Ghost Recon Wildlands is yet another entry into Ubisoft's "online shooter with the Tom Clancy name" genre, and although it has a lot going for it, it has just as much working against it. Functioning as a an open-world equivalent to Ubisoft's The Division, Wildlands essentially plays as a tactical Grand Theft Auto. Hijacking vehicles and exploring the world for secrets is the crux of the game and when done with friends, is a ton of fun. But no matter how many friends you bring along, monotony inevitably sets in.
The story certainly has potential, as it takes place in a cartel-controlled Bolivia. Wildlands does a great job of setting up who you're chasing and why you should be chasing them. Filled with colorful and eccentric villains, I looked forward to every clip and document that detailed just how crazy they were. Other collectibles filled the beautiful landscape and did an admirable job of fleshing out the world. But the plot does not have any interesting developments past that, as it leads you from one villain to the next. The world itself
What Wildlands does best is the way it uses its setting. Bolivia is an interesting location to portray and the various landscapes make it a treat to destroy. You make be driving through small pueblos until you eventually come to a hostile airfield, at which point you fly over snow-capped mountains. Each area has upgrades to collect and skill points to find, making it worthwhile to stop and smell the corpses.
Although Wildlands starts off as a lot of fun, repetition becomes apparent almost immediately. Nearly every mission has the same "go here, kill him" objectives and the missions rarely mix it up. The game does get points for allowing you to complete objectives however you like. You have the option of going stealthy or dropping mortars. You have the option to call in a helicopter or perhaps a tank. This breadth of options definitely gives the game a lasting value that it would not have otherwise. If you plan on playing WIldlands, I implore you to find someone to play it with. Otherwise you will be playing with a squad of 4 AI squadmates that do the work for you. They are able to snipe enemies from insane distances, sometimes on the other side of cliff faces. They are able to move into positions that they should not be able to reach. In addition to these super powers, they are able to warp places at a moment's notice. If they somehow incorporated that into the fiction, I would be significantly more interested. As it stands, playing by yourself turns a monotonous shooter, into an easy monotonous shooter.
If you play with friends though, every scenario becomes a blast. My cohorts and I did everything we could to break the game. Coming up with absurd solutions and seeing them come to fruition is a feeling that few video games can recreate. Taking a helicopter and hovering over a cartel stronghold as my partner snipes our target, or driving a car as my squadmate takes cover behind it, are just two moments that come to mind. For all the issues Wildlands has, I don't believe I've ever laughed as hard at a video game as I have while playing with friends. Unfortunately, co-op falls into the same trap of monotony. After a few dozen hours, there's only so many ways to encounter each objective before you realize you've encountered them all.
Wildlands is definitely a mixed bag. There's a lot going for it and it is a very unique shooter in a landscape of average. I can't stress enough that this game requires friends, or at least other humans, to enjoy to its fullest extent. Ubisoft has done a great job of supporting this game by rolling out content on a regular basis and I fully intend to check back in at some point. I just won't be by myself when I do.