Back to the Future Soldier: Revisiting A Masterpiece 

This game and Spec-Ops: The Line are like the yin and yang of underappreciated third-person squad shooters from 2012.

One thing that stood out for me was the muzzle flash of the guns, they looked weird to be honest. Speaking of funny dialogue, in the Arctic level, one of your squadmates said "At least it's not stairs." Cue the Moscow level, where you have to hike up FIFTEEN flights of stairs, MANUALLY, not in a cutscene. The technology shown is also not that far off, take the Warhound (who doesn't like unlimited mortars and missiles?) and we now have robot dogs which can potentially provide cover, carry supplies or the wounded and maybe even weapons! The AR glasses? The US Army had experimented with AR goggles too, see the IVAS goggles, and so much more. And then the challenges in each mission which allows you to unlock more stuff increases the replayability value too.

It’s the little things on this game that makes it perfect 👍 The combat call outs The cover system The gun sounds Animations I could go on and on.. i was and still addicted to this game! Thank you for the review 🙏

Future Soldier got the short end of the stick in my opinion. It came out at a time where "modern military shooters" were considered out dated and boring (which is far from the truth). Once that sentiment was set in the gaming space at the time, ubisoft had no idea what to do with their "realistic milsim" shooters like FS. After that it just became a weird hodgepodge of ideas like the Division. They ALMOST took it back in the right direction with OG Siege, having plausible operators and gadgets but again, they just can't help themselves from following weird gaming trends of the time; and now siege looks like a tactical clownworld game. I remember picking up FS in a bargain bin at a gamestore YEARS after it came out and being very impressed with how intuitive and good the 3rd person controls and shooting were. They really were onto something special here but alas, they keep messing with the formula and alienating players from their games. Great video btw.

I miss the multiplayer so much. My team were absolutely ruthless. I'd cover half the map on Mill with the KSVK, or a pair of us would run M60s and take turns mag-dumping to keep people pinned. One of our squadmates was not the best at shooting, but was absolutely brilliant at callouts, spotting and marking enemies. He'd end a match with no kills at the top of the leaderboard, based on XP earned alone. I loved how much the game rewarded intelligence gathering. You could play a round doing nothing but scouting and give your squad a massive advantage. I genuinely feel this game has made me better at every team-based game I play.

I remember in 2012, I loved the sprinting animation so much that when I go up this uphill road in my town, I start running like in the game

This was a really fantastic analysis of a game I have no experience with. Great job and I look forward to hopefully watching more in the future.

THIS GAME SLAPPED SO HARD. so glad i got to play multiplayer at launch. loved it

This game and MGS V turned me from a FPS fanboy to an appreciator of third person shooters. Before this most TPSs i've played were Gears clones where you stick behind cover, peak out and fill the enemy full of lead, repeat. This game could've been first person, but its not and its better for it. The movement and tactical awareness in this game could not be replicated in first person. You still get the advantages of a military FPS with the huge amount of weapons and customization, and ADS. I wish more third person shooters like this would come out.

Although I like the sync shots not having a cool down, I understand why they were balanced in subsequent games. But I still liked being able to go through entire sections just by marking enemies with the drone and letting AI do the dirty work, it became a very strategic minigame where you had to carefully choose the order of which enemies you should eliminate to avoid sounding an alarm.

Lovely video, thanks fella! Thought this game was so overlooked when it came out, it also had an AMAZING MP as well, let down by the infamous Ubisoft server disconnecting at random points. If this ever gets remastered and a dedicated server - TAKE MY MONEY!

Wow I don’t know how I found this video, this video will be a guide for research on how to make a good game, thank you for making this video.

Great Vid bro 🔥

Ubisoft doesn’t make them like this anymore. Forget the open world BS of wildlands and breakpoint. These hand crafted linear levels rock so hard. Better than the drivel they pour out today.

Great review! My first GR was/is Breakpoint and I'm looking forward to going back to play this. I would actually recommend Breakpoint, I never bothered with the story, but the conquest mode is super fun! I love the customization of everything, being able to turn off the HUD and be super tactical with a friend is awesome, just ignore the story points and clear bases. You should give it a try.

Right on, and God bless you for using the term 'myriad' correctly. Bless you. And yeah, Future Soldier is RAD.

