Ghost Recon: Wildlands

What a packed game this was. Including all the smaller dlcs for the base game, and both expansion dlcs, I put over 200 hours in this massively loaded, "tactical" open world shooter, and found myself having an absolute blast playing this. Despite a few grindy moments relating to finding all the collectibles, leveling up all of my skills to max (including rebel skills), I didn't even mind as I had so much fun going into another situation with a slightly different technique and with different weapons. When I first started playing this game, I played a couple hours with my friend, but like usual, he decided to abandon the game cause he found it boring and overloaded, so I decided to complete the game alone, and truthfully had a much more fun experience. Yes, it was fun playing tactically with another player, but I found the single player aspect much more fun, and rewarding as using your NPC friendlies came at an advantage. Exploring each region and collecting each collectible, completing every main mission, rebel mission, and ultimately every region boss, it just felt more immersive doing it by myself, and found exploration super dope. The driving in the game was hard to get used to at first, as I was playing Forza on the side at the time and the driving was way more wonky, but with time, I was able to get used to its mechanics. The helicopter became my best friend, getting to each location marker much quicker and easier. I started competing the easier regions first, killing each region boss, and slowly getting better equipment to make combat easier. Also, getting skill points was a must, getting perks to make my drone better, having the ability to hold more tactical devices like frags/c4/ect, and rebel missions were important too because it made the heat of battle easier as you could have rebels come in to save the day, or spawn vehicles that you needed to get place to place. So thoroughly doing these objectives, it took me awhile as this game has sooo much to offer. Also, the extra dlcs add more region bosses, which didn't add much to the story, but had cool missions. Toward the end of the base game, you start really struggling, as there's a faction called Unidad which act like cops off of GTA (except they're corrupt and are technically considered enemies) and sneaking into these Unidad bases are next level. Eventually, I started understanding how to approach these situations, killing them secretly and evading the area if they became suspicious, although sometimes it was impossible to evade. The hard missions in this game were special missions, called Spec ops which proved to be the most challenging part of the game, most notably the last mission you do with Sam Fischer. The story itself regarding this entire game was interesting, as you work for the CIA to wipe out this cartel that has overrun Bolivia. As the story progressed, you learn some twist and turns in the story, but I will say, the amount of story within is overlong and might not be very engaging for some, but I found it fun. The end of the game was pretty rewarding, as I got the good ending (I think) and El Sueno got what he deserved. It was a very rewarding ending and had me excited to play the rest of the dlcs.

Marco Road was the best thing this game could of done after this massive overloaded game, even though the amount of content in this dlc was a lot too, but the cheesy dialogue, the stunt objectives, and the difficulty of having to do this entire dlc alone was different and fresh enough to keep you entertained and not feel burnt out. Getting all the achievements was difficult in some areas, but doable and was happy with this dlc.

The 3rd and final dlc, Fallen Ghosts, brings you back to the serious tone the base game had, with enemies and objectives that were much more difficult and rewarding, as now you have to fight the Unidad and they're counterparts, Los Extranjeros. This elite milita made the game not so easy, with tactical decisions being a must to survive. The guys I hated the most were the EMP guys, as they had a pretty long range so trying to find and kill these guys was a true pain. The story was good too, but I think the ending was pretty abrupt and wish it contained more but it was still good.

In all, this game was awesome, and I had a blast playing this! Definitely recommend this game to anyone who enjoys tactical open world games. It's a must play!

There should be more games based on killing drug cartels

It is obvious that a TON of work went into this game. Graphics is great, there is some etmosphere (wouldn't call it immersive though), and my favourite is the radio in the car :)

The problem is that it is the radio in the car which I recall my favourite feature of the game after a good number of hours. Login and gameplay is seriously flawed: after 5 YEARS, I am still welcome with login issues on all occassions (which I don't need anyhow, as I don't give squat about the multiplayer (i just want the campaign), but I need to be connected to the servers regardless. Fine, whatever. Ubisoft store is up, running, I can browse my games, Wildland is wondering in the universe somehwere, lookign for something, for minutes, stuck at the login screen - WTF??)). Settings are also reset when the game seems fit, and it is so much fun to scan through again what presets may or may not have been altered accoring to its infite wisdom...

