Ghost Recon Multiplayer Beta Impressions.......WOW

Ive just seen the Future and that is Ghost Recon FUTURE soldier,what a fantastic ,strategic ,rewarding,spellbinding,graphically satisfying brilliant game this is going to be.

Forget Battlefield,Forget Cod this is where its at ........Period.

Takes a lot to please me but i knew that this game would not disappoint but even i was surprised at how wonderful it looks and plays,no lone gunner in this game and for those that like team work then you are in for a treat when this get released in a few short weeks.

Many thanks to Jorkila for providing me with the code to download this from the PSN network,after a few teething problems trying to connect and staring at a loading screen for about 15 minutes i finally got into a team based game and in all honesty it blew me away.

My turtle beach headset is rigged up with a optical lead to the 360 and tomorrow i will have to do a little bit of tinkering and swap it over because i am going to play this to death the next week or so its that exciting and good.

Graphics look drop dead gorgeous so do the animation of the characters especially when they are leaping over fences ,bridges etc,Gun fire and explosions some of the best i have seen in game and you really get the feel that you have some fire power behind you.

Think once i rig up the headset its going to be even more enjoyable and i felt like i had cheated my team because most of the players if not all were using microphones and thats a rare thing in itself for sure.

Even the menu and customisation is a nice work of art along with some nice in game killcams,was hyped for this game and its on my pre/order list and after playing a couple of maps tonight this is going to be my new gaming fix.

Its third person perspective but who cares when a game of this quality is just around the corner.........Breathtaking

long Preview

Oh and by visiting sites tonight i managed to get hold of 3 Playstation beta keys which was fairly easy,xbox 360 on the other hand was a different matter.

Anybody want one then PM me

Edited by time2die (Fri 20-Apr-12 02:49:30)

Having now played it I can agree with you in general.

It looks great and definitely feels like BF3 when playing rather than COD, the measured approach being the order of the day. And I think that approach is actually served better by the over the shoulder style than it is by BF3's first person perspective. The one map I have played so far in the Beta (I've forgotten the name already, "Mill" I think?) is not very big. Think "Crash" on Modern Warfare or "Scrapyard" on MW2. For me they are the ideal size and great for objective gameplay.

That said, the actual layout of this map felt quite badly designed for objective play with the opposing team being able to utterly dominate an area that they needed to defend, surrounding a courtyard a making it a virtual no go zone. The ability to fire from cover is good, but in this situation made it almost impossible to traverse that area. You can't blame it on campers as that is the whole point of the objective.

As for visuals, I suppose it depends on your particular taste. The player animations as T2D says are really, really nice and there is a lot of detail in the environment around you. I personally though feel that the environment doesn't have the "clarity" I would like and look forward to on next generation consoles. As with BF3 on consoles, that is the price you pay for extra detail and with the desert/sandy coloured buildings and fauna it was a bit tedious and harsh on the eyes at times, trying to spot players crouched behind parapet walls and utilising the shoot from cover attribute. Hopefully other maps will be far less "grainy" and make it slightly less arduous in this respect. Perhaps PC gamers will fare better with the visual clarity.

The controls are nice, my only gripe being the shoulder swap function. Though extremely handy at times, positioning it on the left analogue stick for console gamers is daft, with frequent accidental shoulder swaps during chance one on one encounters becoming painful at times! Hopefully button configuration options will be available on release, as hopefully will control options in the main menu rather than in game. My pet hate is needing to wait until the game starts before inverting or whatever and hopefully this is just a beta thing.

Customisation menus for weapons and equipment dont appear overly numerous and in general are quite clearly laid out. That said, the exploded weapon feature looks great but in reality may become a little convoluted when wanting to upgrade things.

All in all I really like the game though the network issues i experience are no less frustrating here than in BF3. Which is a shame because I would love to get more into the measured type of war gaming they offer. I am very likely to buy this game for the campaign and co op features, but for those that don't suffer the lag issues, the multiplayer portion of this game has bags of potential.

If you like that sort of thing of course.

In reply to a post by mrnelster:

I am very likely to buy this game for the campaign and co op features, but for those that don't suffer the lag issues, the multiplayer portion of this game has bags of potential.

If you like that sort of thing of course.

And who doesn't?*

* When their internet's working properly of course. Sorry to hear your own are ongoing matey. I haven't played online for ages but my ISP, Be, have been really ropey lately so I dunno if it'd work well or not.

I've actually ordered Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings for PC and it's meant to be more like Skyrim in turns of control than a point and click to attack type RPG like the original Witcher so I've got high expectations for it.

Ghost Recon does have appeal for me too but it's not a priority and I definitely need to look into it more but yours and T2D's comments and opinion help in that regard.

