Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands (2017)

Roam around through the many biomes of Bolivia, slowly taking out drug lords and cartel bases. A huge open world to traverse with solid gunplay and squad mechanics. Yeah, this is the typical kind of Ubisoft game that keeps throwing more and more at you with not a whole lot of variation.

This is the type of game I needed at the time though. I was going through a tough period of my life while playing this. The consistent gameplay of "get one more skill point, one more gun part, one more mission" was a welcome distraction form life. I sunk far more hours into Ghost Recon Wildlands then I normally, but it was a little like a therapy to help get me through a time when dealing with reality non-stop was too much.

I know this is a long read. You can find my condensed thoughts in the last paragraph.

I spent over 60 hours with Wildlands, my first ever Ghost Recon game and, apparently, a deviation in style from the franchise's past. After so many hours I gathered quite a few thoughts on it, so much so that I find it best to separate them in digestible chunks. And it just so happens that Wildlands provides perfectly divided categories by its very nature. This game frustrated, bored, puzzled and entertained me in almost equal measure, something that rarely happens. So it’s only logical I use these tags to deconstruct my feelings over it.

The frustrating

For the sake of brevity, I think it's best if I just list all the problems with this game in one full swing without expanding on them too much.

1. Wildlands comes with a games-as-a-service coat of paint, painstakingly obvious everywhere from its HUD to its menus, from optional loot boxes to the squad team you're always with. This was to be expected and maybe it doesn't bother many people, but for those who, like me, focus on singleplayer exclusively, it can be quite annoying.

2. Movement feels pretty clunky when turning sideways (think GTA except worse), in a way that sometimes it even makes it hard to do simple things like exit buildings or pick up items.

3. The checkpoint spawns make little sense. You will often respawn far from your current mission, which sucks because of how much it eats away at your playtime.

4. The difficulty imbalance in between missions is wild, perhaps the wildest I remember seeing in a game. Some difficulty spikes are so bizarre that I struggle to believe it wasn't brought up at some point during QA, and simply left unaddressed.

5. Was the cover system an afterthought? Sometimes if works fine, sometimes it actually works as an extra enemy during combat.

6. Inconsistency can also be found among your squamates’ AI. While sometimes they’re pretty decent, others they can be dumb as sand, continuously blowing your cover and making you detected.

7. Speaking of detected, I dreaded every time I had to ‘do x, remain undetected’ missions and couldn't kill and/or use the drone. This was the case because the game doesn’t cater to logical, careful stealth gameplay when it comes to base infiltration.

8. Body disappearance literally feels like a coin toss. You can't drag bodies, which would’ve made a lot sense and added a further strategic element. So to solve this, Ubisoft decided to go for the magical vanish approach. The problems is that, yet again, this was inconsistent: sometimes bodies would disappear almost immediately after being dropped, sometimes they’d linger and give you away. There was no way of knowing.

9. Not being able to respec is a major bummer, especially because, for a tactical third-person military shooter, Wildlands (maybe due to its multiplayer skeleton) often pushes itself into RPG territory with its XP gains, levelling and skill system.

10. Finally, the glitches. Your drone getting stuck in perpetuous scanning or becoming unusable, infinite enemy flurry, getting stuck between a wall and a side panel when riding a bike, mission conflicts. They're all there, and they all nag.

The repetitive

In 2017, Venture Beat published an article titled ‘Ghost Recon Wildlands could take forever to finish’.

Sometimes, it certainly felt like it.

This section is intimately associated with the one above. The game is big, long, and eventually tedious. And tediousness aside, one major hurdle this causes is that it is precisely because of its length that so many of its issues become evident. A considerably shorter runtime would’ve camouflaged a lot of it, but Wildlands takes the literal opposite approach. There is simply way too much stuff here, and even if I understand the need to fill up its massive world due to its scope and multiplayer focus, there is zero need to cramp it this much. Wildlands may be the poster child for all the major criticisms aimed at the so-called Ubisoft design. There is an insane collective amount of content distributed through main quests, side quests and collectibles, and as appealing as the game's initial impact is, it quickly loses its bite due to how much is thrown at you. There’s no denying the world is impressive, but its size, alongside the sheer volume of checklist-type activities, naturally brings with it a ton of asset recycling, map design issues, and an unshakable feeling of repetitiveness.

