Wildlands greets us with a long but interesting sequence of film interludes, which are a thorough introduction to the reality of the game. The main antagonist and his henchmen's army - their values, motivations and uncompromising attitude - are strongly outlined. It turns out that the influential El Sueno, accompanied by the Bolivian government, set up a state in the country for his cartel, Santa Blanca. Our task is to slowly dismantle the lower level structures in order to finally get to the main target and eradicate crime from a chaotic country.
The whole thing seems trite and tired, but the bosses are very well written and expressive. The trail that leads to the weakness of a given boss shows the true face of that boss, which we learn from the evidence, documents and clues we have gathered. Before we pull the trigger to end his life, we know exactly who we are shooting at and why Bolivia will be a better place without him. The atmosphere of purposefulness and pro publico bono action is warmed up by the statements of our branch members and the way in which the narrative is conducted. Although it is not a breathtaking story full of unexpected twists and turns, it turned out to be coherent enough to motivate us to explore it further.
We can count on the support of the rebellion, but in order to gain the support of the guerrillas, we must first demonstrate our commitment to them. The local militia - Unidad - are also watching us bake on our faces, but in her case we cannot count on a warming of the relationship. Each diminished contact ends in a mass shootout, which burns to the point where we escape to safety or fall under a hail of bullets. Civilians are also not particularly sympathetic to us, but they do not interfere with our actions and "willingly" give up their cars, if only we motivate them with a barrel attached to their heads.
We cannot help but feel that we are on our own, of course not counting our companions. In contrast to Future Soldier, released in 2012, Wildlands once again puts us in the role of branch commander. We're the ones dealing the cards, although we have to admit that there aren't many of them. Tactical character of the game is absolutely marginalized, which is expressed by the fact that individual members of the team do not have specific roles, but are armed to the teeth. As a commander we are a real Renaissance man, simultaneously dealing with reconnaissance, driving vehicles, contacts with the command, interrogating hostages and taking an active part in the fight.
A certain substitute or only a complement to the tactical aspect of the game is the use of rebel assistance. From fire support to the delivery of a car, we can ask them for help, but its scope depends on the field in which we have served them the most. The game has five ways of getting help, each with a certain level of sophistication. The more missions of a given type we carry out, the more effective the support we will receive in the category assigned to them.
Although we can give smaller orders to the bot, among all the available ones, only a synchronized attack is more important. All other activities are performed by the members of the squad on their own and we must admit that their intelligence quotient is at a good level. The charges react quickly to the development of events, and when we fall under the pressure of bullets, they immediately appear nearby to put us on our feet. What's more, the game doesn't impose forced company on us. At any time, we can get on the bike and go ahead, and the game will drop off our companions at our destination. These teleportations sometimes look strange, especially when commandoes appear in the car, but we have to admit that it greatly simplifies the game. However, there are no situations when one of the bots gets stuck on the amenium, which would force us to restart the game.
Creators serve us a few gadgets that allow us to reconnoitre enemy terrain before we set foot on it. Their usefulness, however, is limited only to the identification of opponents and possible rapid elimination. This avoids confrontation until we are detected. During clashes all orders and commands have no meaning, because in the midst of general chaos we grow up to be the main target of enemy ranks. Sometimes we don't even know where the enemy shots come from, or how to catch the shield to get out of the oppression. At times it is extremely frustrating, because it seems that our not particularly clever opponents ignore our allies, which very often drives us to the grave.
Opponents group together very quickly and this is the main source of their advantage. Individual targets do not pose a greater threat even at higher difficulty levels, and their intelligence sometimes limps sharply. One can get an impression that the opponents do not manage to fight on a strategically dispersed unit, because they often catch their shields from the wrong side and wanting to hide from one commando, they expose their backs from the rest of the team. This is a subject to be worked out, especially since the bases are quite stable. Opponents use buildings, means of transport and any available arsenal, including heavy installations. Sometimes they have a problem with estimating the range of grenades, but it is impossible to say that they are only cannonballs.
