Well, hello there, dear reader! Today I am going to look back at my interaction with the latest title in the Ghost Recon franchise.
First of all, I bought the game while it was on sale on Uplay/Ubisoft Club/whatever they want to call it now. I thought to myself: worst case scenario, it will be another generic Ubisoft open world title and boy, was I wrong. Yes, indeed, Ghost Recon: Wildlands is an open world game, as opposed to the linear past of the series, but it still features the tactical emphasis. You can not bust into an enemy base, guns blazing and expect to emerge unscathed and victorious, oh, no no no, you have to think about your entry point and plan a bit ahead of time how you will go through an outpost, but more on that later. For now, let us take a look at my little adventure so far.
It all started with me pressing new game on the main menu (no shit, Sherlock) and being booted into the character creation screen, which is actually pretty detailed in its options, so a huge thumbs up there. After that, the game properly started with an intro cutscene which told me that my team is made up of ultimate badasses and, of course, your custom character is the squad leader. Anyway, you are dropped into a South American country to wreak havoc against a cartel which basically owns the region, meaning they paid off officials and they control the local special forces. Your only allies in this guerilla war is the resistance movement. Sounds pretty generic, and it actually is, but this tired premise is, somehow, able to sustain this game's style of gameplay. Speaking of, the cutscene ended and I was dropped into the game world, near a car and, surprise, you can drive in this game. I went on my merry way with the 3 dudes I boss around and saw a car with an exclamation mark over it. The game quickly told me it was an informant and I started to give chase. While madly driving on country roads to catch the guy, a SUV joined the fray and started to shoot at me. I rammed the bastards off the road, down a hill and also totaled the informant car by giving it a friendly shove into a rock wall. I interrogated the coward and lo and behold, my map got filled with secondary objectives, like weapon caches and skill points. Another informant happened to pass by while I was talking to the first jolly chap. He managed to gain a bit of distance and I decided to risk it and took the scenic route down a hill to catch up. This guy just did not know he was dealing with a group of military who totally disregard their safety. I politely asked my gun to do the questioning and I uncovered a the locations of military equipment, like mortars, I could claim for the resistance.
After gaining intel about the region from the two guys mentioned above, I decided to raid some outposts of our friendly neighbourhood narcos. Since I thought at the time that Ubisoft did not bother to make the game tactical, I went into a base like Rambo and managed to survive by hiding in a ditch after being discovered and filled with bullets. I started flanking the sicarios and taking potshots with my loud assault rifle and, miraculously, I cleared the place. I also found a sniper rifle in there and decided it was time to change up my arsenal. My assault rifle got a nice little silencer and my sniper also received one and also a better scope. Nearby, on the map, there was another such camp and, at that time, I decided it would be a great idea to climb on the stony part of the hill. At that point, the game notified me that I have a drone I can mark enemies with, and, evidently, I tried it out. After marking most of the asshats below, the battery of the drone died, which was unfortunate, to say the least.
I went prone on the rocks and started sniping the dudes. They went crazy down there, hiding behind any structure they could find, not knowing where I was shooting from, and then, poof, no more ammo for my godly sniper. I stealthily climbed down towards them, when I saw a group of three coming near my position. I quickly went prone in the grass in hopes that they would pass by... and they did. I crawled towards a decrepit church and when I entered, I was stunned: one guy was just waiting there, hoping to catch a trespasser, and today was his lucky day. He got two shots in, I shot and killed him quickly, but the damage has been done. Now the rest of the guys knew where I was, so I had to think quickly. I chucked my two grenades out the door to disperse the guys and killed two of them in the commotion. The remaining three were regrouping and coming for me. I went prone to the side of the door and eliminated the rest, claiming the base.
I can see how this game will probably get repetitive (being an open world game, being made by Ubisoft), but, so far, the tactical element is pretty solid (even though I am a really poor tactician). I have not tried the multiplayer yet, but I hope it is just as good, mechanically speaking, as the singleplayer.
@originalworks
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