Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands Reviews

  • MaurickShepherdMaurickShepherd409,439
    06 Dec 2017 12 Dec 2017
    18 0 0
    Five years ago was the last time the Ghosts came out from hiding in Ghost Recon: Future Soldier. The modern take on war was swapped out for the titular warfare years beyond. The reception was generally positive, but mixed: some praised its weapon customization and improved cover-based combat, many criticized the oversimplification of the tactical aspect longtime fans have come to know Ghost Recon for. I thought it landed somewhere in the middle for me; a good game in general, perhaps not the best Ghost Recon game. So in response, Ubisoft decided to up the ante by making the battlefield not just a field, but a country.

    In Ghost Recon: Wildlands, you take over the leader of a team of ghosts as they travel to an unstable Bolivia during the summer of 2019. The South American country has become a narco state, producing more cocaine than any other nation in the world. The U.S. aren't terribly interested in any of it until one of its embassies in La Paz, a region within Bolivia, is bombed, and one of their embedded agents, Ricky Sanderval, is found dead. In comes the world's deadliest unit no one but us gamers have ever heard of: the ghosts.

    The only times you really get a glimpse of the story is through videos uploaded to you from your operation boss, Karen Bowman. These videos are visually appealing, but are lacking in compelling storytelling. In spots you will be reminded of why you're in Bolivia and why the cartel must be stopped, but the main story failed to deliver in keeping me hooked in caring for it or anyone in the game but one, which I will address shortly.

    Most of the story is better told through the innumerable amounts of collectibles found throughout the map. Whether it's Santa Muerte shrines, historic locations in the mountainsides or random documents scattered around cartel edifices, reading through these definitely gave me more valuable and interesting information than any of the videos of cartel members did.

    Outside of these cartel members, there is one person you will learn more about as you carry on with the game: Sanderval, the agent killed in action. His side of the story should be compelling, and without spoiling anything, the information you get from collectibles that detail the beginning and end of the late CIA operative are actually brilliant and add a twist to the procedurals.

    Now, that last word is probably the most damning criticism I have of this game; procedural. The amount of content in this game isn't bad at all, there's quite a lot to do. The issue is many of this content is rehashed across the map. The collectibles are understandable, but the repeated side quests are incomprehensible.

    These side quests consist of quick 2-5 minute operations that either help you upgrade you and your squadmates or the rebel support you can call in. The issue with the former is that there are literally only two types of cache-involved sidequests: helicopter deliveries or plane deliveries. Both are fun the first few times, raiding a makeshift helipad or airstrip and flying said aircraft to the rebels, but quickly become repetitive. Worst are the latter of the quests. The upgrade branches can be maxed out, but even after you do so, the quests continue to pop up with no real use. They're repetitive to the point where I could only do one region a day or else I would have nearly died from boredom.

    Luckily, my interest was held together by the game's vast environments of snow-capped mountains, vegetation-stuffed forests and rolling hills. It's a great looking game. Often I found myself standing on the edge of a cliff that gave me a view over several kilometers of lush nature. The best part is, as was detailed heavily in the E3 presentation for this game, what you see you can go to. It's nice to finally have a game where I can do just that.

    The gameplay is tight, with the vast array of weapons all feeling weighted and full of oomph. I enjoyed trying out all the dozens of guns. The customization we all liked in Future Soldier makes a great return, with hundreds of possible customization patterns available just to one gun. So if you're a gun nut, this game might trip your trigger.

    In the end, I wrapped up the game feeling a bit tired. I came in wanting an open world tactical shooter, and what I felt I got was mostly that, but perhaps was just too much quantity and not enough quality. For me, this game will be a good back up to play in spurts of time, especially with a group of friends. While the game is supposed to make us feel like the world's deadliest special forces, you often feel like Bolivia's most talented chore artist. It's an open world game you can't enjoy in long sit downs, and that's something I can't understand given open world games are meant to capture our imagination and immersion, not remind us we're playing a game. While this Ghost Recon game is far from bad, it is once again a far cry from what the series was established by: tactical combat. Perhaps Ubisoft can get it right four years down the road, but in the mean time, Wildlands remains a solid third person shooter that will take a chunk of your time to complete, for better and worse.
    4.0
  • benthefletchbenthefletch199,791
    17 Feb 2018
    6 2 0
    While I have not played any other installments of the Ghost Recon series something in the advertising of this game caught my eye weather it was the setting or the villain displayed. In this game you are one of four US soldiers deployed in Bolivia to stop a drug cartel that has grown so powerful it practically controls the country through influence and security.

