Ghost Recon Online, which Wired.com got to play at a sneak preview event last week, is a trimmed-down but intense version of the popular third-person shooter series that relies less on twitchy mouse clicking and more on thoughtful strategy.

Players can choose from different character classes that specialize in brute force or intel gathering, using their varied abilities together to capture and control areas of the map. Get a taste of the action in the trailer and screenshots above.

The main game is free to play; Ubisoft will make money by selling premium in-game items. The emergence of freemium gaming started over the past few years with smaller publishers, but as of late the model has begun to attract industry powerhouses like Ubisoft.

Whether taking place in a Facebook browser window like Zynga’s FarmVille variants or the more upscale offerings of companies like Nexon — which claims that at one point 30 percent of the population of South Korea had played its game Kart Rider) — free has proven to be a powerful money-making strategy in gaming.

Ghost Recon Online is in development at Ubisoft’s Singapore studio; it will be on display at the company’s booth at the E3 Expo starting June 7 in Los Angeles.