Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands Review

An ambitious, entertaining world held back by repetition.

By: Ryan Ramakrishnan 

Reviewed on Xbox One

With a massive open world in Bolivia and a seemingly wide array of weapon choice and variety, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands is greatly ambitious; however, thanks to some glitches and repetitive mission structure, it isn't all it could be.

I went into Wildlands with a lot of hope because of the world it was presenting me. The idea of a huge drug cartel being taken down, one by one picking off the drug lords and saving Bolivia sounded like a blast. I did have a good time in the end. The shooting was fun, the levels were open to creativity in execution and the map's size screamed hours on end of entertainment. It unfortunately suffered from a lot of oddly similar levels. They started fresh but grew repetitive too quickly. I also found the story to be awesome on paper but was never told in a compelling manner. This is an extremely enjoyable world to play in, despite some issues.

Story
Ubisoft Paris presents a fairly interesting plot. You take the role of a "Ghost,” an elite special operations unit of the US Army with the goal of taking down the Santa Blanca drug cartel in Bolivia.

The Kataris 26, a group of rebels, will aid you along the way, all sharing the same goal. Alongside the rival cartel of Santa Blanca, you also have to deal with the Unidad, Bolivia’s military police. Between the massive cartel and Unidad, as well as the many bosses of Santa Blanca, there is an ever-present feeling of fear and danger around every corner.

The Santa Blanca drug cartel comes off as frightening, as they should. Even the lower tier bosses of Santa Blanca offer reasons to loathe them. As I said previously, I found “Ghost Recon: Wildlands” plot to be really interesting. Ubisoft Paris delivers in some ways, yet simultaneously fails to provide the exciting plot they present in marketing and concept.

Moving up to each progressively more prominent member of the Santa Blanca cartel comes with stories of each of them, some of where they are coming from, others of what their next move is. I found them to be a mixed bag, whereas some of the cartel members were very dangerous and scary, truly attention grabbing. Others weren’t per se a threat or just failed to come with interesting cutscenes and plot points.

The main antagonist of the cartel is El Sueño and he is presented a force to be reckoned with. The lead up to El Sueño can feel so long, thanks in part to the large-scale map and mission design, that the drive to take out the final threat gets lost on the way. By the time I was ready to face El Sueño, I had already been burned out by the amount of cartel bosses, ranging from interesting to forgettable. The final meeting with El Sueño, as well as the character as a whole, make for some compelling character moments and storytelling.

The problem with the aforementioned moments of quality in the story of “Ghost Recon: Wildlands” is the execution. It is oftentimes hit or miss and there is a lot of filler in the story. If you took the plot points and interesting characters of the cartel and broke it down to simplify the seemingly drawn out plot, “Ghost Recon: Wildlands” would be a concise and interesting story worth your attention all in all.

Gameplay

Until it grows repetitive, the gameplay of “Ghost Recon: Wildlands” provides plenty of fun to be had in the open world.

Similar to other Tom Clancy games of the series yet far less tactical, “Ghost Recon: Wildlands” is a third person shooter, though its gunplay can be executed from a first person perspective. I found the first person shooting to make every kill, loud and tactical alike, immensely satisfying, as well as easier to pull off as opposed to third person.

There is an incredibly hefty amount of guns to choose from. Plenty of assault rifles, machine guns and sniper rifles alike are available for your choosing. Play styles can be further explored personally with attachments and other weapons like frag grenades and C4.

Unfortunately, even with the weapon variety and choice, I realized I was more than comfortable and ready for anything with the loadout I chose fairly early on. The game doesn’t do a whole lot to give you reason for varying your loadouts.

You’ll never be taking on missions alone in “Ghost Recon: Wildlands;” however, with the questionable A.I. you may wish to. The game gives you three allied “ghosts” and they help take down enemies on command or when attacked. These squadmates can pull of a sync shot, which impressively allows you to mark up to three enemies anywhere in range of your drone’s deep sight and than watch them get shot down in an instant. While bizarre and unrealistic, I ultimately took full advantage of the sync shot, especially in tightly concealed and heavily guarded areas where stealth was encouraged or required.

Should you choose to invite friends into the game or join their own, you can cooperatively play through everything the world has to offer.

Exploring all of Bolivia can be daunting due to its large scale but there is a multitude of vehicles to tread both land and sea. It's hard to traverse through any towns and settlements, bases or camps in the world without stumbling upon a bike, car, truck or helicopter.

Driving isn’t perfect, as handling on-road vehicles makes for some uneasy turns and length drives with hazards but it is pretty enjoyable to pick up speed and go for a fast drive nonetheless. I particularly found the motorcycles to be the quickest and most fun vehicles to get behind.

“Ghost Recon: Wildlands” provides a drone to scope out any given area. This is a handy tool to use for marking enemies, which can oftentimes be impossible to see without its assistance. The drone is also used for dropping EMP’s, explosives and more, as well as for marking targets for sync shots. With upgrades, the drone’s battery and range are pretty powerful and this lead me to have it out anytime there were enemies in the area.

Certainly inspired by “Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain,” the level design is very open, allowing you to approach things head on or silently. Much of the game’s missions are often best taken on stealthily and the game’s large bases and silenced weapons at your disposal make this a viable and thrilling option. Of course, enemy camps and bases can be tackled with loud, fast and heavy weapons as well. As previously mentioned, there are plenty of guns to choose from. All this and more make the mission structure a whole lot of fun. It is just unfortunate that it grows repetitive with time.

Graphics

Bolivia is wonderfully realized. The world design is crafted with a variety of biomes and beautiful settings to behold. Opening the map of “Ghost Recon: Wildlands” and then zooming out quickly gave me anxiety. It is massive. Fortunately, every drive, mountain ride and flight I took in Bolivia came with stunning sights.

The A.I. at times came with technical issues noticeable by eye. I found my three allied “ghosts” walking through surfaces, temporarily disappearing or showing up randomly in a vehicle or by my side. These minor glitches aren’t by any means game breaking yet are so incredibly prevalent in the game.

Sound

Standing out for all the wrong reasons, “Ghost Recon: Wildlands” has a great deal of repetitive dialogue coming from your squadmates. The “ghosts” you play with, as well as your own character, repeat the same cliche and downright corny statements, they repeat conversations and generally fail to have interesting or varied dialogue. What stood out for all the wrong reasons instantly was the repetitive dialogue from my squad mates.

Content

With an entire cartel to take down and a map larger than anything Ubisoft has given gamers yet, “Ghost Recon: Wildlands” is no small game. I have sunk in upwards of 70 hours with plenty of side missions and cartel bosses to kill. Similar to their other open world games, players who dislike the nature of completing a checklist map in Ubisoft titles will be quickly turned away by not only the map size but also the amount of missions that go into story progress and completion.

Conclusion

If you can look past the frustrating nature of repetition in both dialogue, mission structure and overall gameplay, “Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands” is a greatly entertaining open world game, especially alongside friends. The gunplay and exploration of the stunning Bolivia made for some enjoyable experiences. The compelling plot is ultimately executed with both ups and downs. That, like the gameplay and world itself make “Ghost Recon: Wildlands” a highly ambitious title, one that lacks a lot of its highest potential but also provides hours of personalized, exciting combat and exploration of a gorgeous world run by a drug cartel of nightmare.

Did you take down the entire Santa Blanca drug cartel? Did you play with the A.I. or with friends? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.