Great review,just got and played it after seeing it released 12 years ago.Very fun and cinematic! 👻 🇺🇸

I loved your well thought out analysis on this game. This is one that will always stay in my heart. It would be amazing if the Xbox One Series X enhancements would give it higher FPS and the more detailed textures from the PC version. Also some additional criticisms I've heard from another person covering the game brought up how the enemy hotboxes are way too big and makes it too easy to hit shots. Other than that and other minor flaws, Future Soldier was one damn fine piece of a video game.

Loved your video I subscribed!!

Yeah, it was awesome running into cover and aiming. And the Gunsmith system was awesome, too.

It's crazy that this game just comes out and is forgotten, such a masterpiece. We really need more TPS and squad-based in fact.

I've been a competitive shooter since the beginning and this is without a doubt the best in the genre

Nothing beats future soldier ghosts and phantoms outfits

This is a good game. I was a volunteer and went to Red Storm to play test multiplayer. Lots of fun.

I love AR glasses, they are a good excuse to use HUD

One of the main reasons your review is gonna make me check this game out is because you're playing with a controller, which is the only way I prefer to play shooters with. So many reviews like these, especially franchises like this almost exclusively play on PC. And sometimes the game play doesn't cross over from m/k to controller. But thanks to you, I now know that it does work well with controller.

Your views on the gameplay are exactly why I didn't last long playing Wildlands. Breakpoint improved on it but GR:FS is my favourite by far.

I totally agree with your point that this does the basic stuff well. Just started playing this for the first time this week. Ten minutes in and i was amazed at the things this does better than Breakpoint and Wildlands, like using cover, and effective AI teammates. I thought the open world of the latter games was cool, but then you realize how much time is wasted getting around the map, and how broken some of the mission designs are. The newer games have all the bells and whistles and outfits, but aren't great at being a tactical shooter.

Got me with the overdue for another go

Damn so your just getting started in gaming videos? I really look forward to the videos to come

because of this i bought the game. thanks.

Classic game, playing through again for the first time in years right now.... I like to play on max difficulty so the camo is even less OP, turns off if you move at all

I just recently reinstalled this game to check out the new DLC missions since i never did before, also i have a newer beefy PC so its time to play this game on max settings as way back all i had was my potato PC.

I was on the closed (invite only) testing of the first Ghost recon online. It was not open world but man for a short time it was fun. Daily and weakly updates, maps drastically changing weekly. The close nit testers were helpful and really good. When it went to full open, it quickly went to hell due to the players coming in. It was great but none of them conpaired to Battlefield: Bad Co.2 ...that game to this date still destroys anything that has been made.

Holy shit, somebody that have the same though as i have.... a real masterpiece

This was a top ten shooter of all times for me it was the good i still play the multiplayer to this day

brent sacks sounds like the guy you talk to when you look at the intel map on grfs campaign briefing.

This game's movement is unmatched for TPS genre, even the sequels couldn't follow suit. Wildlands was clunky, Breakpoint was beautiful, sometimes unpolished and slow. I doubt we'll get to see anything like its system and animations in GR Project Over next year, since rumor has it the game will return to FPS, even if it's an FPS-TPS game, I doubt the TPS will be as good as this game since there has to be compromises to merge both FPS-TPS systems.

Amazingly done review, I think you have nailed pretty much every single strength and detail this game has that made what it should be a classic. To this day Future Soldier is still my top 1 Third Person Shooter. It had its flaws, but all the things that it gets just RIGHT, is just a work of art. Wished they kept refining the formula, instead of just making whatever the hell was Wildlands and Breakpoint, which completely missed the ball in what Ghosts were supposed to be (Get in, get stuff DONE, leave without a trace). More than a decade later, I am still hoping someone takes the foundations and basics of this game and expands upon them, few games have legit managed to get so MUCH sensorial feedback, bringing down my head IRL while being suppressed in the game, and only realizing a second later. Just peak, Ghost Score: 100/100

As much as I love breakpoint, this game just hits so many notes that i WISH breakpoint had