Gameplay. I seriously don't understand how this game passed the testing phase. How did anyone thought it is a good idea not allowing saving in the first place? But let's that for the moment: respawning you on the other side of the bloody map is clearly an undesirable desing element, isn't it? With 2 other safe houses closer the spot where you died. Not a figure of speach, literally on the other side of the map (though at least I disovered a new area without wondering there). Oh, and in most cases, the world is re-generated, so you can't pick up where you left, you may or may not be in the same area even, and may or may not be in the same part of the day (entirely possible it will take you back into the night, or throw into he day, seemingly as decided by a white blind mouse)

Gunfights. Apparently a submachine gun is as accurate as a sniper rifle, over long distances. Team is sometimes as stupid as ****, blocking my movement (once into a corner I couldn't move from, so I had to wait till I was killed), stepping into in my line of fire, or in front of a bad guy, watching him to slowly walking up to him, shooting him and me first, then maybe shoot back (not always, it depends). Great. Skill points can spent in a sequence. Why?! You clean up an outpost, and it respawns soon. You can't destroy it, you can't sabotage it, and you can't turn it, so every freaking time, you clean them, over and over again. (the first couple of times it is fun even, but then it is more like a chore). Maybe after some pre-defined element is achieved, and the algorythm decided you earned enough....."something" (I couldn't find out what, if it even exists), then it changes, but after spending 3 long evenings with this, after another stupid respawn, I just deleted the game, so I never found out.

Driving....oh my god, driving. I know this is not a drive simulator, but that doesn't necessarily mean all vehicles must behave like sh*t. Bike, car, chopter, doesn't matter, each is the unbelievably bad, and weirdly enough, somehow the same way. Again, how did this past testing??? I just can't imagine that lots and lots of players said to the idiotic vehicle control " yeey, perfect, this is what I want in an action shooter, superb!..." (example: a vehicle can either accelerate, or decelerate, but it can't hold a certain speed. Or when slowing down too much, it goes to reverse, and swings around the view whether you want it or not, whether you crawl back at 1 mph or 50)

LIke i've said. An absolute sh*tload of work went into this game, and my hats off to many of the devs, some aspects of the game are truly remarkable. But, at least for me, the negatives are not compensated by the positives, so I have uninstalled the game after about 10 hours or so. The internet is full of ravaging reviews, so I must be a minority, but in my opinion, this game is seriously flawed, and thus is a botched effort. Pity, because it could have been really good.

I've never been a fan of Assassin's Creed and never understood why it's so popular to this day. Rainbow Six, Splinter Cell, and Ghost Recon are all better video game franchises. E3 was disappointing this year with no new Splinter Cell 7 announcement. but the dlc in this game makes up for it. I've never had so much fun playing a Ubisoft game since 2010's Splinter Cell Conviction. The Predator, Splinter Cell, and Rainbow Six dlc makes this the best Ubisoft game in years! Personally I think their best series is Splinter Cell, and Chaos Theory to me is their biggest accomplishment! Hearing Ironside's Sam Fisher voice, Predator's roar, etc... this is a game worth owning for years to come! Now Ubisoft, please release a new Splinter Cell game already! Did I forget to mention how great the graphics are in this game as well?

Seriously one of the most fun multiplayer experiences I've had in the latter half of the 2010s. Ubisoft isn't a company with a catalog of games I typically gravitate towards but when my buddy told me this game felt like Metal Gear Solid V gameplay-wise minus the future tech, AND had co-op, I was in day one. I have pumped well over two-hundred hours into this game, 100%'d it and snagged the platinum trophy and I STILL come back sometimes. There are thousands of combinations for your character's build/setup to accommodate your preferred playstyle. The story here is honestly not that good, but I don't really care... The gameplay here is PHENOMENALLY engaging! And that's enough for me!