Republished on Wednesday, August 10, 2022: Following the announcement of the PS Plus Extra, Premium lineup in August, I’m reviving this review from the archives. The original is below.
Almost all of Ubisoft’s open-world games are cut from the same cloth, and while each implements some common systems and design philosophies, they give each title enough individual identities to feel different. All previous Ghost Recon games had a mission-based structure, but in Ghost Recon: Wildlands, an elite Special Forces team is freed from their linear shackles and headed to South America to take drugs. An open-world style that eliminates cartels.
This time their target is the Santa Blanca Cartel, a frankly nasty bunch of men and women who have set up shop in Bolivia and managed to control the country through serious amounts of bribery and murder. When the US Embassy is blown up and an undercover DEA agent is killed, Ghost is brought in to dismantle this drug state. To do this, he must overthrow his four pillars of the Cartel: Security, Production, Influence and Smuggling. All of these are managed by multiple captains and lieutenants.
Sadly, important members of the cartel hierarchy don’t just wander the game world, they must visit the states each cartel leader calls home to gather information from enemy camps and bases. , unlocking a chain of 5 or so story missions, culminating in the leader being removed from the picture. The order in which you progress is entirely up to you, but you’ll need to eliminate all of the bottom-tier targets for each of his four pillars of organization before climbing the ladder.
It’s clear from the start how much Ubisoft wants you to play Ghost Recon: Wildlands together. When the game starts, you’ll see a lobby screen where you can invite up to three players to the game, and you’ll periodically see a message letting you know you can join other players online with the push of a button. As with most games, playing co-op definitely adds to the fun, and progress made in co-op carries over to everyone’s game, so it’s a great way to experience this title. That said, while tweaking isn’t strictly necessary, playing with someone you know greatly reduces the potential for frustration, especially during missions where detection fails instantly.
No matter how you decide to play, most of the time you will be riding in your vehicle of choice (dirt bike, truck, helicopter, etc.), marking enemy combatant positions with your drone or binoculars, then either is spent on moving to the location of Sneak and use cover to eliminate enemies, or alert all sicarios within a 2-mile radius to shoot down every corner.
Ghost Recon games so far have been all about placing your squad in the best possible tactical position to drop them on their targets and avoid being caught by the enemy. Wildlands’ gameplay certainly still has this element, but there’s a lot more leeway when things go wrong, and Combat isn’t as apocalyptic as it used to be to get caught with his pants wrapped around his ankles. pretty quickly.
However, despite our best efforts, it doesn’t feel like a Ghost Recon game. Pretty much everything you’d expect is here: a great mix of stealth and action, squads at your command, and enemies that mostly fall in bursts of bullets – but somehow it doesn’t quite melt away. It’s hard to pinpoint the cause of the disappointment, but the longer you play, the more it becomes apparent that the open world format is at the root of the problem. The more authored elements of the fun mission design were diluted, and the gameplay loop was repeated so often that it took about 40 hours to work through. Leader of 26 cartels, is it any wonder it started to run out of power?
Arguably, Ghost Recon’s formula has faded over the series’ lifetime, but in Wildlands it feels like you have to squint so much to see the last traces of its identity. is still really satisfying, co-op is a lot of fun, and its open world features some really impressive environments (especially with HDR lighting enabled). They (from mission design to enemy AI) feel mediocre, derivative, and a poor trade-off in moving to an open world.
Perhaps this is best illustrated by the game’s upgrade system. In this system, skill points and resources earned by completing missions and collecting around the world must be spent on various equipment and character improvements. With enough scope to come up with some really interesting items to offer options in the sandbox, Ubisoft instead offers the most uninteresting roster imaginable. provide room. If only I didn’t have to trek the length and breadth of Bolivia to collect what I needed.
While playing Ghost Recon: Wildlands, you get the impression that they want to give you the opportunity to be creative with open-world hijinks. Remove the reins completely. As a result, it falls short of satisfying both ends of the spectrum, and instead feels like a Just Cause game where someone forgot to add grappling his hook and wingsuit.
This identity crisis has never been more evident in a story and dialogue that veers between overly serious on the one hand and strangely dark humor on the other. This could work if handled with skillful hands, but some very bad voice acting and atrocious dialogue derails any attempt to say anything truly compelling from a narrative point of view. .
Conclusion
Ubisoft has proven adept at applying the open world formula to many games over the years, but Ghost Recon: Wildlands feels like the first game to lack a true identity. It makes a good first impression with its impactful shootouts, visually striking open world, and wide weapon selection, but ultimately it’s a battle of intent between the freedom and unpredictability of an open world. . The precision of a strategic cover-based shooter makes for a title that disappoints both sides of the battle.