    The Story

    As explained you play as one of four special ops soldiers or "Ghosts" in Bolivia. Your task; take down El Sueno the leader of the cartel that assumed control of the South American nation. In order to stop him you must take down the chain of command in his cartel all spread throughout the country. El Sueno has leaders that help with Security, Influence, Production and Smuggling all of which allow his rule to flourish. There's around 5-6 leaders for each area making a total of around 24 leaders to take out. All of these leaders are quite unique in personality and found myself very interested in these leaders, more so than the actual cartel leader. Your character on the other hand has no personality however this is forgivable due to the military setting of the game and how these soldiers are trained.

    The setting for this game is very unique especially in a genre so saturated with Russia, the Middle East and Europe in terms of settings. Bolivia is such a diverse country in terms of environments, forest, desert, jungle, mountains even the world's largest Salt Lake Wildlands is definitely not lacking in variety when it comes to its world.

    Story - 9/10


    The Gameplay

    Onto the most divisive part of this game. The gameplay in terms of actual play is nice and smooth. Being a shooter gun play defiantly needs to be good, the variety in weapons and attachments makes this even greater. Gun play in my opinion is perfect. However where do we start with everything else. First of all the missions in this game get repetitive very fast for both main and side quests. There's stop a convoy, kill a commander, steal a car or person. The Story makes these missions interesting however that should be no excuse for the repetitive gameplay. Being an openworld Ubisoft game there is of course collectables which give me reason to explore it's landscape which I can't complain at.

    Having Ghost in the title stealth plays a big aspect of this game, using silencers or going loud provide two different play styles. However I find the stealth aspect quite buggy, it's your typical the AI know you're there but can't reveal that they know you're there do they purposely walk around your location. There is also an upgrade system which early on proves to be quite interesting but after you sort your playstyle out these upgrades become a second thought.

    The player customisation of this game is very in depth and it must be commended for the variety of clothing a colours you can put on your character. Your AI teammates are trash, many times they just stand there, there's this mechanic called synch shot to make then useful however it is very buggy. This game was made for coop however and that is apparent with the advertising of the game, playing with games makes this game alot better.

    Gameplay - 6/10


    Other

    I have ran into bugs in this game that have negatively affected me. Mainly a bug where the fps drops after the occasional explosion. There is also a 4 v 4 gamemode, it's nice that it's there however it's pretty dead which is understandable as the gameplay is very clunky. There is also two dlcs for this game which add pretty much more of the same. There is however a Predator mission which was a nice change of pace for the game. Plus the achievements are easy to obtain making this a simple game in terms of score.

    Other - 7/10

    Ghost Recon Wildlands is a fun third person shooter that was made for coop. The many side features of this game provide a fun experience however it can get repetitive at times. The villains of this game definitely steal the show.

    The Good - Story, co-op, setting, variety in playstyles

    The Bad - Repetitive Gameplay, Unpatched Bugs, Bad verses multiplayer.

    Overall - 7.5/10
    3.5
  • BobbyChezBobbyChez511,715
    27 Mar 2017 28 Mar 2017
    12 9 8
    I like Ghost Recon: Wildlands, but the completionist in me is a bit more torn about it.

    The game is good. It plays well and the gun and shooting mechanics are great. The map is massive and invites you to explore and experience as much as Bolivia that you can. It was awesome to see something like a mountain at the horizon and realize, I could go there and get to the top of it. The draw distance is pretty damn impressive and I experienced a minimal number of slow downs for load times when moving from province to province.

    However, for a shooter, this game is long. It should have been about half as long as it is. I understand you can "finish" the game at about the halfway point, but it is just not as satisfying. Because of the length of the game and sheer number of side missions, the missions get repetitive. There are some types that are fun to play that only show up once or twice, but most missions break down to go here, recon the area, and then kill or extract an enemy or scan or blow up an item.

    In addition, the side missions you play to unlock rebels skills are the same mission type over and over again. After you unlock the rebel skills, there is no need to play these missions anymore, but they keep appearing on the map. It would be nice if the game was designed to award you with resources for completing these additional side missions. Instead you have to go through the grind of hunting down the appropriate convoys to max out all of your skills.

    Anyways, here is what I found to be the Pros and Cons of Ghost Recon: WIldlands:

    Pros:
    - The game looks awesome.
    - The game plays well, especially the gun and shooting mechanics.
    - Fun to explore and play around in the massive sandbox of Bolivia.

    Cons:
    - Vehicle controls, especially helicopters, are clunky and can be difficult to adjust to.
    - In my opinion, the game is too long for a shooter.
    - To an extent, the missions get repetitive.

    If you are not worried about completion percentage and want to play and just have fun with up to 3 friends in 4-player co-op, this is a pretty good game to do it in. I'd recommend it for the exploration and gameplay alone. Ubisoft did a lot right in this game.

    If you are planning to go for all achievements in the game or worry about completion percentage, I suggest marking off a bunch of time on your game playing calendar to get through the game. It might be best for a summer play through when not much else is coming out. I wouldn't necessarily recommend the game if you do not want to invest about 3 days of playtime in it.

    Hope that helps you decide if you want to play it or not. Let me know if there is anything I can answer that might help you with the game.
    3.5
  • HerrKätzchenHerrKätzchen1,086,037
    19 Oct 2022
    4 4 0
    Avoid this garbage at all cost.

    Leaving aside the questionable "quality" of Ubishit games in recent years, they also consistently have issues with achievements not unlocking and no one giving a flying fuck to fix them.

    No different this time around. Cleared the entire maingame-map and according to the cheevo-trackers I missed 30% of all story-missions, roughly 12 skill medals, 60 documents and ~12 legends.
    The only way to """""""""fix""""""""" this would be clearing the entire map again and hoping that whatever didn't gave progress last time does this time.
    And trust me, there are better options to waste 50 hours of your life.
    .5
  • Deranged AsylumDeranged Asylum521,141
    02 Apr 2017 02 Apr 2017
    8 8 0
    Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands Review

    Original Post

    Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands is not based on the Netflix original series Narcos nor can its roots be found in Brian De Palma’s masterful Scarface, its source material though could very easily be derived from both the hit show that focuses on the life of Pablo Escobar, or the earlier scenes that prelude the movies most defining moment as Cuban refugee and self-proclaimed “bad man” Tony Montana extravagantly snorts from a copious amount of cocaine before scooping up an assault rifle come grenade launcher to rid his mansion of those who are attempting to kill him.

    Despite their best efforts, both were killed during dramatic shootouts, Montana would leave the world face down in a water feature, a victim of his own greed and ambition, but both he and Escobar’s influence before him within the drug industry were ones not to be reckoned with. Both fictitious and real-life drug lords ultimately left their mark on this world, Wildlands immoral antagonist El Sueño fully intends to follow in their footsteps.

    Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands: PC, Xbox One [Reviewed], PS4
    Developer: Ubisoft Paris
    Publisher: Ubisoft
    Release Date: 7 March 2016
    Price: £54.99 [Disclosure: Game Copy Provided by Publisher]


    North America has so much culture and beauty about it, it also boasts a dark and much-publicised history with drugs. Trafficking remains a major concern throughout the U.S, and while most believe the problem stems from neighbouring Mexico, the attempted destabilisation of the land of the free and the rest of the world begins not in Central America, but underneath it in the depths of South America. This is the story Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands wants to portray to you with the product of Ubisoft’s largest developed open scale world: a gorgeous diverse and scenic ecosystem with a theme that sets out to tackle one of our societies biggest problems.

    Ghost Recon Wildlands is a Far Cry from anything Ubisoft has attempted to create in the past. More so, while Wildlands shares many tropes found in Advanced Warfighter, its story, shares its subject matter with another Ghost Recon title, 2004’s PS2 title – Jungle Storm. 3 years on from Jungle Storm players are invited to burrow deep into Ubisoft’s most expansive world to date as you and up to three friends team up to dismantle the notorious Santa Blanca cartel, a one-time small Mexican drug gang headed up by El Sueño, a thuggish figure of a man with a tattooed face, who has Bolivia firmly by the throat.

    Under the control of El Sueño, Bolivia has become a narco-state, the epicentre of drug distribution into Central America before eventually flowing across the border into North America. The country is rife with drugs, government bribery and corruption; a poison that must be quelled, cue the “Ghosts”, an elite no-nonsense task force sent into the country to relieve it of this unsavoury character.

    However, to remove the head from the snake, players must first carve their way through the seedy underbelly of the Santa Blanca cartel. Working through a tight-knit labyrinth of known associates, lieutenants, smugglers, production operatives and underbosses to weaken the structure of the organisation, unsettling its ability to function, to produce and release cocaine freely.

    Wildlands like The Division before it, is a vast sprawling sandbox title that wants you to become more social; teaming up with friends or online players to use tactics, strategy and teamwork to complete missions, or of course, simply adopt a Rambo-like approach to gun your way through its various missions and side objectives, all of this achievable via a favourable drop in-drop out system.

    The invitation to descend into the realistic surroundings that make up its vast environmental ecosystem with other players, make Wildlands too good an opportunity to pass up on, and will instantly resonate with fans of Ubisoft’s previous shooter for far too many and obvious reasons. In all honesty, Wildlands isn’t a game that requires friends to reach its conclusion, it can be played in solo with the aid of 3 helpful if not entirely predictable A.I, however, it is by far and away more enjoyable with other players along for the ride.

    As showcased through the game’s vast marketing campaign pre-release, also, its debut reveal at E3 2016, Ghost Recon Wildlands offers a high quantity of missions that although repetitive, can be approached from a variety of angles, using different methods dependant on the situation and specific level design layout.

    To lift vital pieces from the puzzle board, players must investigate locations to photograph documents, throw their weight around with the locals or retrieve files in order to move forward, often living on bread crumbs that will eventually piece together to push you onwards to the location of one of El Sueño’s key components.

    Upon reaching this point, the option to either interrogate the suspect or take them out of play completely relies a lot on the team’s mysterious CIA handler, Karen Bowman.

    The sheer magnitude and scope of the Santa Blanca cartel’s inner framework become apparent when viewing the outer part of the in-game map, evidence of a drug community family tree residing inside the country. Sharing many traits with the much maligned Mafia III, players will fight their way through a treacherous grapevine of lowlife individuals and bosses to get at the real mastermind of this seedy tale.

    Littered around the many hostile regions that make up Wildlands expansive world are crucial cogs that keep a drug-fuelled machine ticking over, those in question need to either be either eliminated entirely from the equation or escorted for interrogating, and that’s where our heroes, the Ghosts, come into play.

    With so much by the way of travel methods, reaching your destination across this vast and extensive map can be extremely pleasing. Careering down a precipitous rocky mountain road on a dirt bike, hovering low to the ground to avoid detection from incoming SAM missiles in nothing but a lightweight AH-6 Little Bird, creating waves in the bright blue swirling waters via speedboat or putting one straight in the eye of the enemy in a humvee equipped with a mounted machine gun, Wildlands offers players a large collection of transport vehicles to ensure that you’ll get the most out of your time in Bolivia, while some could easily perceive the Ghosts as nothing more than a tourist with a slight Agent 47 agenda.

    Exploration of this gargantuan sized map represents a lot of fun, however, if you’d prefer to travel light with your time in the country there is a fast travel system in place. Until you discover a specific location dotted on your map you cannot fast travel directly to it, makes perfect sense right? …right, however, you can instead fast travel to another comrade, sadly, though, as good an option as it first appears it doesn’t exactly place you where you might have thought it would, rather some 300 or so metres away, and most likely at the bottom of a mountain or ravine; faced with a steep upward climb to reunite with your team.

    Fast travelling has its perks if you prefer to skip about the world of your own free will, but spawning on teammates can also result in a painful and laborious trek that should of in all likelihood been avoided.

    With Santa Blanca cartel members or corrupt ex-military known as the Unidad posted at almost every street corner, situated upon most blades of grass, sitting high up in towers overlooking civilian bridges, rural villages, settlements and the like; avoiding confrontation with Wildlands many enemies is nigh on impossible, and as such, confrontations can all too often or carelessly lead to an untimely death.

    Wildlands does you no favours in this department either. Instead of being afforded the right to bleed out fast before returning to the action in a timely fashion, players are forced to painfully lay motionless on the ground for a painstaking 60 seconds before re-entering the fray, unless of course, one of your allies manages to reach your downed body in time and revives you.

    In spite of its many conflicting drawbacks, Wildlands is a very enjoyable game. To poke holes in it for being an overly ambitious title where large scale map meets a level design that ultimately degrades over time into nothing more than a repetitive cycle, to pull it apart for its rather cliched storyline that often struggles with its own identity or its rather disappointing lack of gadgets for a Ghost Recon title would take little to no effort at all, resulting in the safe and easy removal of candy from a baby, and yet, for all its setbacks, I can’t, and simply refuse to put it down.

    Ghost Recon Wildlands is at its most enjoyable when you throw friends into the mix. The involvement of a group of fellow like-minded individuals as you and your motley crew run ruff shot over a large South American country quickly elevates not only the game to new heights but helps to alleviate some of its less appealing characteristics that leave the game feeling bloated.

    With friends on board, repetitive over time lacklustre missions and gameplay transform into something much more enthralling, same goes for the absurd amount of collecting on offer with various documents, skill points to upgrade your threadbare gadget stash, weapons and their appropriate accessories.

    Speaking of arsenal, the handling of the bulk of weapons on offer feel purposeful, precise, there is a gratifying feeling that comes from firing a round off into a group of enemies which remains solid and equally as thrilling a spectacle as you would expect to get from a publisher whose previous body of work includes the Rainbow Six series, The Division and Splinter Cell.

    Aside from the satisfying gunplay, Ghost Recon Wildlands also departs from The Divison‘s rather handy cover system in favour of a more faster, fluid style approach to both gun and gameplay that feels very much in-keeping with Wildlands overall tone. The removal of a fallback or safety net leaves players almost indefinitely exposed out in the field, it also prompts and pushes you to take a different perspective with each encounter, it makes you want to embody the spirt another of Ubisoft’s icons – Sam Fisher.

    Sam Fisher’s expertise in the field of stealth is very much applicable here. Yes, there is no cover system to seek refuge behind, but with the enemies presence felt heavily throughout Bolivia, sometimes tact and patience, rather than unbridled rage and sheer determination will see you escape missions unscathed, it is certainly required when tasked to make your way through a mission undetected.

    Stalking an enemy play area has an appeal to it. While its land is certainly no Metal Gear Solid V, the tactics utilised to stay in complete control, dictating the pace of select missions fares exactly the same. From the outer perimeter, you can send out a drone which when fully upgraded can hover high above level layouts, whereupon you can select and markup suspicious characters, POI’s, objects of interest; it also helps decipher between those you can take down with a single bullet from those who might require a little extra TLC.

    Conclusion

    Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands is a cup half empty, cup half full title. Ambitious yes, yet this undeniably beautiful open world stage is nothing while traipsing about its diverse ecosystem by your lonesome. With that in mind, play Wildlands with a group of friends and you’ll find it quickly transform from an exhausting, labour of work with a painful mission structure and repetitive layout design to an exciting actioned packed jaunt through a painstakingly beautiful landscape that longs to be explored by you, and a bunch of your friends.
    3.5
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