Ghost Recon Online makes me good at shooters
 

Yep. New free to Play Online Shooter.

Ghost Recon Online.

ANd it's freaking awesome. I was enjoying Blacklight retribution, felt a bit fresh... but it was very "normal" on it's overall mechanics and the way it played. Played one, played all...

Ghost Recon is a bit like that, but not really. Aside from me doing an unnecessary and huge review, let me just replay for you a little momment of one of my matches recently.

It's "Conquer the 2 spots on the map" game mode. My team is on defense this rounds (switches between rounds, 2 rounds per game). 4 of us take B, 4 of us take A. The guys on A are getting Heat, we on B are pretty much on the clear. Spot is controlled, no aggression coming our way.

One of the guys on my Fireteam msg's the team

"let's supt bh" (Support from Behind in this case)
and i respond
"On it"

He and I move up, i'm Recon (one of the 3 classes) so i press E, my character leaps above the crate i was behind on cover, immediately and with parkout-like fluid motion i strife ahead, toggling cloak (100% temporary invisibility) and SMG in hand, the other guy gomes right on my back with a Shotgun. we go around the corner just ahead and spot 4 enemies laying fire on our squad on point A.

I Dash ahead, gun one down, the guy behind me tags the one running by our side, and in true "Badass momment" i Crouch and turn my sight righ as he stands up and turns left, we both picking up the remaining 2. I rush ahead (as we already have someone above shooting down on us) and with one fluid motion press E and space to leap above a barrier ahead and Megaman-slide (it's literally that...) over it and down into cover immediately, taking some damage but not lethal.

"Cavalry has arrived"
"Move up, take point!"

And that's the match.

here is the funny thing though... on that game, not only i got Best MVP, but Best Recon and ended 9/7 on Kill/Death ration which is actually not only good but WAAAAAAAAAAAAAY better than anything i usually get.

The game is just one Fluid gameplay experience, it flows really, really well... it really feel skill and focus based. If you take "Ghost Recon" and "Rainbow Six" approach, nearly a Roleplay experience to your game... you will do better at it. And THAT is something that surprised me.

One thing i thought was actually really neat is that when you're close to your teammates you get "linked" with them. People can have devices that show precise position of Gun Fire, Running steps and even display enemies through walls in the game, and if you have one of those, everybody that is linked with you gets the info. Forcing your team to play like a freaking team.

Here is one thing i thought was boss... you can make Fireteams, like a little "Party" of 5 people. You get small bonuses for it. But, once the match is over, the game automatically starts searching for a new game that has slots for you AND YOUR FIRETEAM. so you automatically get sent to another game where get to play with the same people on the same side.

So, if you have a good team on one match, you don't have to loose that for the next.

Because, as with all games like this, if you have a crappy squad you will loose.

Man, i already lost count of how many times i got 3-4-5-6 kill streaks picking up people who rush in or don't know what Flank is... lone wolves get chewed alive in this game.

Another neat little feature is that in, for instance, there is this game where you have to capture 3 points to win. If you capture all 3 points you win, if you don't, you loose. So "partially done" doesn't exist. A lot of games end in a draw cause the team on offense usually has map advantages. And when it switches around, people don't adapt. Capturing points is also really fast, so matches can turn around in a second, and you are never clear to relax.

Weapons feel really super responsive, damage has a ton of impact (the average life spam is 1 minute each spawn...) and the game rewards cooperation and bold tactics in a major way.

it's all micro transaction, but you can own everything in the game but just playing it. It's not overly taxing and using cash only nets you new weapons a bit faster and a bit sooner.

Another fun thing is that stuff like Grenades are actual consumables. So, if you buy 50 Grenades... that's what you have. 50. You can carry 2 per spawn and they get deducted from your inventory automatically. That also makes stuff like more powerful bullets, armor buffs and Grenades much more cheaper so it's very easy to play... just loose a single match and you get enough cash for 5 grenades... win and you can pay for 30.

Every class has "Ghost Recon type" gadgets. Like the recon that has the Oracle that can reveal nearby enemy positions. There is a energy bar that fills up and allows use, but here is a fun thing,, it doesn't recharge fully between lives... so if you waste it away, it will be actually wasted away.

Actually picking around corners, fluently moving from cover to field, dashing and jumping across obstacles, cutting through corners and peaking around, fast movement while scoped in with your guy... the game feels like a finely tuned experience.

If you like online shooters, it's free. it's a 2Gb download that has a small player base right now, and it's totally worth your time.[

Here, have a Gameplay video.