Ubisoft unveiled Ghost Recon Online today at Gamescom 2012. Previous Ghost Recon games had multiplayer modes, but they required buying a Ghost Recon game. Ubisoft gets rid of this barrier of entry with Ghost Recon Online, which offers squad based combat and tons of weapons and customizations to unlock, all for free. Like most games being released today, Ghost Recon Online is free-to-play but players have the option of using real money to buy upgrades within the game.
Ghost Recon Online adds to Ubisoft’s vision of a Ghost Recon ecosystem with PC, console, and mobile applications working together. Ghost Recon Online will feel familiar to those who have been playing Ghost Recon: Future Solder as it is based heavily on that game.
Much of the aesthetic of Ghost Recon: Future Solder reappears in Ghost Recon Online. There are futuristic guns and soldiers wear exo-skeletons that allow them to carry tons of gear and special weapons like the ‘heat’ gun.
Wrapping up the Ghost Recon ecosystem is the Ghost Recon Network app for the iOS and Android which features GunSmith, which allows players to customize weapons used in multiplayer and send them to Ghost Recon: Future Soldier. The Call of Duty franchise has something similar called Call of Duty ELITE for Android and iOS.
Having this level of customization makes gameplay very rewarding as the weapons in the game will be tailored for your type of play style. Things like recoil, fire rate, distance to damage ratio, and weight can all be modified with the Ghost Recon Network app.
Although Ghost Recon Online is pretty fleshed out for a free-to-play game, it won’t be wooing diehard Call of Duty or Battlefield fans from their precious franchises. For those tiring of COD or BF3, Ghost Recon Online is a great alternative and for the price of $0, there’s no risk in giving it a try.
Ghost Recon Online is available for free today. Read our full review and download it here.
