It is a huge missed opportunity and even after you have killed or captured the 5-6 underbosses to unlock the head of Security, Influence, Production and Smuggling, these top tier missions feel no different. There is no flavour to any of them and when comparing the targets to games like Hitman or other Ubisoft franchises like Splinter Cell and Assassin’s Creed, it feels mediocre at best. However they all feel generic and similar. These characters are set up with a cut scene, audio logs and plenty of collectible reading material to tell you that they are definitely bad people. 26 targets in all and each requires around 5-6 missions to locate the target or flush them out due to the chaos you cause. There are 4 main areas that need to be dismantled and a number of targets for each, including an underboss.
As you begin the game you are presented with a target screen, just as you might see in many other assassination like movies or media. The way Ghost Recon Wildlands furthers the story seems quite intuitive at the beginning by is a slog as you continue to complete the repetitive and uninspired missions. The consistent inconsistency continues deep within many aspects of the game, but the story and characters are the primary glaring issue. This is the same for your playable character, despite choosing a woman lead and being able to customise her with great detail, I was still referred to as ‘man’ by my squadmates whenever I copped too many bullets and needed to be revived. Your overwatch and mission head Bowman is portrayed as a take no shit individual who knew the CIA agent really well and is out for revenge, however every time she pops up in the story telling you to go after a new target or inform you of something happening, she is stiff and emotionless and resorts back to being very poorly written. Dumb one liners are consistent, there is no driving force to stop any of the enemies and any target that you take out may as well be the same individual. The characters throughout the game are downright atrocious. A strong opening, that grinds to a sudden halt in the interesting category. A high level CIA agent is killed by a bombing and this is the last straw before the Ghost squad gets sent in. Leaders of the cartel have spread their influence across the country causing widespread drug production and turning every industry and village into an operating base to export cocaine throughout the world. The premise for Wildlands is the country of Bolivia has fallen victim to intense drug trafficking and violence caused by the Santa Blanca cartel. This is not always a benefit to Wildlands. The open world nature gives the franchise a different flavour and uses some of the tried and tested methods that Ubisoft heavily relies on to pad their experiences.
Wildlands is the latest in the Ghost Recon series and is once again part of the Open World Ubisoft Churn that has become a staple in the gaming industry since 2009’s Assassin’s Creed 2. Future Soldier at the time was a fantastic squad based shooter, but since 2012, many games have come and gone that have used these mechanics just as competently or even more effectively than the franchise. As the series has progressed, more and more games have released achieving these gameplay aspects with an even better and more unique style. The Ghost Recon series has always highlight future tech, advanced strategic combat and unique squad based gameplay.