An example of all of this is clearly showcased throughout the main story: you have the main cartel boss, and to get to him you need to take out his sub-bosses. Yet in order to get to those, you need to take out the cartel heads in each of the four components (security, influence, production and smuggling). But to get to those, you first need to take out their lackeys. There are normally four per cartel head, each with their own string of 4-5 associated required missions before you can get to them. It’s a relentless in-your-face rinse and repeat system. And even though there’s some mission variety and you only need to take out two of the cartel branches to get to the head of the snake, the fact that there is so much of everything works wonders to remove the game's sense of charisma or originality. There’s no doubt in my mind that simply getting rid of all the filler content in favour of a more contained, focused experience would’ve turned Wildlands into a standout.

The puzzling

I’m still not sure what to make of Wildlands’ narrative purpose, to the point of sometimes asking myself if it even has one. Its stereotypical, cartoonish depiction of Bolivia - and South America by extension - aside, I wonder if there was true intent behind telling the story in the way it was told. I’ve read some opinions which claim there’s a glorification of the US patriotic military featured, but for the most part, I disagree. Perhaps it’s just wishful thinking on my end, but I actually felt the American aspect in the game was painted under a very nasty light by every one of its major characters, from the CIA handler and your squamates to its various government bodies and operatives. Wildlands doesn't exactly reach Spec Ops: The Line status when it comes to telling a military story in a different, out-of-the-ordinary way, but its tone feels distinct enough to warrant a mention. Between the cartel boss’s personal perspective and the ugliness of the other side, there are quite a few grey area instances here. However, these are often presented with such nuance that it makes me question whether this was actually by design. I choose to believe it was, and thus give Wildlands credit for it.

The fun

I prefer to end my critique of the game on a positive note, because my final impression of Wildlands was definitely a positive on, even amidst so many problems. And that’s because, at its best, this game is impressively immersive. From its understated melancholic soundtrack to the freedom you have when approaching most missions, there’s this alluring quality to it that keeps you coming back, even if the repetitive nature of its structure can make you weary. I already touched on this, but it’s worth restating how incredible and beautiful its massive open world looks and feels. Clearly, a lot of care and attention to detail was dedicated to it, and for all intents and purposes, Wildlands boasts a pretty faithful recreation of the breathtaking Bolivian topography, with vastly different, visually compelling areas - towns, mountains, jungle, desert, and so on.

Another aspect that kept me engaged through such a long playthrough was its gameplay pedigree. For the most part, Wildlands feels great to play. Combat, both in gunplay and feedback, is beyond solid, and the fact that enemies have different routes adds a welcome element of surprise and tension (one I wish more games would implement). The gadgets on offer are great, and the drone in particular absolutely kills it. It is a must for reconnaissance and distant stealth approaches, and alongside it, the sync shot option - where you use the drone or binoculars to tag enemies and get your squamates to take them out - is stellar, maybe even the most enjoyable mechanic in the entire game. Tied to this is the skill tree. Not all skills pack a punch, but there is certainly enough in there, both in variety and impact, to make the system very useful as a whole and cater to different play styles. The amount of vehicles you get to experiment with, all with their own distinct feel, is also laudable. You have a wide array of normal cars, luxury cars, SUVs, trucks, bikes, 4x4s, tanks, big and small helicopters (arguably the best means of locomotion), planes and boats to go about your business. You can drive through Bolivia’s terrains in any way you see fit. You can parachute into enemy bases. There’s is so much goodness here in the way of traversal that you almost welcome the vastness of the world as a result.

I’ll wrap up this section with the story. Wildlands’ narrative wouldn’t win any Oscars, but it is surprisingly decent for this type of title. El Sueño, the cartel’s main boss, is easily one of the best, most memorable villains I've encountered in the genre and one of the game’s highlights. This is especially impressed upon the player by the incredible voice acting and a glimpse into his internal dilemmas via attractive, well-presented cutscenes. There is also an unexpected amount of cohesive and reactive lore scattered throughout in the form of documents, audio logs and radio talkshows, which all help to make the world feel more believable, organic and fleshed out. I also appreciated the Hitman-type mission briefings, and there is one for every single boss, which added a bit of style and flavour. Although if I'm being honest, I could've done without the cringey attempts at humour that often came with those briefings.