The gameplay is focused on realism and it is held tightly. Most opponents or civilians will die dead after a single accurate shot and the only degeneration in this respect is our protagonist, or members of his squad, who can get up off the boards even after a decent series. Realism is also visible in the use of vehicles, of which there are several dozen in the game. From bikes to airplanes, the creators have given us a number of means of transport and there is no denying that cars are the weakest in this field. At first I had the impression that the control of cars was taken alive from the Grand Theft Auto series, but here the destruction of the car is not the easiest, and also some solid crash is difficult. The cars seem to be keeping the road by force, even if we're speeding up and falling off a cliff, but after a longer exposure to the production, we can get used to it. The whole thing goes well, as long as we get used to the fact that most of the vehicles reach a similar speed regardless of what their body suggests.
As befits the Sandbox open-world title of Ghost Recon: Wildlands offers us a lot of tasks, the order of which is entirely up to us. The game world is divided into regions that offer a variety of side and main tasks, but to put it bluntly, missions are very repetitive. The main feature line has an interesting areola that effectively masks the beaten template, but in the case of side missions, you may be tempted to say that if you did tasks in two or three regions, you did them everywhere. Of course, I'm a bit generalizing, but there's no denying that taking on all the activities without the support of other players can be immensely boring.
Looking through the prism of the cooperative game, the hero's development system is logical and the skills correspond to the roles that each player can play in the squad. There are not many of them, but there is no denying that they are very important for the course of team fights. Besides, typically for the series, the creators flood us with all kinds of guns, rifles, rifles, rifles and spare parts for them. The latter not only affect the overall appearance of the weapon, but are also associated with changing the statistics and adjusting it to our style of play. Points with weapons or components are precisely marked on the map and described, so we don't have to run blindly after the markers to find one element that we currently need.
In addition, the map also contains the location of the cartel medals, which allow us to develop the protagonist in addition to gaining experience. Depending on the award, we can use it to raise the skill level or to improve its performance. Outside the standard skill points, some abilities require specific resources to be unlocked. Whether it's fuel, food or medicine, all of them can be found in Santa Blanca's controlled locations. Slightly irritating in the long run is the fact that we have to interact with every barrel or resource box to mark it, because sometimes we have to stand at the right angle to the object, so that the interaction button appears.
The graphic design of the production, which ruthlessly spread on the shoulder blades the equipment on which I heated it, deserves a lot of recognition. Even after switching off some of the Bolivia's functions, it looks phenomenal, and the most beautiful thing about it is that everything seems tangible and if we go in that direction, we will quickly stand in front of the building, which seemed to be just a picturesque element of the landscape. Physics in the game is very impressive. Some elements of the landscape are destroyed by a series of rifle series or by contact with the bumper of the car. As I mentioned before, only cars seem to be bulletproof, but this slight scratch does not obscure the whole. The lack of a clear soundtrack, on the other hand, is a serious problem. After entering the vehicle we can listen to local radio stations, which perfectly maintain the atmosphere and maintain the immersion with the world of the game. However, apart from the vehicles, we are often accompanied by complete silence, which during a longer journey starts to annoy us a bit. The team responsible for localization of the game did a very good job, during several dozen hours I didn't find any typo or strangely translated phrase.
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands is a game clearly aimed at multiplayer play. Because of this, we will not find a particularly complex team management system, because each member of the team must know what to do for the mission to be successful. This can also be seen in the development scheme of the hero, which determines the individual actions for the squad. Assuming that during the game with the bot we are a rudder, sailor and ship, there is no chance that by concentrating on every aspect of development, we can still remain effective in all fields. During the game you will notice that only in comparison with other players will it be a complete and complete experience. Of course, a feature campaign has its strengths, but when combined with a strongly repetitive pattern, its dimension can become a nail in the coffin for anyone who decides to finish the game alone. All the more so because after the usual pattern of fictional activities a lot of side missions awaits us, which not only have the same goal, but sometimes take place in illusory twin locations, even though they are located in other regions of the country.
Nevertheless, I think that the entry of the Ghosts into the open world and the abandonment of the linear character of the gameplay was successful. The area of activities was so beautifully designed that sometimes we are more interested in the landscape than in what is happening around us. If you're a loner, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands will give you a lot of fun, but to say that you're going to finish the game is an exaggerated optimism. If you are looking for a title in which you will prove yourself as a good package and the content will last longer than a dozen or so hours, you may seriously consider buying Ghosts.