Now that I have practically finished Wildlands – over 100 hours played, probably, and main story almost done – I want to write a little about it.
First, the bad. Why not – get it out of the way. The game's narrative context is hoo-rah American imperialism, and not always very interesting. The chatter is often dull. There are numerous minor bugs, some relatively serious. Vehicles can handle very weirdly. The game world can screw you through chance. The game lacks certain standard stealth/tactical features: moving and hiding bodies, smoke grenades, and rappelling off buildings and cliffs. Single player AI is not great, and has limited functionality. There is a curious lack of attention to detail at times. Some of the buildings repeat. Some of the civilian/enemy AI can do some seriously weird shit. It's rare anyone will outwit you.
So why play it? Because it's great. Why? Two reasons -
for me - co-op, and the game-world. Necessarily both are related, and the former relies on the latter.
I have played the game almost entirely in co-op. It is infinitely more fun. The core gameplay loop of sneak > scout > execute > shit goes crazy is very common, but is made superlative by like-minded friends playing at very high difficulty, with minimal HUD. This improves ambience (more later), but also to make communication, co-ordination and immersion all the more significant. It is a lot of fun to plan an approach to base, watching patrol patterns, taking out lights or drone jammers stealthily, identifying targets and obstacles, and then executing – and then changing it on the fly, adapting to massive reinforcements, unexpected objective shifts, and people fucking up.
What is more, the way the missions, collectibles and co-op all work, you are never lost for things to do. Every way you turn, there is, yes, an icon to explore, but that icon is a well-conceived, well-positioned, unique engagement. Yes, the AI is limited, yes the character models are not the most diverse, but it is through the engagement with your friends that this becomes less significant, and what takes over is the discussion, the slow, methodical engagement, and the satisfaction of an entire base cleared out without a whisper of noise in the ears of your enemies. Some of the missions require you to go undeteced, which can be superbly tense. It helps that the gunplay is fun, there are plenty of tools to use, and the gameplay systems are, whilst not incredible, stable and strong enough to engender a variety of options and responses. Furthermore, the shoddy AI can work in fun's favour: some encounters, especially involving roads, can go utterly batshit, with cars flying and explosions everywhere.
The world makes it. There are no two towns that are the same, very few repeated buildings other than a certain few, key formulaic structures, and the variety of landscapes, both between regions and within them, feels both consistent and interesting. As above, this leads to ensuring that the relatively tame (but fun) gameplay systems remain fresh. You do the same thing over and over, but in so many different settings and in so many subtly different ways.
Furthermore, it strengthens the narrative by essentially taking over the heavy-lifting. You spend all your time immersed in it, the story becomes a dressing on top. The variety is immense, the fluidity between regions is done very well, and the ambience is fantastic. Ambient music plays at the right times, in the right ways. Weather shifts, creating beautifully atmospheric moments. The game on X1 is not stunningly beautiful up close (and these screenies are not at full-res, I think, so bear that in mind), but the combined draw distance, lightning system and emphasis on weather means it is frequently lovely, and incredibly atmospheric. Stealth in a storm, or a sunrise water-assault – the game frequently has lovely conjunctions of style and gameplay that feel organic. Furthermore, there are loads of animal types, and animal sounds, from bats to llamas to moths to flamingos, which add a surprising amount to the game's feel. The human wildlife, whilst rather less impressive, can add atmosphere too: ‘Bolivians' (this is a total pastiche of Latin America asfaik) exist in enough numbers and variety to be good window dressing. The game has been slated by some for being standard Ubisoft copy-paste world. This is nonsense. The game relies on Ubisoft systems (icons galore), yes, but the world is unique and wonderfully built, with a hell of a lot of thought put into it. Each icon represents a unique location, challenge, a moment of real fun.
Even some of the bad isn't all bad. The attention to detail can be great – from dirt on clothes to the interaction of wind on grass and trees (again, atmosphere can be amazing here), to heat dissipation of muzzles, to your clothing reflecting the guns you use via visible ammo on your belt/armour, and so on. Some of the missions are rather rote, but many are wonderfully built, with vast play areas, distinct settings, and even some interesting story. The sound design is great here too: the gun audio is incredible in certain environments, with echoes done really well.
Where it could be better is where the Ubisoft genericism comes into play. Other than the already mentioned poorer elements, the game lacks that touch of genius that elevates the story to great heights, or the gameplay to truly wonderful levels, rather than solid and fun (the difference, in my mind, between a special birthday dinner in the big city and a ‘let's go to our favourite pub for dinner this weekend'). There could be a lot more made of interaction with civilians, of the ebb-and-flow of power mechanics between the world's various factions, of survival elements, of hearts-and-minds, of super-hardcore stealth for those who want it (although playing no-HUD, on Extreme difficulty is very, very hard), and single player needs better, more granular, AI control.
In sum though, I felt compelled to write this to celebrate a game I did not expect to enjoy this much. It has been terrific fun in co-op, and I am very pleased to have played it when I did. Roll on the competitive MP and the next expansion!
