Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands

Looking forward to playing it.

The open world is extremely nice. The gameplay itself, not very so.

So I decided to play Ghost Recon Wildlands yesterday, and it was/was not what I expected.  In terms of what I expected, it hit all the same Ubisoft open world elements seen in Assassins Creed or Far Cry with outposts, towns that feel semi alive, B rated story presentation (Almost like a Just Cause Game), Repetitive Missions, etc.  Wildlands felt very much like the Division without the bullet sponge enemies mixed with some concepts of the Watch Dogs 2 mechanics.

That being said, when playing with a friend  or multiple friends, the game is quite fun.  At the same time, all these reused Ubisoft mechanics work well together for an experience that just feels organic.  I did not expect to have this much fun with this game nor expect it to have so much detail.  The world is enormous rivaling a Just Cause map/setting with varied vistas to keep the experience fresh and diverse.  The guns all handle smoothly and accurately allowing for both 1st person and 3rd person shooting similar to the Metal Gear games.  The customization of each weapon is the most  intricate I have ever seen in a modern shooter with weapon mods scattered throughout the world for you to uncover.  I could just play the game for the sake of infiltrating bases to find new weapon mods.  

In addition to the weapon customization, the player progression system is pretty standard to an action RPG allowing you to upgrade skills, tech, and abilities with collected skill points that you find on enemy grounds and collected resources that are acquired by leaving gps trackers for rebel allies.  Speaking of Allies, similar to the Assassins Creed games, you can rescue them allowing them to be help you organically or randomly in the world.  The may randomly engage in battles helping you (and with gun mounted trucks) turn the tide on enemy reinforcements, or they may cause a distraction to allow you to sneak into a compound. You can also upgrade the rebel abilities allowing for mortar strikes, vehicle drops, etc.  Opposite of this, the corrupted police force is basically a separate enemy faction who utilizes the Grand Theft Auto Wanted system to track you down with increasingly harder enemies/vehicles.

The big issue I had with the beta/game is the vehicle handling/controls.  For the most part, they just feel wonky and unpolished compared to other open world games.  I'm surprised considering the vehicles in Watch Dogs 2 handle quite nicely.  The helicopters work great in regards to holding them steady (you simply can let go of the controls and it will balance itself out to hover in place)  so your squad to sit on side sniping enemies on a mountain base, but actually piloting the helicopter feels sub par overall.  There are no separate buttons for rotating and turning.   I think they could also improve on the character customization in regards to the faces and hair.  We're pretty limited here,  but the clothing and accessory options went beyond my expectations.  

Overall, the game was not what I expected holding more value than I thought.  It has some weird vehicle controls and some repetitiveness, but it was never enough to ruin the experience (It may get old in the long run of the game.  I only got to see 2 out of 21 areas of the map.  Those two areas along where huge).  I would recommend this game to any player who has a group of friends looking for a really fun coop experience.  There are better games out there for a solely single player experience, but Wildlands may be my go to game for playing with friends going forward.  This may be the biggest map Ubisoft has ever made, and it is a gorgeous, diverse world to explore with your buddies.  Similar to Metal Gear Solid V's single player experience, you now have the same freedom to tackle objectives but with a group of friends.  Lastly, due to some of the best adaptive AI I have ever seen in a game, the tactical combat always feel fresh and satisfying.  

8.5/10 for the Beta Experience

Long enough since I played it to give it another playthrough.

It's as much fun as I remember.