I have to preface this article by telling you that I’m not a gamer. That’s really more Tactical Fanboy’s bailiwick. However, I am impressed with cool tech and Ubisoft’s new Ghost Recon Network impressed me when I saw it last week. It’s essentially a social networking site specifically for Ghost Recon: Future Soldier gamers. There are even a couple of cool features there that you might want to monkey with if you’re like me and don’t game. What’s even cooler, it’s 100% free!
I understand that there are similar sites out there for other games but they don’t do what Ghost Recon Network does. It has several components. Ghost Recon Network tracks your stats, lets you modify your in-game weapons on the go, helps you to be a better player, and lets you keep track of friends. What’s not to love?
The Ghost Dossier is your overall Ghost Recon profile, starting with Future Soldier and extending to future games in the series. You can view stats and achievements/trophies earned throughout the games, and earn medals and other rewards based on in-games exploits. There’s also the Tour of Duty, which track mission progress through all the Ghost Recon games and marks them on the world map.
Through Network, you can form squads (think clans) with other players. Overall squad statistics, or the stats of individual members, can be tracked through multiple gametypes, and squad leaders can promote or demote individual members.
Challenges can be issued through Network to your friends, offering bonus XP as an incentive for their completion. In a show of one-upmanship, if you manage to complete a challenge, you can reissue the improved challenge back to your friend. This can be done up to 5 times.
One of the more exciting features is the support Network has for Gunsmith, the in-game weapon customization tool. Many of the features found in the console version of Gunsmith are available either through the Network website or the mobile apps (Gunsmith on your iPad!), both running on the same game engine as GR:FS, albeit in a stripped down form. Mainly, there’s no firing range to test your combination; instead, a scenario system rates your weapon’s effectiveness in multiple situations. Any weapons customized can be synched to your copy of Future Soldier.
You can post your creations to the Gunsmith Wall, where other players can view and rate them, and import them to their own Gunsmith for use in-game. You can also post your creations to your Facebook wall.
Ubisoft
Red Storm Entertainment
Ghost Recon Official Site
Ghost Recon: Future Soldier drops May, 22 2012.
– GS with Tactical Fanboy
