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| Nothin' says badass like a good bandanna |
First impressions just a few hours in to Ghost Recon: Wildlands, are that this game is going to take a very long time to complete. Ubisoft are right up there with Bethesda in terms of the beauty of their open world designs, and if their previous outings in the sandbox shooter genre are anything to go by, the gameplay in this one should be right up there with the best Far Cry or Skyrim has ever offered.
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| Yeah boys, I could retire here. You know, if it wasn't for the bloodthirsty drug lords. |
Those who have listened to me rabbit on about games here on my blog (and those less fortunate souls who have listened to me in person, sorry guys) will have no doubt heard me profess my undying love for Ubisoft Montreal’s 2008 first person sandbox shooter, Far Cry 2. I’ll say it again just in case. I love Far Cry 2. Love it. If I had a son I don’t know if I’d love him this much (okay, maaaybe that’s a stretch).
I played Far Cry 2 on repeat for over 12 months. No other game, just Far Cry 2. I finished it on every difficulty setting and tried every single remotely possible strategic approach I could think of, and then I did it all again. Even close to a decade later I think Far Cry 2 still ranks among the best games of all time, for reasons not least of which is because it was way ahead of its time. There are games far more recent with enemy AI that does not even come close to matching the brutal, punishing efficiency of Far Cry 2's Central African militia.
Far Cry 3 and 4 took the franchise into more RPG territory, introducing skill trees and collectibles, and this was fine. They were fantastic games and Far Cry 4's improvements were full proof that Ubi listens to fans and responds. Far Cry 4 improved everything that worked in Far Cry 3, and ditched everything that didn’t, and even included some great call-backs to Far Cry 2 that Far Cry 2 die hards like me really appreciated.
The other thing Ubi does that keeps me coming back for more: they do not punish single players. That, for me, is massive. I’m a solo gamer. Always will be. I don’t do online multiplayer and I don’t do co-op play. I am not a team player. I’m a lone wolf. I hate the frenetic pace of multiplayer and I don’t like adapting my game play style to suit others in co-op. I just don’t find it enjoyable. One of the reasons I game is to escape from people, so playing with other people is of no interest to me.
The other reason is, I play open world, strategic games at a very slow pace. We are talking ridiculously, agonisingly slow. I once spent over two hours scouting an enemy outpost in Far Cry 4 before I even commenced the assault.
I really dig games that give me the option to do this, and I want to wring every moment of enjoyment from them. I don't care how long it takes me to complete open world games. Recommended time to complete Fallout 4, for example, was about 35-40 hours. I spent over 200 hours completing that one. I like games that reward patience.
So that, I guess, brings me to Ghost Recon: Wildlands.
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| Drugs are bad, folks. |
I almost skipped this one. I’ve never been into the Tom Clancy games. I don’t like tactical shooters and I don’t like third-person shooters, so there was nothing drawing me to those games.
It was only that I read that Wildlands was a sandbox, and saw the screenshots of the switch-to-first-person-view shooting, that made me even look twice at purchasing this game.
And whoah boy I’m glad I did.
I only had to complete one mission (the introduction interrogate/extract) to know that this is a game I’m going to wring out and then some.
Let’s walk through it – firstly, the game suggested I take a vehicle from the first safehouse to the location of the start of the mission. I decided to ignore this and walk. The game let me do this, and what’s more, I was rewarded for it. Halfway to the location my character and his squad happened across a random trio of cartel thugs harassing a homeowner. Perfect chance to scout the location, line up a ‘sync shot’ with my buddy, eliminate the hostiles, move on. Perfect chance to test the controls, shooting mechanics, squad commands, etc. I would have completely missed this had I jumped in a Jeep and high tailed it to the location. Love it.
A little while later I found myself perched on a hill staring down at a small farmhouse populated by bad guys and the target I had to extract. Scanning the entire area I decided the best approach would be from the west. Across a road and through a field was the only elevated position I could see so I figured that would be the high ground for scouting out the attack.
Totally immersed in this game world, I waited until dusk, then slowly led my team into position. By nightfall we were perched on the high ground and I took up the binoculars and commenced scoping the location.
What became immediately apparent was the lack of any predictable patterns or patrol routes of these enemy AI. They were all over the place. One guy seemed to hang out on a corner smoking. Okay, I figured I had him locked, move on to the next guy and track his movements. To my amazement the smoking guy, after about ten minutes, moved off and started loading packages into a flatbed truck. He never again took up position in the corner smoking. I knew then this was a game that was going to test my tried-and-true habits honed over three Far Cry games – establish patterns, quietly eliminate the isolated bad guys and move in from there.
In this encounter, I was forced to take opportunistic shots to eliminate two of the cartel thugs when they wandered away from sight of the rest of the group, because I knew I might not get the opportunity again. Brilliant.
And when I took a risky shot to drop a third guy, another guy noticed, and then it was on. I was forced to abandon the slow-and-steady approach altogether and hope for the best. What happened here was the dynamic game world had set events in motion that conspired with and against me: though a light rain had begun to fall, masking my already suppressed shots, I had spent so long observing the enemy position that I was in danger of losing the cover of night. So, I hurried my shot, and blew my cover. The game reacted to my actions. I love any game that does that, and this one seems to do it well.
To my delight I was lining up a shot on a bad guy and heard the thok-thok of my squad mate’s silenced weapon and the guy dropped in front of me. Ordering the squad weapons free in this game is no idle threat. What’s more, the enemies didn’t immediately make a beeline for my team. One guy headed right toward us, the others tried some kind of flanking move, taking cover as they went. There was the perfect amount of confused reactivity – they knew roughly where my team and I were, but because we didn’t break cover, they were not able to immediately pinpoint our exact location, so instead, they quickly moved toward where they thought we were. The AI in this game, both enemy and team, is spot on.
So anyway, a few minutes and a really, really, excessively strange helicopter ride (and hilariously botched landing) later, and my ‘mark’ was stashed in a CIA safe house and my squad and I were on our merry way.
But seriously, what is with the helicopter controls? I doubt I’m going to get used to that in a hurry.
All said and done the entire first mission took me about three hours. I’ve completed lesser games in less time, and this one had only just begun.
Putting the game away to get some much-needed rest I found myself thinking about it, recalling my encounter and mulling over what I might have done differently and what I’ll do different next time. It was a welcome return to the sort of soul-searching and poring over minutiae I experienced after my first few hours with Far Cry 2. And not since Far Cry 2 have I felt as lethal as I do in this game, perched on a hill, methodically scoping out an enemy outpost, watching thugs go about their business quietly oblivious to the fact my lone predator has them in his sights.
These chumps are walking around thinking they’re alive. And now I have a sniper rifle.
