The Digital Crack crew put the closed beta for Ubisoft’s Ghost Recon Wildlands through its paces. Two members decided to give their impressions from two different perspectives: single player and multiplayer. Here are their impressions.
Single-Player Impressions by Uncle Willy
I was unfortunately segregated from my Digital Crack mates when the closed beta for Ghost Recon Wildlands opened up. Each of them had received PlayStation 4 codes for the game. I, on the other hand, was gifted a code for the Xbox One by my son. While I looked forward to playing the game with him, I was unfortunately unable to reconcile my schedule with is. So it was that I decided to take on a Bolivian narco-terrorist group alone.
The goal of destroying the Santa Blanca cartel in Ghost Recon Wildlands falls on a squad of four operatives. The game does, however, allow for single-player gameplay. In this case, the player controls the squad by issuing commands via button menu. On the Xbone, it was accomplished with the right bumper. The commands included Hold Position, Open Fire, and Group Up. In my time playing, though, I don’t recall a single instance where issuing commands resulted in the commands being carried out. When I say Open Fire, I expect shots to be fired. Unfortunately, I was the only one firing.
This can be attributed to beta bugs, and I’m not knocking the game for them. It can be frustrating, though. When you enter a vehicle and your squad mates don’t follow because you’re not using the vehicle the game wants you to use, the irritation can get to you. But still, this is a beta, so these things are to be expected.
I got an eerie vibe that this game was mimicking Tom Clancy’s Clear and Present Danger, where four squads of elite Army troopers were dropped in Colombia on a black bag job to take out a drug cartel. There were many parallels. American troops, covert job, targeting a drug cartel in South America…the similarities were uncanny and, considering the political climate nowadays, a bit creepy.
All in all, I liken this game to The Division: Bolivia, except that this game feels like The Division done right. Headshots are as lethal as they should be in Wildlands; there are no bullet-sponge heads here as there were in The Division. Past that, the gameplay is reminiscent of the earlier title. The game world is HUGE and modeled after the country it’s based on. There are tons of collectibles and side-quests. I didn’t climb any towers, so I can’t say that Ubisoft calling card is present. But I wouldn’t put it past them. Overall, the game is shaping up to be pretty interesting.
Multiplayer Impressions by Punisher
In the first 30 min of the game I was getting bored and not really understanding it. Everything seems similar to The Division but I found parts of the game to make no sense. But an hour later doing the missions properly and using my equipment correctly, I was playing just fine. Working with a team that knows what to do and being stealth it made it more interesting.
After really playing Ghost Recon Wildlands seriously last night, I liked it. The head shots count and it’s not like The Division where 20 head shots actually kills someone and the missions are far but you have transportation flying or driving. The enemies’ AI are pretty smart also and not easy to kill. Some of them would move and sneeze making it tricky to hit your target. They also tend to group together or follow one that’s alone.
The environment and landscape are beautiful. I love how the weather and conditions change between day, night, and raining. I give this a good 8 -9 out of 10. The game still glitches to where sometimes your gun just disappears or your group manages to walk right through a mountain, but again, it’s still a beta so I’m sure they will fix that.
