Arts & Culture
Game On! - I don't Bolivia It! We get some hands on time with Ghost Recon Wildlands
DISCLAIMER - This review is different from our print edition, as I got to completing Ghost Recon: Wildlands after our deadline and realised just what I’d put myself through…. I’ll let you read on and make up your own minds!

Believe it or not gaming fans, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands is going to be the tenth instalment of the Ghost Recon franchise.

I know, I feel old too…

Tom Clancy games of late have been a bit hit and miss as far as I’m concerned, with Rainbow Six Siege falling flat, Splinter Cell Blacklist never really re-capturing Sam Fisher’s heyday and the less said about The Division and its lumbering lack of delivery on potential the better. I’m fully aware I wrote a glowing piece ahead of The Division’s release, but I will hold my hands up and admit I prematurely celebrated all over one of the most disappointing online gaming experiences I’ve ever had.

But I’m supremely confident that won’t happen again with Ghost Recon Wildlands. You can even quote me on this should lightning strike twice!

First impressions are good to say the least. You are immediately hit with the scale of the Bolivian setting you find yourself dropped into, as part of an elite squad of four “Ghosts” - apparently the best covert operatives the US is able to field. Jason Bourne must have been busy or something…

It genuinely feels like all of Bolivia stretches before you. Ascend one of the numerous mountains around you or steal a helicopter, which seem to be the Bolivian version of the family hatchback due to their abundance, and test how high you can go before the depth of field starts eliminating graphical elements. It just doesn’t happen.

But this is a war game first and foremost, meaning the combat is the main focus here. Thanks to the open world mechanic, you feel like you have total autonomy over how you approach your targets. For instance, a Bolivian military outpost situated by a river can see you sniping a clear path for your team from the hillsides, fashioning a water-borne assault from the river itself, sneaking through the swamplands to find a back door, possibilities abound!

That’s the joy of this title; freedom to explore a vast world but also carry out objectives however you see fit. Think of it as a polished, non glitching Arma 3 or less hardcore version of Operation Flashpoint.

And the best part is the narrative racks up the tension like a medieval torture device, pitting you against a ruthless drug cartel, the aforementioned corrupt Bolivian military and the environment around you. All you have at your disposal is a group of local rebels, your team mates, a LOT of guns and a pet drone. ‘MURICA!

Now come the downsides (and where I go a little off the script from our print edition).

My main point of irritation with GR: Wildlands (potential spoiler warning here) is that you can choose to end the story pre-maturely, and be “treated” to an alternate cut-scene which really means nothing in the long run.

It’s a little bit of an anti-climax to say the least, but you are then greeted to the news that once you exit the “endzone” you’re actually free to complete all the objectives on the map and really bring the cartel to its knees.

Once you do complete all the missions, all the little nitty-gritty (and to be honest, pretty repetitive) things to do, you’re then presented with the “good” ending… WHICH IS HARDLY ANY DIFFERENT!

This would beg the question “why add a false ending in the first place?”. As a single player experience, this just doesn’t make any sense. When you get to the end you suddenly realise you’ve put all this time and effort getting through these very similar mission layouts (just in different environments) to get an ending you can already have chosen to watch. Bar a minor detail, it makes the whole thing pointless.

I really don’t know what Ubisoft were thinking. They managed to make a major drug cartel based narrative boil down to absolutely nothing. This isn’t The Wire or Breaking Bad, anti-climax doesn’t even begin to cover it. I only wish I could warn the loyal readership who get The Ocelot in print, but deadlines are deadlines!