Final thoughts

I wouldn’t consider myself a fan of tactical shooters, so I’m more than likely not the right person to say whether fans of the genre would appreciate Wildlands. But I can at least sum up my singleplayer experience with it: at its core, this is a fun game. It comes with a lot of repetitiveness and bloat, I don't appreciate its multiplayer vibe, and it has several problems that could've easily been avoided. It would've felt eons better had this been a more contained package. But despite that, Wildlands is still a great-feeling shooter with pretty cool gameplay and a visually wonderful world to explore. I wouldn’t call it a must-play, but I will say that there's almost certainly something here that you will enjoy if you do. 7/10

If you keep your expectations low, this is actually pretty good! There weren't a lot of annoying game mechanics besides the roads. I mean if I were the president of Bolivia I would simply buy every citizen a helicopter because literally who has time to drive those roads! I commend the population of that country because I don't have the patience! The driving situation got a lot better once I got really good with the helicopter - in fact, I loved operating the helicopter so much that I started to think I should just get my helicopter pilot's license but very quickly realized that real helicopter driving and fake helicopter driving are two entirely different things.

Also this game clearly doesn't have a great understanding of Santa Muerte, but we won't go into that here!

This is B grade game. I thought Watch dogs 2 was Ubisoft's worst game in the last few years but this beats it by a big margin.

I am only a few hours into the game but I think the story telling is all over the place. The combat is extremely unsatisfying, the companions get stuck behind me and don't shoot until the tell them to. There is too much useless travelling. The graphics are below par. Karen Bowman seems like a cheap imitation of Diana Burnwood from Hitman.

Maybe I will pick this up again when I don't have a better game to play.

Gameplay: 3/5 Story: 2/5 Presentation: 4/5

The game world is great and you feel awesome when you execute a mission perfectly, but those times are rare and really can only be done by a squad of 4 that comprises of good players or else your invisible npc squad. I mean them being invisible in a literal sense because half the time they will wander out in the open and the enemies will just do nothing about it. As a player though they can sometimes see you 200m out behind cover. The game has many glitches and some of the AI and game mechanics just feel rough. Like the fact that they can all shoot through cover while you have to have a high level of penetration to hit enemies through cover. I get that it is a tactical shooter game, but if they are going to advertise the game as you can play stealthy or guns blazing they better make it so you can actually pull off the guns blazing part without feeling way underpowered. Very repetitive mission system( much like a lot of Ubisoft's open world games). I often found myself having more fun trying to break the game than actually play it as it was intended. I will say riding a motorcycle through the various terrains and skydiving are super fun.

Basis:

Story= plot progression, intrigue, characters, world

Gameplay= Mechanics, gameplay options (freedom), repetition, goals, difficulty

Presentation= graphics, animation, environment/character design, Art direction, Script, music

I know this game has a rep of being a boring, open-world game, but it was on sale & a friend recommended it. I enjoy a good military, tactical shooter every once in a while.

Wildlands solo campaign does sort of earn it's "boring game" reputation. I hear it's better with co-op, but I ain't got time to work out time with friends to play together. There's some rebel side missions that are very repetitive and not all that interesting and each region you visit starts with collecting intel, it's a neat idea and sorta realistic, but again, a bit repetitive. Then the main missions usually follow the regular mission tropes; destroy x amount of things, clear out this location, tail this guy, rescue these people. Luckily, the diversity of locations help to keep these missions from being super dull. Again, being an open world game, most problems can be solved by a helicopter.

The tactics part of this tactical shooter were extremely disappointing. You have a team of 3 tagalongs that aren't much good for anything but an occasional never miss shot. I remember playing Rainbow 6 Vegas back in the day and being able to move your two men separately and set up ambushes, flanks, etc. or have them throw a grenade or breach a door. In Wildlands you can't give individual instructions to teammates, just point them all to a general area to stand. It'd be nice if they had a specialization; one was a sniper, demolitionist, inflitrator. For the most part, you're better off just doing everything yourself until you need some help slinging lead or catching bullets.

What doens't help your teammates, is the complete lack of characterization. I know you don't come to a realistic military shooter for the wacky characters, but for a group of people you'll be spending a good couple hours with, a little individuality wouldn't kill them. When they do have dialogue there is some hints of personality, but it's kinda half-assed. Speaking of ass, your CIA handler, Bowman is just an asshole, not a fan of her character.

