This beginning of 2017 and, more precisely, this month of March, will go down in history as one of the best videogame periods ever for world users. Without counting the releases at the beginning of the year, in what is the craziest month in terms of weather, priceless titles were released; honorable mention goes to Nintendo Switch, which marks the return of the great N in the Olympus of video games, with an innovative console and certainly suitable for young and old. Moving on to the software side, the videogame display case in March is something monumental; impossible not to start with what will be the most talked about titles of the year, two "quadruple A" (grant me the term) as Horizon e Zelda: Breath of the Wild, destined to forever illuminate the firmament of videogames, accompanied by highly anticipated and mammoth titles such as Nier Automata by Yoko Taro e Mass Effect Andromeda, new chapter of the saga following the events of Commander Shepard. Among these sacred monsters, however, Ubisoft is inserted which, after the excellent work done with the surprising For Honor, is ready to relaunch a brand that has been absent for too long: we are talking about Ghost Recon Wildlands, a title that hit the market on March 7 after a long gestation, closed beta and public demos; will the Ubisoft title be able to carve out a well-deserved space among these titanic giants? Let's find out together!
Once upon a time in Bolivia ..
Ghost Recon Wildlands it immediately catapults us into a painstakingly crafted Bolivia, accompanied by a typical American film plot: dictatorial regime, war for money and drugs, corrupt and conspiratorial police forces and us, the ghost soldiers ready to overwhelm this anarchic situation; unsafe roads and civilians in difficulty will surround a reality as dystopian as it is unlivable, with the Bolivian population completely "addicted" to the power reached by El Sueno, a leading figure in the illegal traffic of Bolivia. A meticulously organized criminal organization, complete with a pyramid structure for power management: the figure of El Sueno is in fact seen as a "Feudatory" of the underworld, donating several micro-regions that will be part of the game world to his most loyal subordinates.. And that's how we come in Ghost Recon, four war artists ready to overthrow the figure of El Sueno, bringing Bolivia back to that green paradise known by the world population. A rather traditional plot, which succeeds in justifying the long wandering around the South American region in search of truth and justice. The charismatic figure of El Sueno manages to give that something extra to the events, thanks to the splendid and never banal voice of Luca Ward who again finds himself involved in a Ubisoft title, guaranteeing an excellent dubbing in other languages at least as regards the nemesis main.
Three great protagonists.
Once the title has been launched, it will be necessary to create our personalized avatar, our true first protagonist, with varied and satisfying editing options; the online nature of the title requires a certain degree of variety, which the title manages more than worthily. The open world of Ghost Recon Wildlands is undoubtedly the second protagonist, proposing a Bolivia masterfully made through painstaking scans of the place and surveys on the field; the result is excellent, with 21 regions duly characterized by as many subordinates lined up by the antagonist. The title is managed through the aid of primary and secondary missions (about a hundred the first, many the second), of various types and rarely repetitive or not very funny: therefore understand how the open world acquires value thanks to this variety, with wandering around the map that will never be boring and not very functional to the events; events that unfortunately turned out to be rather sparse and poorly narrated, leaving much of the protagonism to the action and acting only as a mere condiment to the gameplay of the title. The management of the character and of the shooting are quite convincing and realistic, although initially we will find ourselves confused by the continuous passage from the third to the first person: nothing difficult, but which requires a minimum of initial practicality. The third protagonist, probably the real focal point of the entire package, is the freedom of approach: in Ghost Recon Wildlands nothing is precluded or forbidden, with the possibility from the beginning to freely choose which and how many missions to face, which faction to support. , which boss to kill and how to do it; the title offers a mini guideline to tackle the events in ascending order, but everything is at the player's full discretion, giving an omnipotent freedom very rare in today's “story-driven” productions. The great variety of approach is then the flagship of the gameplay side, given the possibility of planning the action in numerous ways; it will be possible to study the situation with a practical drone, crawl through the grass and silently kill enemies, shoot wildly with our three companions or use the paravela or one of the many vehicles available: in Ghost Recon Wildlands nothing is precluded to us, with this excellent freedom of approach that succeeds in making the missions not very repetitive and always stimulating.
The multiplayer sector.
Ghost Recon Wildlands is clearly designed for video games in company, given the nature of the title and the presence of four characters. Playing single, our three companions will be replaced by a very good AI, in contrast to the rather mild and repetitive enemy AI at medium difficulty level; it will be possible to literally synchronize with our mini troop, painstakingly organizing lethal and silent approaches, but at the same time not very funny in the long run: the almost total infallibility of our companions undermines the general fun, with lethal war machines that will often do the dirty work at our place. Speech that increases exponentially if we move on to the boss fight, unfortunately one of the main disappointments of the title: the subordinates of El Sueno are nothing more than soldiers like the others, characterized by the same meager AI and diversified only by the type of mission, which often results in a spectacular aerial or ground chase. Everything changes radically when you switch to the multiplayer side, whether it is entrusted to matchmaking or playing with friends: the difficulty of the title increases, with related group satisfactions for a properly planned and perhaps totally stealth attack; Ghost Recon Wildlands will in fact give the best played with friends, strictly in audio party ready to talk to each other and organize themselves. An experience undoubtedly to do, also helped by an almost total absence of lag and by Ubisoft's excellent matchmaking management.
Technically speaking ...
Ghost Recon Wildlands is technically incredible in some ways and quite underwhelming in others. Unfortunately, the creation of the characters often leaves something to be desired, especially in the animated cutscenes on which Ubisoft has always focused a lot; only discrete polygonal models and a rather simplistic and disappointing animation sector complete a less than excellent picture, which clashes with the rest of the production. At the same time, the open world of Ghost Recon it is incredibly beautiful and alive: Bolivia manages to offer breathtaking views at every uncovered corner, passing from lush forests to snowy areas while maintaining an incredible quality; This is undoubtedly the strong point of production on the technical side, with a credible and tangible open world that we will hardly forget in the years to come. The sound sector is also good, with the aforementioned Luca Ward and company who manage to do an excellent job of dubbing, accompanied by the local radio that identifies itself even more in the events, but that you will not be long in deactivating given its extreme background repetitiveness. The title almost always manages to maintain 30fps, with the numerous glitches drastically reduced by the beta phase and a remarkable and well-made HDR support; longevity is already excellent in single player, emphasized by the excellent experience that the multiplayer sector can offer.
Modus Operandi: This review was written after completing the story in its entirety three times, in a gameplay time of approximately 35 hours. Also carried out numerous secondary quests.