I may actually switch to fibre myself when it's available (should be end of June now as it's been put back), in your opinion mrnelster, sir, is there anything I need to be mindful of? I am losing faith in Be and don't think they can sustain a decent connection when it's been so bumpy for so long now.

Its got quite a few online issues that need sorting out and the servers tend to crash a lot with a message saying ubisoft servers are not working at present please try again later.

I personally think with this and Max Payne there is going to be plenty of online action come this May.

Its hard to say if it will have the longevity of games like MW and Battlefield and even Max Payne might have the better online play [who knows]

But from what i have played i am well impressed and look forward to the full game and the single player is what i will complete first before anything else.

Come next Tuesday i might just concentrate on Prototype 2 and wait until the full retail game of Future soldiers drops,one thing is for sure i will be getting it for the 360 as opposed this Playstation 3 beta.

Every game i play online is far superior on the 360 and thats a fact

Not really SPOOK. I can honestly say my connection has been perfect for 12 months since having fibre installed. I am only 50-60 metres (as the crow flys at least) from the green cabinet so I receive the full speed of close to 38 odd Mbps.

I have been using Aquiss on a business package which makes my evening usage off peak instead of on, which is perfect for me. I now have a new office location and won't be working from home as much, so I am about to change to a cheaper home solution which will save me a few quid or so each month, but have been thoroughly pleased with the service they have given me. They are effectively BT resellers but without any BT call centre nonsense etc. to put up with. Though other than a faulty modem (which was a known issue for many) there hasn't been a need.

The only trouble I have had mate is that my ping is too good for the randomness that is console matchmaking parameters. As orly and others have pointed out, I believe you can circumvent that on PC if you don't mind waiting to get into a game or have server setting options.

My ADSL connection was 1Mbps or fixed speed at 0.5Mbps so there isn't an option for me to go back. After a transfer rate of 4.5MB from iTunes it would be like pulling teeth!

I personally think with this and Max Payne there is going to be plenty of online action come this May.

Thanks again for the Beta code mate. I am now happy that I will pick this up first and then Maxi P later. I really like the way it handles and the private co-op/hoarde modes should be good entertainment. Just as long as mrnelster shovel hands gets used to not swapping shoulders every 5 seconds. Dont panic Mr. Mannering, dont panic!

Hopefully there will be a demo for Max Payne aswell.

Max Payne is out first mate 18.05 and Ghost recon 25.05 week later.


I tried to join you online in a few games but i guessed you saw me trying to connect and blocked me only kidding.

You thought oh no ! t2d coming to kick my butt ?

Seriously each time i tried your matches were full and last night when i went on briefly you was playing dead island which i traded quite a few weeks back.

Lets hope that when Future Soldier ships it has at least 10 maps and quite a few other game modes

Edited by time2die (Sun 22-Apr-12 09:51:23)

Well i know it a beta but i have to say i have not played a beta that is so unstable with regular server crashes and all sort of bugs.

Not sure if this is just the playstation network or what but its not pretty and even when the game runs you get all sorts of bugs and glitches like players motionless like showroom dummies dotted around the maps.

Sound problems,lag problems and the most ridiculous the host has quit and restart i have ever seen.

Usually when the host quits someone else becomes IT and the game resumes where it left of,not in future soldier the game actually starts all over.........Something that will need addressing for sure.

Have played it for quite a few hours now and it is a fun game but with all the issues it does become something of a chore and if these things happen on the release of the retail product then this game will not last to long.

Im still impressed with the games look and overall feel but there is much to sort out and they have a very limited time to do it.

Edited by time2die (Mon 23-Apr-12 00:12:52)

Yeah I tried to take your invites but each time it said the game was full.

I didn't notice any issues but I haven't played it since the first night as a mate asked me to play Dead Island with him. It has probably become oversubscribed now I guess. Still, the campaign looks really nice.

If you can bring yourself to go back to survival on MW3 or Zombies on BLOPS, we can tee up a game mate?

Two Collossus down by the way (Collossus? Collossai?.....big gits!).

I dont actually have those games on the playstation mate only Ghost Recon Beta,i used to buy every single game for the playstation 3 as opposed to the xbox 360 but times have changed and for the past 18 months i have preferred
the 360.

I was a big admirer of the playstation 3 but since this is a free online service it certainly shows,if you could see the way most Cod games play like black ops and MW3 on the 360 in comparison to the playstation 3 you would understand why now games like Ghost Recon and Max Payne 3 will be bought for the 360.

Only time i basically by games now for the playstation is for those rare exclusive titles to each platform.

I dont know how well the Ghost recon future soldier is playing on the 360 service but i am betting that it is actually running better than this Playstation 3 service which most of the time is down or having many connection isssues.