Surprised GRO seems to be getting very little love here

[Bahger]

Just my opinion, guys, but I must say, my experience in the Beta has been very positive.

I'm a very tactically-minded gamer who tends to steer clear of public PvP shooters as I can't stand all the posturing and chest-beating. And being a little older than the average FPS gamer, my twitch skills are not the best so I need a modicum of tactical gameplay to level the playing field.

Somewhat to my surprise, GRO addresses both of the above concerns rather ingeniously. Although there is both posturing and twitchy gameplay, they do not dominate and certain mitigating, often ingenious design elements make the game genuinely tactical:

- The maps might be described as linear in that long-range lateral maneuver is limited and forward movement is all-important, but flanking opportunities are so well conceived and so well harmonised with the cover mechanic and certain class-based power-ups (when used properly) that frontal battle is never the only option.

- The incentives to play as a team are significant and effective. The virtual tethers (lines connecting teammates within a certain range on the HUD), enhance SA enormously, as cover, which is well implemented even for lone-wolf fighting, becomes all the more effective when there are intersecting lines of sight and/or lines of fire from well-placed buddies in the vicinity. Player-deployed devices within range can also enhance team survivability and lethality by speeding up recovery times, providing better ammo resupply and extending the power of both offensive and defensive power-ups. The game does a really good job integrating the social aspects of team-based gameplay with the tactical aspects. VOIP works well, as does the friending and fireteam mechanic.

- The devices are really effective (and a blast, often literally, to deploy). They all have disadvantages which balance their advantages; for example, "Blitz" offers the Assault class a limited period of invulnerability and explosive speed, but field of view is narrowed and bad SA can still get blitzing players killed from behind. In each case the devices are tactically well-suited to their class and harmonised with available weapon class options, so for the Recon class, for example, quasi-invisibility cloaking suits the infiltrating player with an SMG and a "forward" recon style while the sniper is better off using "Oracle" to determine approximate enemy positions from a stand-off distance (and broadcast them to his teammates).

- Weapons and armor feel viscerally right and it was quite daring of the dev team to start players off at a disadvantage compared with powerful opponents who have earned better weapons and body armor. This does not result in endless frustration (although the game can be as merciless as any PvP shooter) but provides an incentive to learn the core gameplay mechanics first and then cash in both experience and success by acquiring better optics, armor and guns. I really like the "critical evasion" concept, too, which increases the effectiveness of a player's weapon use once he has spent enough time deploying that weapon and racking up kills with it. The same principle applies to class- and armor-based upgrades, either bought or awarded by experience; you earn, or unlock, them by going up against more powerful opponents and often succeeding via tactics or effective teamplay in spite of an imbalance in firepower and/or armor. Again, this is good integration of tactics with the social aspects of team-based MP combat gaming.

- The classes are well suited to different play styles and temperaments. Assault is where you find the usual rampaging bullies and the really good ones can dominate, but only when the opposing team has no effective tactical SA and is not watching its flanks. Recon provides very effective stand-off sniper cover, both offensive and defensive but the snipers need to be protected by a screen of assaulters or they will perish at medium to close range. Personally, I like playing as a Specialist, who slots in behind the Assaulters but ahead of Recon (unless the Recon is going forward as described above). As a Specialist I can use either a LMG or a tactical shotgun. Well timed and thought-out use of "Aegis" (which provides a bulletproof virtual shield of limited duration) or another device which blinds opponents within a certain range and scrambles their electronics, disabling their weapons temporarily, empowers the Specialist to be quite decisive in either taking an objective with support, or defending one against a determined assault.

- The maps, character animations, sound design and atmospherics are superb.

- The infrastructure works really well. By this I mean the system that oversees matchmaking, equipment inventories/purchases, game stats, achievement medals and the like. I was dreading my re-introduction to Ubi's bossy Uplay interface but as designed and integrated here, it seems to me that the game's background infrastructure has been conceived and executed by and for gamers, not marketers. I'm amazed.

- I have had no technical difficulties or glitches whatsoever in the Beta. GRO runs exactly as advertised.

This game is not for everybody as there is rather a lot of top-down oversight and supervision, i.e. maps and game types are allocated and cannot be chosen by the players, there are no player-hosted servers, etc. I do get killed a lot but I really enjoy my own kills because the game is viscerally satisfying, rewards a certain amount of thought, excludes most menaces to fair play such as spawn camping, grenade spamming and other nonsense and, above all, I find it genuinely tactical...and I'm a very unforgiving assessor of what's tactical and what ain't.

The Beta is now offline for a while and will be back for Phase 3. I know there are several skeptics and even a few diehard naysayers on this forum -- whose opinions and experiences I acknowledge and respect, obviously -- but if you haven't tried it, or have and can still be convinced that the glass is half-full, I urge you to give it a try. I think this is the best designed and executed concept for team-based online tac-combat that I have played since Spies vs Mercs in Splinter Cell. I know it's not what a lot of you guys associate with "classic" Ghost Recon, which is much more open-world and less CQB-based, but the quality of the combat and the tactical aspects of the gameplay fully entitle GRO to its GR moniker, in my opinion.

[Tinker]

I think this is the best designed and executed concept for team-based online tac-combat that I have played since Spies vs Mercs in Splinter Cell

This is a good quote!

[=warcloud=]

Still waiting for a beta key, ha. They did actually contact me through email, not long now i suppose.

[Bahger]

Warcloud, are you based in the US or Europe? I was surprised to find that there is no crossover between American and European player groups. Not sure the reason for this, maybe it's all about ping, connectivity issues, etc. Anyway the key allocation process seems to be more efficient in the US. Sounds like you'll be all set up to play in Phase 3 of the Closed Beta.

Edited May 15, 2012 by Bahger