A long comment, but as someone who plays and enjoys Wildlands, your criticisms are very reasonable. And as someone who’s also played Breakpoint, you dodged a bullet. There’s one other thing that makes not only Ghost Recon special, but Tom Clancy games in general: The settings. While some get a bit out there, they’re not wildly outlandish. Even Wildlands with how prevalent cartels have become in recent years. They all feel plausible. Ghost Recon 1 ironically had an ultranationalist coup in Russia spiral into expanding to reclaim soviet borders. 2 for the PS2 is tied into Splinter Cell Chaos Theory after a hijacked North Korean missile sinks a US ship. Advanced Warfighter has a rebellion in Mexico opposed to a joint security agreement between America, Mexico and Canada. In addition, there’s something else many people don’t realize and it bothers me. The Ghosts aren’t like other special forces. It plays into the tech they use. The augmented reality and camouflage? They’re the first to use and test that stuff in the field. It’s kind of a staple if you will. That drone you have? Good chance it’s in because a Ghost used and approved it. This has led to some issues with the recent releases. Case in point, Future Soldier takes place in 2024, Wildlands is 2019, so the lack of more advanced gear isn’t a big deal and the lack of Advanced Warfighter stuff can be excused if it’s taken as an “undercover” deal. The issue however comes with the Operation Spade missions and Fallen Ghosts. Operation Spade has two missions where we work with Kozak, fresh into the Ghosts, and we see him using optical camo, and he himself states it’s experimental. Owing to the Ghost’s MO. But then in Fallen Ghosts, meant to be a condensed, harder experience taking place in the same year, the hostile mercenaries called Los Extranjeros have soldiers who use the very same camo. So what are we supposed to believe? Breakpoint, a year after Future Soldier, makes it worse by reusing Bodark, the very same enemy specops from FS twice, and again having active camouflage but you need to acquire it from them rather than having it at the very start. Not to mention how the other Ghosts you see all look like a mishmash of army surplus enthusiasts rather than elite future warriors.

this game is still the best game in the WORLD. everyone woh likes shooters should play this game. as in matter of fact, im playing multiplayer on ps3 right now (xbox and pc servers are dead)

Please also make a video about the good and bad of wildlands and breakpoint

What happened to the gaming industry? I would have much rather had advanced war fighter 3 or future soldier 2 before these non linear open world games. Or how about an updated Ghost Recon Online??? I spent so much time on that game! And I know I’m not alone it was a great free to play first person shooter. I wish it was up online in 2024 I would play!

The multiplayer is still great to this day too, even if massively flawed with some wonky mechanics and bugs

Future solider is just one of those games where every gun has a purpose or you can at the very least make a purpose for to (stoner can be designed in gunsmith for accuracy while Mk 48 can be designed for more suppression) hell, multiplayer did engorge that to a certain point, (Mk14 being a DMR and the 417 being treated more like a battle rifle/AR) Wildlands every gun almost feels the same minus damage when spotted. And fire rate depending on what type of gun. (And damnit I think it’s bullshit that they shutdown the severs for multiplayer in GR:FS)

wildlands was amazing the only bad thing about it is the movement thats really it

I loved this game so much, my friends and I always revisit it. Miss the Russian dubstep spec ops soldiers. Always knew when the dubstep started shit was getting serious.

This game was perfect

I bought this on steam and it won't even start. Any advice? Will it run if I purchase it drom somewhere else?

Another video that totally forgot to tell its viewers THAT FUTURE SOLDIER SERVERS ARE BACK! Check the discord links on MY COOP GRFS VIDEOS BOY!!

I personally think that ghost recon at it's core is tactical stealth action with at least semi open worlds, like with ghost recon 1. Aside from that i enjoyed the video

Great review, the microphone is way too quiet and the gameplay way too loud though (so I turn up the volume to hear the voice, and then my eardrums get blasted by the gunfire)

Wildlands and Breakpoint are awesome now.

I want to like Future Soldier but the unskippable cutscenes are just so aggravating, along with how Ubisoft Connect keeps demanding my password every time I launch the game on my account I'm already logged into. It's got some good mechanics but the annoyances w/ unskippable cutscenes and password requirement on every launch are just too much. I swear Ubisoft only makes their older, more linear games demand a password on every launch in order to discourage playing them. If there was a mod to skip cutscenes that would be perfect.

I did enjoy Wildlands and Breakpoint but they felt like a downgrade compared to Future Soldier's laser focused gameplay.

