The video game market has definitely seen its fair share of shooter saturation. So many of these genre titles, first person or not, have the kind of mechanics that dictate the player be quick on the trigger and have some dynamite reflexes. Ubisoft's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier however, is the kind of game that will take a step back from the fast paced nature of most shooters to give the player something different - in a good way.

Speaking to OXM UK, Ubisoft brand manager Matt Benson discussed the aim of Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, which is to not compete with big name titles like Modern Warfare 3 or Battlefield 3, but deliver a game that's intuitive and fun.

Future Soldier was available to play at E3 2011 and the hands-on time we had left us pretty satisfied, so much so that we nominated it for one of Game Rant's E3 2011 Awards. The Ghost Recon series of games was always focused on allowing players to take a more tactical approach to situations, rather than unleashing firepower over strategic thinking. Advanced Warfighter brought the game into the speculative fiction area of military capability and created a very interesting and provocative look into the future of America's Army, creating a game where intelligence was the main weapon and firearms were merely an extension of that weapon. And if anything could be said for sure, the plots for the Ghost Recon games were leagues better than the Rainbow Six games - this is likely why Ubisoft Motion Pictures is developing a film for Ghost Recon but not Rainbow Six.

Matt Benson states that slower-paced gameplay that is both methodical and engaging is at the core of the Ghost Recon experience. What better way to make your game stand out than by giving the audience something different than what they're accustomed to?

"We're not competing directly with Call of Duty and Battlefield, we're not. Let's let those guys duke it out this side of Christmas. For me, post-Christmas, Future Soldier is the kind of game that changes the tempo slightly. It's not a twitch shooter."

"That's probably why the various 11 and 12 year olds who play Call of Duty are so good at it, because they have lightning-fast reflexes an old git like me doesn't have. Whereas Future Soldier is all about teamwork, and building innovations on the battlefield, like the suppression system."

The suppression system Benson references hasn't been detailed all that much, but Battlefield 3 will be introducing their own mechanic for fire suppression. Whether or not Future Soldier's mechanic will be similar will only be known as more information is released. Or it might not even be seen until the game's beta starts in January 2012.

A game's pace can sometimes dictate the kind of enjoyment certain players will encounter. Games like the aforementioned Modern Warfare 3 focus on delivering a high-octane, adrenaline pumping experience with epic backdrops. For Ghost Recon, the excitement is derived from being the surgeon's scalpel of the US Armed Forces (in Tom Clancy's world, anyway), accomplishing a mission through precision, speed, stealth and even co-operative team-based play. For some, that idea can resonate more strongly than being the one bad-ass on the field.

Oh, and Ghost Recon: Future Soldier also supports Kinect, utilizing it to help players customize their weapon load-outs and test their guns.

Ghost Recon: Future Soldier is releasing Q1 2012 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, DS, PSP, and PC.

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Source: OXM UK