Ghost Recon Wildlands is a sprawling, open-world shooter that seems to have been made by cutting up other Ubisoft games and taping the pieces back together into one package. Before you assume that’s automatically got to be a negative thing, Wildlands also happens to be a blast to play.
Similarly to how we felt back at E3, Ghost Recon Wildlands will feel very familiar to anyone who has played other Ubisoft games. The huge open world of Bolivia feels like it belongs to a Far Cry game, with many different environments represented. The devs in my hands-on time were sure to point out that anywhere you could see on the map was a location you could actually travel to, which means players will go from deserts to mountains, swamps to forests and everything in between.
The biggest concern is with how vast the map is. Graphics can really take a hit. During our play session, objects were popping up left and right, with textures often looking muddy at a distance. This is most noticeable when you’re traveling fast, especially in a car or helicopter. When you are just walking around a town or objective point, things look fine.
As for the gameplay, playing co-op with friends in Wildlands feels more like what we wanted in The Division, but didn’t get. Imagine a tactical shooter, complete with high-end gadgets and upgrades to unlock, slapped into an environment like GTA Online’s free roam map. Missions can be tackled by working together and playing tactically, or you can do the complete opposite. Want to all equip suppressors and time your shots on marked enemies? Get out the drawing board and start making plans. Want to just get four helicopters and blow everything sky high? Go for it.
Even calling the missions “missions” feels a bit misleading. In Wildlands, players can really pick and choose what they want to do at any time. If you get bored with a mission, or get stuck, simply go somewhere else and do something else. You’ll be able to come back and try again later. You’ll also often stumble into missions while going from point A to B, which means you can immediately change destinations from Point B to a new Point C without losing any progress. The whole map is open from the start of the game, so the only thing limiting you from immediately going after the bigger enemies is experience.
At the same time, the missions did often feel like I was just playing a military-themed Far Cry. Each area has it’s leaders and underbosses, and taking these people out felt like clearing Outposts in the Far Cry games. There were alarms you can disable, different enemy types such as snipers and heavy gunners, and abilities like calling in attacks from groups of local rebel fighters. It does feel a bit like a retread, but also different enough, thanks to the military theme.
While it is possible to play Wildlands solo with AI teammates, it’s playing with your friends in co-op where I see many people having the most fun. Like GTA Online, players can all run off and do their own things, which means every play session is inevitably going to end with people in airplanes trying to joust with each other. It’s goofy and entertaining, and there are plenty of toys to play with. Even better, it’s just you and your friends playing so trolls and other obnoxious players can’t come in and ruin your fun.
While I don’t expect Ghost Recon Wildlands to be a game of the year contender or anything, it is pretty fun to play. When you and your friends get together and team up, it can be even more fun. If you and your group of gaming friends are looking for the next game to play, put Ghost Recon Wildlands on your radar.
Ghost Recon Wildlands will be coming to PS4, Xbox One and PC on March 7.
So what do you think? Are you interested in a mashup of different Ubisoft games into one product? Do you think you and your friends would have fun with Ghost Recon Wildlands? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