Now, the villains have much better characterization, sure they're a bit one note, but it's a loud note. The big bad, El Sueno, was a bit more interesting than I expected. He had some work put in to him, but his character design was kinda silly with all the facial tattoos. I took him a little less seriously, maybe just a tattoo or two would serve the purpose. And when I think of drug cartels I think of them circa 1980, so it was kinda weird to think of a cartel having a social media presence and whole department dedicated to it.

One of the standout gameplay ideas I liked is that every region has a lieutenant, it makes liberating regions more interesting vs a Just Cause game where it's tedious. Bolivia has a bunch of very diverse areas, which makes the game world feel bigger, while the actual map is just the right size without being too vast.

The overarching story does confuse me as to how self-aware it is. Being a Tom Clancy game & military shooter, I figured it to be a full-fledged, red-blooded, baseball & apple pie, yay America game. There are moments though where we do some sort iffy things to reach our goal, like destroying oil refineries as an extortion tactic basically and making an addict OD on cocaine. I can't tell if this game is trying to sneak in a message or if it's just tone deaf.

I tried a few online matches with a friend. Those were fun because there you had more tactics being used.

All in all, this game is decent, but not great. It's serviceable and fun, but the whole game does seem like it was on the brink of being a really great open-world, tactical shooter, but no one wanted to put in the overtime. Also, more cars need the radio in them, cause I hardly ever got to listen to it.

Oh, and the DLC/microtransaction system in this game is bull. Granted it's mostly cosmetics, which I am okay with, but they are all spread out in numerous packs that are way over priced. I'd appreciate an Ala carte style instead.

Rating: 7/10

This has been one of the more disappointing games this year so far (as of March 19, for those who may read this later on). It's been a pretty astounding year with most games nailing it, and yet one of the ones I was most pumped for has ended up being good, but not great... if you play with friends. Wildlands would be a completely average, but not boring, Ubisoft open-world shooter otherwise.

I guess realistically I shouldn't have expected as much as I did. The idea of being able to tackle missions at any time seemed really appealing to me. I wanted a tactical shooter where I could envision all kinds of shenanigans with my older brother. We kind of got that, but it's held back by a lack of freedom, oddly enough.

The bad is that the missions are repetitive and this diversity that Ubisoft tried to show us is almost non-existent. Doing these missions is not nearly as entertaining as one might expect. I saw this compared to Metal Gear Solid 5 and I can see it: the bulk of what you do consists of simply invading bases. The problem is, the exciting options aren't there, and I would argue that Ubisoft missed out on a lot of small opportunities.

This may not come across like much to other people, but for example, you can't jump on the back of a pickup truck with your buddies. If you're in a van you can't slide open the back door and start shooting (he will pop out, but it's not the same!).

So why does this bother me when it seems so miniscule? Because this game rides the line between being a serious shooter and a silly one. It clearly wants to be the former, but it's more fun when it's the latter. I do a lot of silent infiltration because I enjoy stealth, but the best moments are when you're playing with a friend and things go wrong, or you perform some incredibly neat action. Aspects like the one in the last paragraph would encourage the fun parts. You basically have to make your own fun, and it's a shame that the developers limited it a bit. I actually think the gigantic open-world hurts it and I wish it was smaller. Driving multiple kms to get to a destination kills the buzz.

The skill/progression system is also incredibly boring. It's one of the few games I've played in recent years where I don't even care if I use my skill points. At first it seems like it's going to add a lot, but it's pretty minor in the grand scheme of things.

I like Ghost Recon, even if I've complained more than praised it. But I can only play it in short bursts, and it has to be with friends. It's a different kind of game but for some reason The Division hooked me and this has had a really hard time doing that. I would really enjoy a more linear Rainbow Six/Ghost Recon co-op game, where you are thrown into missions, but there are tons of different directions and ways to accomplish your objectives. Like, y'know, this one was supposed to be.

So, by yourself it's a 6, but with friends it's a 7. Still solid, just needs more. Maybe Ubisoft should just take a break from making every game open-world for a bit. On a positive note, they are one of the few AAA companies who bring co-op to their open-worlds, so kudos for that.