Interview: The Directors of "Ghost Recon Alpha" Make Adaptation an Art Form

Ubisoft's LA screening of Ghost Recon Alpha was packed with Hollywood big-wig types, but there was still a comfortable seat for a lowly games writer like myself.

The 25-minute film is Ubisoft Motion Pictures' second project, after last year's Assassin's Creed: Lineage films, and if it proves one thing, it's that Ubisoft isn't treating their new film division as second fiddle.

Alpha is directed by Francois Alaux and Herve de Crecy, who won an Academy Award for their 2010 short film Logorama, and written by Children of Men's Tim Sexton.

The short film follows Ghost Team for the course of one mission, from its covert, civilian-garbed beginning to an explosive final firefight.

There's not much in the way of characterization or exposition—it's all grizzled, clenched jaws, obtuse hand signals, futuristic video chats and precision sniper shots.

It's in the direction that the film really shines.

"Dealing with a Tom Clancy license is something—there is a heritage," co-director Herve de Crecy told me after the screening.

It was intimidating, they said, and the Parisian directing duo were also (justifiably) wary of the pedigree left by other game-to-film adaptations. But their misgivings were, if not unfounded, at least unnecessary, because Alpha proved to be a worthy aside in the Ghost Recon universe.

It's set around the middle of the game. The Ghosts are on a covert assassination mission in the heart of Russia, but things get out of hand when a nuclear warhead and mysterious, technologically superior opponents enter the fray.

It's all about how the Ghosts react, Alaux and de Crecy said.

"It was important to show them as real people," Francois Alaux said. "The first thing for us was to show them as really, I mean, they are killers. And they are not good or bad."

"Every team, even the most trained, can be facing something that they don't expect," De Crecy continued. "They can fail. And the mission fails. And there is good reason for that, and we've discovered that in [Ghost Recon: Future Soldier]."

Much of what Alpha portrays, including the characters, locations and technology, is straight from the upcoming game, Ghost Recon: Future Soldier. In fact, de Crecy and Alaux made absolutely certain that the events they chose for the film would make it through the game's production and be in the final product.

That's why, as the two claim, the film covers an important event in the game's plot, though it was hard to tell without actually having played Future Soldier's campaign.

The tools the Ghosts use in the film, like a cloaking device, flying recon drone, and advanced tablet computers, are also taken straight from the game. In fact, you probably used them if you played last week's Future Soldier multiplayer beta.

But in the film, that technology doesn't come off like some sci-fi magic, and the duo said that was important for them to pull off.

"You always have a glass of whiskey, even if you are in the future, you see that there are some elements that are very human that make the film realistic," Alaux said.

"They are not super heroes," de Crecy said. "That's very important to say."

Hopefully the same will hold true for the game.

Unfortunately, all we've seen of Future Soldier so far has been the multiplayer, which is, admittedly, quite good.

After the screening was a bit of a multiplayer event, with attendees of all creeds sitting down almost shoulder to shoulder and, with the guidance of Ubisoft's infamous Frag Dolls, having at one another.

If you played the beta, you know that Future Soldier's competitive play is not your typical near-future multiplayer bro-down. You die easily, and capturing objectives and working together with your teammates will net you more experience in most cases than simply running and gunning lone wolf-style.

Unlike in the public beta, this agonizingly brief multiplayer session had every weapon and attachment unlocked. There were still only three classes available (engineer, scout and rifleman), but with the full breadth of their arsenals at my disposal, I was almost overwhelmed. There is a really astounding amount of customization possible, even within just those three classes.

In addition, there was one map that wasn't available in the beta, and best of all, it was the very location that we had just seen ravaged by the epic firefight in the film.

Also on display was Ghost Recon: Commander, the upcoming Facebook game from well-known veteran developers Brenda Brathwaite and John Romero.

Ubisoft's Trevor Shackelford walked me through a level that requires you to command your squad, comprised of your character and those of your friends, in rescuing a hostage. You click to guide your soldiers, click to make them shoot and click to acquire the hostage.

It's a click-fest, for sure, because that's what appeals to Facebook gamers. But Shackelford assured me there's more to it.

"We're really pushing the Flash engine pretty significantly," he said. There's a cover system, for example, and multiple character classes to choose from, each with different stats and abilities. The game even calculates bullet trajectory, based on variables like the obstacles between your characters and their targets.

The game plays out almost in real-time, though in reality it's turn-based—if you step away and fail to input commands, enemies won't use you for target practice. They wait politely for you to return.

It certainly plays like a Facebook game, but you can unlock rewards in Commander for use in Future Soldiers's multiplayer—including exclusive weapons.

"Nothing is finalized," Shackelford said, but the unlocks "will benefit players."

Ghost Recon Alpha will debut on G4TV's X-Play on May 3rd, to be followed, Alaux and de Crecy said, by releases on PSN, XBLA, iTunes, et al.

Future Soldier releases May 22 in North American, shortly afterward in other countires, in and mid-June on PC.

Ghost Recon Commander will hit Facebook soon, with iOS versions to follow, according to Shackelford.

Do you think Ubisoft's multi-platform, multimedia strategy is going to pay off? Are you excited for all the attention the Ghost Recon franchise is getting? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter.