Welcome to another review! This time around I am playing Ghost Recon Wildlands. One of the first games I got with the XBOX 360 was Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, before this point I had never played a Tom Clancy game. I found it really tough initially, I was used to games that were not as tactically challenging. After a while, I really got into it, I then played the sequel which was even better. Then there was Future Soldier, I remember seeing the trailers and thought yes this is going to kick ass. There were a number of delays with the game but it finally got released, it was good but was missing something that I just could not put my finger on. Fast forward to 2016 and Ghost Recon Wildlands was announced, I immediately signed up for the Beta Test. While there were elements I liked about it, such as the open world and the impressive visuals there were certain things I didn't like, the driving felt sloppy in all vehicles, in particular, the planes. When the game was released I didn't rush to get it. Recently my buddy (D to the G) loaned me his copy and assured me it was worth the play and was as important as Metal Gear Solid V, which I highly enjoyed.
Bolognese, it's got pasta, sauce, mince and vegetables, all things I like. Unfortunately, no matter what I add or take away from it I am always a little underwhelmed. It's incorrect for me to say it's bad, all the elements are there but it just doesn't do it for me. Playing Ghost Recon Wildlands I found myself was it really for me?
Story
The story is set in Bolivia, there is a cartel called Santa Blanca who have become so powerful, so influential that they have created a narco-state. The cartel is run by El Sueno, who is a powerhouse of man and looks like he could kill you with his pinky finger or his gravelly voice. The operation is broken into four divisions, Security, Production, Smuggling and Influence, each has multiple Lieutenants (Buchons), an Underboss and a Head. They need to be taken down before you have a chance of taking on El Sueno. So, who you gonna call?
Enter the elite team of soldiers known as Ghosts, you play as the Leader Nomad, along with three interchangeable characters, Larry, Moe, and Curley. There is undercover CIA agent Bowman, who runs point and provides you with all the intel. She has been working with the local Rebel Leader Pac Katari to help destabilise the cartel.
Overall the story is quite engaging and there are some interesting characters, unfortunately, your teammates are not among them. There are two endings to the game depending on your percentage completion, great if you like getting 100%.
Visuals
The visuals in the game are simply breathtaking, I loved jumping in a helicopter and surveying Bolivia which has a varied landscape. There are lightly snowed cover mountains, dense jungle, rural villages, mines and excavations sites. El Sueno's mausoleum is particularly impressive, being honest it is hard to pin down my favorite area as it all looks so good, even down to smaller details like the water and plant life. The only downside is that I found it hard to see due to the sun burning my eyes so unfortunately, I relied on using night vision more than should have been necessary. I messed around with the brightness settings but to no avail.
Overall some very impressive visuals and probably some of the best I have seen to date on the new generation of consoles.
Music
I felt the soundtrack mostly lingered in the background, save for one or two tracks, but with the style of game Ghost Recon Wildlands is that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. There is a lot of use of both Electric and Spanish guitar, which while both are used quite subtly works well and reminded me of some of the music from Spec Ops the Line, the composer for the soundtrack is:
Alain Johannes, a Chilean-American performer, composer, and producer. He has been part of many bands including Eleven, Spinnerette, Ten Commandos and What Is This? Outside of this, he has worked with many talented artists such as PJ Harvey, Queens of the Stone Age, Chris Cornell, UNKLE, and Kelly Clarkson to name but a few.
The soundtrack runs at just over ninety minutes and has more than thirty tracks. The score isn't amazing but contained some great tracks including 'Wildlands', 'Night Counters', 'Chopper Fight' and 'End of the Road'.
Gameplay
Onto the meat! Ghost Recon Wildlands is a third-person open world tactical shooter. Running into an enemy camp going for a spray and pray tactic won't generally pay off. The enemy AI is one of the best I have experienced in a game and their not afraid to run, hide or circle back behind you. There are multiple types of enemies that are broken into two groups, the Sicarios who are part of Santa Blanca and the security forces know as Unidad (ever wondered who unilads father is? Now you know). Unidad has different levels of aggression ranging from one to four patrols, similar to Grand Theft Autos star system. The team AI left a lot to be desired, unlike previous Ghost Recon games you do not have as much control over them. This I felt made the game a little less tactical then it could have been, additionally teammates will often do their own thing like getting hit by a train. The commentary by them was often poor, for example 'that was fuckin' close', when there was only one enemy who was nowhere near spotting me or 'I think they know we are here' when you are in the middle of a firefight but not said in a haha kind of way but quite seriously.
There are many, many weapons in the game but as I find in a lot of these games I usually gravitate towards a few and they become my permanent loadout. Wildlands was no different. My favorite weapons were the M4 A1 Assault Rifle (suppressed), a Drone with an explosive payload and C4 (lots of it). There is a nice variety of weapons that suit any and all play styles.
The vehicles felt much improved over the Beta Test with once exception, planes. Planes handle like you are trying to fly a bar of soap with cardboard wings and it has been raining. The car and helicopter controls handle like a dream. I can say without a doubt I spent more time in a helicopter than any other vehicle, not only due to their variety but also I got the additional benefit of checking out the picturesque views. There are boats in the game which was a nice option to have but save for one or two areas were unnecessary. Two things I found quite funny and certainly took away from the realism element of the game was when the car is full a teammate will get in the boot and you can see his weapon poking out. If you don't want to wait for your teammates to get in a vehicle drive off without them and as if by magic they will appear beside you, hey presto.
There is a leveling up system but for the most part feels irrelevant. There are skill trees, and perks to be purchased. Multiple skill points can be found in every region, however, that in itself is not enough you also have to collect supplies such as Medicine, Communications, Gasoline, and Food. The early perks require few supplies but later they need a crazy amount which can only really be collected by playing side missions which for the most part are not very interesting and quite repetitive. Overall the perks are nothing exciting, they help a bit but there are only a few I found to be essential such as maxing out sync shots and some of the drone upgrades. The rebels also provide support once you complete one of each side mission, these can be upgraded later. In honesty, I never found them that helpful with the exception of 'call for a vehicle'.
There is a multitude of collectibles including weapons, weapon accessories, skill points and King Slayer files (provided by a dead DEA agent). I collected most of the King Slayer files to start with but they didn't really add a lot to the experience so I focused on the other collectibles instead.
Overall the game got very repetitive within a short space of time, the only thing keeping it alive at times for me were the visuals and the story. While I am slow to play co-op I think this game would have been vastly more entertaining had I done so. It may be something I look into in the future but if I view it from a solo campaign experience I found it to be a little underwhelming.
Final Thoughts
So, after little over thirty hours how did I feel? Umm, it was alright, far from terrible but also far great. The story is interesting, the visuals are amazing, the music was okay and the gameplay itself had its moments. I struggled to rate this game as I felt 3 out of 5 was too low and 4 out of 5 was too high, as I haven't used decimal points for scoring up to this point I am not going to start now. After much debate, I am giving this one 3 out of 5
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