Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands

Developed by: Ubisoft Paris
Published by: Ubisoft
Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC

---

The Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon series first launched way back in November 2001 with the eponymous Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon – a first-person military shooter initially designed for Windows PC before porting over to Xbox, PlayStation 2 and GameCube. Known for its extreme difficulty and its emphasis on stealth and tactics, subsequent games also focused on cutting-edge military technologies such as drones and camera-fitted helmets before fully committing to its futuristic vibe with May 2012’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier. It would then be five years between mainline titles, before Ubisoft would reboot the franchise with Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands, returning to the present-day timeline seen in the original games, but this time with an open-world twist.

Set in a cartel-controlled Bolivia, a small team of four Ghosts – consisting of either the player and three AI companions, or four online players in co-op mode – must help the CIA dismantle the Santa Blanca cartel by eliminating the leaders running its production, smuggling, security and propaganda divisions. The missions can be undertaken in any order the player chooses with the world map split into twenty-one segments – each of which is run by a local “buchon” that the team must take out to reach the underbosses. There are also plenty of side-missions that allow the Ghosts to support the rebel network in Bolivia, in turn opening up new skills and allies. Available in first or third-person viewpoints, the game encourages players to adopt a range of play styles throughout its many missions; including the use of stealth, vehicle handling and open-combat. Personally, I loved the way the stealth was implemented in the game, and often used my Ghosts to infiltrate enemy hideouts picking off stragglers one at a time.

The open-world map of Bolivia is absolutely huge and boasts a varied set of environments including deserts, mountains, remote villages and military bases. Each of the game’s “buchons” come with their own distinct personality, wonderfully introduced through hip and sarcastic videos produced by your CIA asset, Karen Bowman. As players explore the map, they can discover collectibles that help flesh out the world and the interconnectivity between the various divisions within Santa Blanca. The enigmatic El Sueno who runs the organisation looms over the game as a threatening shadow, revealing his displeasure in atmospheric videos once players have accomplished significant damage to his drug empire. While the actual Ghosts are relatively undeveloped as characters, I really loved how the game built up the various buchons and leaders into this quirky characters embroiled in Machiavellian antics within the cartel. There was some level of repetition in the missions, but the individuality of each of the ‘bosses’ ensured the story remained fresh and exciting even if the actual gameplay become too familiar.

Like most games in the past decade or so, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands suffers from the inclusion of micro-transactions and loot-boxes to receive in-game customisation options. Some of these are just cosmetic, but there are some unique weapons that can only be unlocked through the loot-boxes, although in my experience, they didn’t really make much difference to the gameplay. Players can earn credits for free by progressing through a post-game “Tier Mode”, playing multiplayer or the ultra-realistic “Ghost Mode”, but it would be an almighty grind to earn the complete selection of extras. Given the lack of Ubisoft support for the game once its successor was released, I am surprised that they still have the micro-transactions available for purchase.

Playing this title just six years after release and I was disappointed to see little-to-no activity on the game’s competitive multiplayer mode. Luckily, there were no achievements tied to this game mode, so I didn’t really explore it in any great deal, but it seemed like another multiplayer mode that didn’t need to be tacked onto an already mammoth-sized single-player title. The game definitely encourages online play with the entire game playable in four-player co-op mode as well as ‘Guerrilla’ mode which pits players up against multiple waves of AI enemies.

The game is packed full of missions, but still the developers included more post-release content with a number of free side-missions that promoted other Tom Clancy titles such as Rainbow Six, Splinter Cell and eventually, the sequel to this title, Ghost Recon: Breakpoint. These missions were great fun and established connectivity between the various Tom Clancy franchises with the original voice actors of characters such as Sam Fisher appearing for guest roles. The one annoyance was that a promotional mission made in partnership with 20th Century Fox featuring the Predator was discontinued and made unavailable after the licence expired in December 2020.

Alongside the wealth of free content, the game also features two DLC expansions, “Narco Road” and “Fallen Ghosts”, which are available individually and as part of a season pass. The first, “Narco Road” is completely separate from the main narrative and has the player infiltrating Santa Blanca undercover to get close to a mysterious leader named “El Invisible”. With less focus on combat and more emphasis on vehicular traversal, the DLC encourages players to off-road on monster trucks and perform huge jumps, drifts and fly airplanes through floating checkpoints. It is a dramatic departure from the more grounded narrative of the main game, echoing the same OTT elements found in the likes of the Saint’s Row or Crackdown series. By performing stunts and completing vehicle-themed side-missions, players earn social media followers which helps to boost their standing within the cartel, unlocking main missions and bringing them closer to unmasking “El Invisible”. Divisive amongst audiences, I found it an entertaining enough concept for DLC, and was glad that the few achievements linked to the DLC weren’t related to insanely difficult time trials or vehicle handling missions.

The second DLC expansion, “Fallen Ghosts” continues the main narrative by having the Ghosts return to Bolivia in the wake of Santa Blanca’s dismantlement to help combat a team of elite mercenaries called ‘Los Extranjeros’. Ramping the difficulty up, the game introduces some new enemy types with snipers, armored generals, cloaked assassins and mobile drone jammers – all of which require new tactics to defeat. For the most part, this expansion is a repeat of the same structure as the main title but on a smaller scale – players must destabilize each region’s leader to unlock a confrontation with the big boss. With increased difficulty and some slightly different side-missions, “Fallen Ghosts” is a suitable challenge for those who’ve completed the core storyline and want to expand upon the experience with a few new twists to the formula.

To say that Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands revitalizes the franchise would be an understatement; the introduction of an open-world and non-linear approach to the missions is incredibly refreshing and the game tailors itself to both casual and hard-core gamers through its difficulty settings, allowing bullet sponges to enjoy the game attacking everything in sight on “arcade” mode, whilst true ghosts can indulge in tactics and stealth at harder difficulties. Personally, I would flip between play styles and difficulties – particularly once I had reached Tier Mode and wanted to earn as many bonus cosmetics as I could by playing through on Extreme difficulty.

Huge in size, both in terms of its open-world map and its expansive number of missions and collectibles, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands gives plenty of bang for your buck – competing against other massive sandbox titles such as Grand Theft Auto V and even blurring the lines between open-world RPG and tactical shooter. It is a huge step up from the linear mission-driven framework of its earlier titles, and it balances its dark, satirical humour with its serious subject matter quite well. Without a doubt, this is the best Ghost Recon title I have ever played, taking what was once a niche tactical-military shooter and opening it up to a wider audience by incorporating modern elements from other titles.

Score – ★★★★ ½

---

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands is available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Stadia and PC from Amazon UK.