Fun fact, this game was motion captured by 4 IRL US Navy SEALS

I did a "flawless" beautiful playthrough of that game on my channel. I always go back to that game, its perfect...just perfect

Yes. Yes to all of it. Making Ghost Recon an open world was a massive mistake, it makes for such a paradoxically limited gameplay loop. I will admit, I played the shit out of Wildlands, but it wasn't Ghost Recon, it was military GTA. The gameplay was horrible, animations were bad, the voice acting was abysmal, though the score was good. It was just great for playing with friends. Breakpoint made it worse in almost every respect. Also, quick aside, leaning into making SOF guys wear non-traditional gear just made every Ghost you see in the recent games look like a teenage airsofter and not commandos and it drove me insane. I'd love to see you dive back even further to the GRAW duology, because they also hold up extremely well, with gameplay being stunningly tight for coming out in 06-07. Those games did something very rare currently, which was a sort of large-linear experience with frankly giant spaces that still had linear flow, something that would have been well suited to something like Wildlands instead of an open world proper. The cover and command systems were great by today's standards but they also aren't bad and still beat the open world games' utterly useless AI. GRAW also delivered the wonderful terrorist hunt coop missions to further expand gameplay to an almost indefinite point

Imagine if you will a future GR game that combines the best elements of Wildlands, the gunplay and customization of Breakpoint, and then a linear campaign like Future Soldier. It would be the best Ghost Recon game ever.

If you guys have a PS3 account the servers are back up for pretty much all Ubisoft servers

did he say bleeding edge? isnt it cutting edge? 0:40

Oh... The Raven strike trial is free, and has the three missions... Could have saved 15 bucks 😅

You trippin wildlands was dope and an amazing world

It's such a shame that most of this game felt like a tutorial. It was SOOOOO good but it didn't hit its stride until the end AAAAAND we never got another. 😞

you forgot one more way to shoot... in cover blind fire.

RU-vidrs usually moan about the brown and grey era of games,for me it's the era that defined video games,nowadays everything is so homogenized,either fully realistic,pixelish or something inbetween,they don't make games like these anymore

now, the servers are gone on xbox. :( its on pc and ps3 though!

Those damn rpgs in pakistan missions are killing me harder then elden ring bosses

I played this on ps3😢

18:20

You said you weren't gonna bash the other games of the franchise😂🤪

I used to play guerilla all day with lil bro

Lol your the ONLY person that didn’t like wildland

Ghost Recon already went from hardcore milsim to more casual action with the 360 version of GRAW, but this game turned it into full on CoD. This game marked the downfall of another once great PC series and turned it into casual ubislop

Vanquish is the best shooter

It was a sht version of Gears of War with a TCs lick of paint.

I can't laugh but you don't know anything about ghost recon at all except after 2010s. Original ghost recon, is honestly, almost same as clasiss rainbow six games but with wild open level, which can makes suqad members more dangerous. Your teammates(including you) can die because of bullets from out of sight. So planning and suqad-based tactics are very important. And then they(Redstorm) made sequel as TPS, more fitting into xbox console. I haven't played it, but it is also bit more casual than original one and uses more dramatic animations. Then Ubi soft paris and Reddtorm made Ghost Recon : Advanced Warfighter series(which is on x360). It had solid animations and gunplay, and was more focused on proper cover mechanism. There was a map and you can command your teammates to go specific location, but not complex like ghost recon 1 or its PC port. You can order your teammates/Drone/UAV on the fly. You can order them to go here and there. Recruit, Focus on a specific enemy by using d-pad. It has many bombastic scenes and variety combat scenarioes, and accessibility to drones and UAVs, It became more casual. It was still harsh, you can die easily by 2 or 3 shots and you have to stablize your aim to gain more precision. Are you following me? Do you understand where I am going? GHOST RECON SERIES ALWAYS FOLLOWED TRENDS, BECOME MORE CASUAL AND CASUAL, except It was always squad-based tactical shooter. Maybe only black sheep is break point. And in that long view, NO, Future Soldier is not a masterpiece, not close to GRAW1&2 on xbox360 version. It loses its identity and blended into Farcry and Splinter cell conviction.

You just had to link current Russo-ukranian war in the most cringy way possible since noone in the West knows anything about it...

too bad the pc port is ass and unplayable