free to play online game? Ubisoft is moving many of their core franchises online, including silent hunter, and Ghost Recon is the first to make that transition. Well, recently I have taken the game for a spin, and here are my thoughts (Note, the game is in open beta, many things can and will change before launch).

Well lets start with the gameplay first shall we? Fundamentally, the gameplay is similar to Ghost Recon Future Soldier. The shooting feels good, and the movement is generally smooth. The cover system is SUPERB! The whole slide to cover mechanic is very fun, and I enjoyed it very much. When it comes to the basic mechanics, Ghost Recon online is every bit as good as Ghost Recon Future Soldier.

Now of course, being an online game, you have your classic tropes of classes and levels and whatnot. There are 3 classes (Recon, Assault, and Support). Each class has its own characteristics, and I have to say, they all feel pretty good. The balance is well done, and it feels very refreshing. Whereas most games balance the classes out by "nerfing" them, ghost recon online does it by making every class overpowered, and it feels great! Each class has 2 abilities that feel ridiculously overpowered (assault has a heat ray, recon can go invisible, support can deflect bullets), but because each class's abilities are so overpowered, the game actually balances out. A good player can easily use the abilities to crush the other team (well that is assuming the other team doesn't have good players that can use the abilities)

Ghost recon online is not a game that you can go Rambo in. The developers have made that very clear (in fact, you are reminded that running and gunning will get you killed in the game itself). you are forced to play a tactical game, and flanking maneuvers are often very deadly (I was able to sneak behind enemy lines and get a 9 kill killstreak, whereas if I run and gun, my kill/death ratio is usually under 0.3). The maps are huge, with lots of opportunities for flanking and tactical maneuvers.

Speaking of maps and game modes, there simply isn't enough. There needs to be more maps, and all of the game modes are pretty much variations of capture the point. Sure, the game is playable in its current state, but if ubisoft wants me to invest money and time into the game, they need more content. To be fair though, the game is currently in beta, and they are probably working on a lot more content.

When it comes to the servers, there seems to be quite a bit of downtime unfortunately. During my week playing it, it was down twice (once unexpected, and once scheduled maintenance/upgrades). I was disappointed by it, but alas, its a beta game, and the developers have been communicating about the issues on their facebook page. They seriously need to improve uptime for launch though. The game did crash on me once during a match though, and hopefully they can fix that too.

The community of the game is decent. Since the game is pretty tactical, there doesn't seem to be little kids hurling insults over the mic unlike Halo and Call of Duty. Most of the conversation seems to be on topic, with the occasional wisecracking guy cracking off a few jokes. Most players do use the voice communications, since it is the best way to exchange tactical information in a fast paced game. I haven't actually met a female player, so I don't know if the community is female friendly or not. But so far, the community is pretty friendly to me (I was only personally insulted once, in nearly 50 rounds).

The free to play model works surprisingly well. The game is not pay to win, and you do not need to grind endlessly. The in game currency is called RP (recon points), and the game gives out quite a bit of those. In an hour of play, you should be able to get around 1000 of those (500 for winning your first round of the day, around 200 per match, plus a few hundred from completing some easy daily challenges). To put that in perspective, a mid level gun is around 4500 RPs. You can pay real money to get ahead, but the thing is, you can only buy equipment that your character at his current level can use, so it never becomes pay to win. Also, the later guns aren't that overpowered compared to the early ones, so you really don't feel that the game is unfair.


I'm actually kind of surprised that Ubisoft managed to pull it off. Ghost recon online is a very solid free to play online shooter, all they need is more content and the game has the potential to be spectacular. It is almost as good as future soldier. I am looking forward to the official launch, and for the time being, I suggest everyone should give it a shot.


Official site: http://ghost-recon.ubi.com/ghost-rec...ing/index.aspx