UNCLASSIFIED

FROM: Scott Mitchell, futuresoldier@ghostrecon.net

TO: Undisclosed Recipients

MEMORANDUM

SUBJ: Little Brother or First Cousins.

I've spent the better part of the past two days playing the new Splinter Cell: Conviction game and I often find myself wondering if this is a preview of what Ghost Recon Future Soldier might be like. Conviction was developed by Ubisoft Montreal and Future Soldier is being developed by Ubisoft Paris. While those are two different development teams, the truth is, they share the same publisher - Ubisoft.

Could elements of SC: Conviction be included in GR: Future Soldier?

Well, it's early to say for sure but it is completely plausible that there could be a resemblance. Intelligence released on Future Soldier indicates a "Gears of War" like characteristic that allows you to duck and run from cover locations. This is certainly an element that is used in SC: Conviction. In fact, I hope the implementation in Future Soldier is more like SC: Conviction than it is in GOW. It's "believable" in design and implementation.

Future Soldier has also indicated the ability to run and slide (to include using the slide as a melee attack). While I haven't been able to test to see if an attack version of this exists in Conviction, there is definitely a slide move available. It's normally used when transitioning from cover to cover. I haven't heard any radio chatter about this as an attack move in Conviction, but honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if it was. Sam Fisher is a very "hands on" operator. Which leads me to my next point.

Sam Fisher and the Splinter Cell games have long incorporated Krav Maga ("contact combat" or "close combat") as a component. Future Soldier has briefed that it intends to use this fighting style in Future Soldier. In one of the latest Press Releases, one of the media outlets stated, “This is a shooter that's all about the melée.” The incorporation of Krav Maga and any other hand to hand combat style that Sam Fisher might use in SC: Conviction is nicely implemented. I find myself wanting to engage the enemy in hand to hand combat far more than I want to shoot at them. I don't know that this would be a desired result for a game like Future Soldier, but having it available for those "reach out and touch someone" moments could be a visually rewarding feature.

One other feature that Splinter Cell: Conviction possesses that has been described in Ghost Recon: Future Soldier is the 1st and 3rd person point of view. Ghost Recon started out as a First Person Shooter with a mere targeting reticle on the screen. As the series soldiered on, we now have a game that makes 1st and 3rd person perspectives selectable. Another huge difference is the onscreen display of the weapon. Obviously this comes down to personal preference and the current trend in First Person Shooters is to make the weapon visible. Splinter Cell, on the other hand, has always been a 3rd person perspective game with elements of a First Person Shooter, specifically when zoomed in.

Obviously, the big question is how will this be incorporated into Future Soldier. Will the view be forced or selectable? Will it change depending on what the player is doing? There are a number of ways this could be implemented and unfortunately, there hasn't been enough information released yet to answer the question.

The final similarity, at least that I plan to discuss, is the feature in Splinter Cell that has been mentioned as a feature for Future Soldier that essentially let's you play the "cut scenes" as a playable mission. I don't know how often this will happen in Conviction. I'm not very far into it and it's happened once already. Without spoiling anything, I played as an associate of Sam Fisher's from the past in a war torn Iraq, if I'm not mistaken. It was, for all practical purposes, a playable flashback. I thoroughly enjoyed it, as I have in other games that use this technique, and think it is an outstanding idea for Future Soldier. We already know that FS will have at least three scenes you get to play: As the Russian President's bodyguard; as a citizen trying to escape an invasion; and as a plant employee at a facility that has been described as a refinery or powerplant. If it is implemented like it is in SC: Conviction, then it will be an awesome feature to weave the different episodes of the story together.

As I continue to play SC: Conviction, I will take notes on any similarities that might be incorporated in GR: Future Soldier and share my thoughts.

Discuss it in the forums here.

Until then, happy hunting.

Cheers.

//SIGNED//

Scott Mitchell, futuresoldier@ghostrecon.net