In Depth Review - Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands

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The original game with season pass

I've played The Division but no Ghost Recon games before this one. When my co-worked showed me the trailer I got quite excited. But, with The Division still in fresh mind I was not really expecting anything out of the ordinary. I was hoping for a little better game play, more Tom Clancy realism instead of MMO tanking of bosses, and from that aspect I was not disappointed.
Everyone can be killed with 1 shot. And that includes you, really like it. Even if you can upgrade your health a little bit and make your team withstand a little more beating when you gain upgrades it still feels 'realistic'.. Still a game, but not that I shot 400 bullets into that guy and he still killed me kind of gaming.

So, I have the season pass but I haven't played the addons (2 so far), just the missions that are integrated into the original world.

AI Players

The AI players that accompany you are quite smooth to interact with by the order wheel. They are also great at reviving you when you get shot.. And you will get shot in this game.
AI players work, it is rare that they do stuff that breaks the illusion.

Multiplayer Coop

When I first bought the game I tried to join the public match making system.. Was not that great experience so not done it after that. Other then that I played one night with a friend and it was quite fun. Each player has their own rebel ops but the AI players are removed. But that doesn't matter that much.

Split screen, couch coop

None.. and that is quite sad I both me and my better half would like to play together.. Instead she acts as an spotter and we can discuss the tactics but really.. Why can't they just include a split screen option? Kill the graphics and give us a living room multiplayer experience!

The Drone

Ah the drone, this game would not be this game if it wasn't for the drone. Sneak up to an enemy camp, take up your drone and do a fly-by, spot enemies, call for rebel help like mortar or diversions. Everything from an eagle eye view. In the end game when the battery has infinite power, you can just watch for the best move as you watch guard movements etc.
All well and good, as long as the base isn't equipped with a jammer.

Side missions

The purpose of the side missions is to either collect resources or to upgrade your rebel abilities in the order wheel.

Supply Raids

Steal the helicopter

Often a quite smooth mission, find the helicopter, steal it and fly it to a rebel base.
Things that can go bad are:

• You are not quick enough and they fly away with the helicopter before you are able to take down the enemy force guarding it. This is a really annoying thing as you probably landed your own helicopter a bit away so you are in no position to pursue the target. At least I have not been able to do it, yet.. : )
• You get shot down by surface to air missiles... The supply helicopters are slower and less agile then the normal helicopter you can request from the rebels so chances are, if the missile locks on you it will hit you. So the key is to plot the exit route before going in for the grab. Find the canyons, destroy the SAMs etc.

Steal the plane
Not a favorite as I'm a really bad pilot. The idea is pretty much the same as for the helicopter mission. Go to the location of the plane, take down the enemy forces guarding it and fly it to a rebel airstrip.

Stop the convoy

Stop it and tag the supply truck.. Should be easy enough...
Usually a supply truck guarded by 2 other vehicles. Depending on the area and the worth of the supplies the escort vehicles vary from basic jeeps to armored trucks, and sometimes they have a gunship as extra support.
My favorite tactic is to make an ambush. Stop the traffic on a road that you know the convoy will pass, find a spot where you can position yourself as a sniper and when the convoy arrives... Just pop the driver of the supply truck...

Rebel ops

Hack Antenna - Diversion

Pretty basic mission, activate two antennas that are guarded by the cartel after each other within the time limit. Helicopter recommended!

Intimidate Sicaro - Guns for Hire

Sneak into a cartel base and intimidate the leader. If the alarm goes, he will take off and you'll have to chase him down.

Defend Radio - Mortar Strike

Hard one, turn on the radio and defend it for the duration of the transmission. The cartel will attack you, and passing unidad forces will join the slaughter if they see it.

Parachute Drop - Spotting

Just land near the location with a helicopter and tag the supplies. Quite easy once you know the location.

Breach Comm Center - Vehicle drop off

Close quarters fighting, shotgun recommended. Breach the door and make your way to the terminal that you need to hack within a time limit. This can be a little tricky, use of flash-bangs is recommended... 

Gear missions

Kingslayer files, legends, weapon parts, medals and weapons.. Figure out where it is, and go grab it. Do it in any way you want (as with all other missions). The rewards are new stuff or background story.

Story missions

The story missions are generally well written. A lot of the areas that you visit start with intel gathering, trying to piece together the lay of the land in the area. In the end you disrupt the cartel and either kill or kidnap their boss. Nothing fancy, but keeps the story going. Not quite finished all the missions yet but so long it works.
Compared to the side missions, you usually have to work a little extra with these missions as they have scripted elements in them.

Loadout view and character customization

 A lot of options here. The world is littered with weapons and parts. In a new area, 2 intel caches or interrogations will yield all locations and then it is just to start collecting. By browsing in the load out view you can figure out what general area the weapons or part can be found, but you have to get on the ground and do the footwork to get the exact location.

Difficulty

As I understand the different levels only affect the number off bullets to kill the player, and the highest removes the enemy heat maps from the mini map. I've played on the second hardest level.
If you are a hardcore Tom Clancy fan who likes realism above all, the extreme setting should give you a nice experience. If you are a casual player like me, then the advanced level is hard enough.

Bugs

Overall not that many bugs. And the few that there are get fixed in patches. But others get introduced, between patch 3 and 4 it was hard as there was a real deal breaking bug that required total restart of the Xbox to reset it. Some of the Rebel timers got stuck and there was nothing that could be done.

Helicopters that are delivered by the rebels get parked in strange places, with rotor blades inside trees and houses, sometimes they appear inside enemy bases while you are outside. So kinda annoying but still playable bug.

Challenges

Honestly not done many of these yet in Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands.
I did the El Yeti one, figured it would be cool... But after flying around in Inca Camina for some hours without any trace of any 'hints', I had to turn to Google and find a guide. And hell, it would have taken me years to complete this challenge without the guide. Not to mention that I did some other thing first, flying around the whole world map and collecting statuettes to the ceremonial altar on a mountaintop in Inca Camina. But when I finally found a Guide for the correct yeti, well... Still it would have taken me years.
The second challenge I tried was the first one for season 2. Killing 4 snipers while remaining stationary. After flying around the whole area of Espiritu Santo for a couple of hours without finding snipers in more then 1 location, I had to go to old trusty Google again. To find out I was in the correct location, but not the correct angle. Doing it the 'correct' way, I guess I would have accomplished that if I would have hit the snipers.. I did not and about there my patience started to fade... Some more attempts with the same results and I abandoned the task. I guess the challenges are for hard-core players.. I am evidently not one of those. I am a casual player from top to toe.
But in the end, I guess I will try out the challenges from time to time just to get some variation in the game play.

Conclusions

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands is overall a great game, I've recommended it to friends and they have liked it also. Only real drawback that comes to mind is the lack of couch-coop. In the end I've spent more hours then I want to think about with this game and it is still fun every time I login.

So there, thank you for reading. Hope this helps someone out there : )

Until next time: Work to Live, Don’t Live to Work