TLDR at the bottom
[h3]Gameplay[/h3]
There is something innately satisfying about stealth/action gameplay to me. Every scenario starts out as a sort of puzzle where you have to carefully make hundreds of micro decisions about who to target first, what paths to take, where to scan for enemies, when to be slow, when to hurry, etc. When you alert an enemy, the tone of the game shifts entirely, and you're forced into either attacking aggressively or backing down and taking a defensive approach. Regardless of whether you're loud or quiet, every micro-decision has weight; this makes for very engaging gameplay. There are so many tools, strategies, and gameplay mechanics that I could easily write a max character count review just based on the gameplay. But just know that the perfect amount of depth exists here. Easily accessible, while mastery takes hundreds of hours. Of course you could stay on the lower difficulties and not be punished for minor mistakes. However, if you don't play on extreme difficulty, you'll miss out on exclusive items and bonuses only available there. Being genuinely rewarded for playing on max difficulty is all too uncommon in videogames imo. Your reward is usually frustration and headaches; here they actually provide value. I appreciate that.
[h3]Story[/h3]
A Bolivian drug cartel bombed a US embassy. Resulting in operation King Slayer being put into action. As an American operative, you'll need to disrupt cartel activities. Burn coca fields, kill or capture HVTs, inspire the locals to fight back, scare off customers, destroy critical infrastructure, etc. Eventually you'll be able to kidnap the cartels' most important members, who will offer critical intel the government requires. Eventually you'll face off against the head honcho himself, El Sueno. The Dream. A man who believes he has been chosen from on high to lead Bolivia towards a brighter future. He may have an ego, but he is surprisingly tuned in and level-headed. He knows who he is, he knows his destiny, and he knows the sacrifices to his morals that he will have to make. He calculates it all and accepts the mantle of king. Sueno truly is he who dreams. I respect it; he's a bad4ss character, and he really sells the narrative this game pushes.
[h3]Postgame content[/h3]
100% completion of the maingame should take around 80 hours. Each of the two DLC's should add another 10-15 hours. So why do I have way more than that on record? It's time to talk about crates and ghost mode. In Wildlands you can unlock new cosmetics, vehicles, weapons or skins from other Tom Clancy IPs via crates. These are essentially the old style of lootboxes which you can actually unlock via in-game challenges or with IRL money. You can get about 22 prestige crates per week which each give you 1 random item with duplicates giving you premium credits. You can also unlock 2-3 premium crates per week which give 3 items that are always new and have higher odds at legendaries. The game is actually fairly generous with these drops. Especially if you can play 5 times per week. Obviously that's alot to ask gamers, but considering I enjoy the game I have no problem doing that. The final challenge that wildlands offers is ghost mode. Extreme difficulty, permadeath, permanent 50% XP boost, only allowed to carry 1 primary weapon, can only swap loadouts at ammo stations, and other hardcore rules. Killing bosses in ghost mode will give you crates and other exclusive cosmetics showing that you're truly the best of the best. I'm waiting till I get the MK18 rifle and Apache helicopter from my crates before I attempt it again. But I'm ready man. Overall the amount of good content is staggering for a game that is often considered to be a single player experience. However...
[h3]Coop is a beautiful, hectic mess[/h3]
I've never been a fan of games that are only good as multiplayer experiences. For my tastes, the best multiplayer games always put the single-player experience first with quality level design and gameplay. Nioh, Nioh 2, COD Zombies, Payday 3, and Wildlands nail this perfectly. I'm always happy to play these games with anyone who will have me. (I haven't played Payday 2 yet; please chill). Regardless, the variety of strategic options available in Co-op only makes it more engaging. Anyone can mess up at any time, resulting in equal parts hilarious and disastrous circumstances. Of course there are other shenanigans, like calling in mortar fire on an ally while he's stuck interrogating an HVT, or putting C4 on a car as he drives away, running over teammates at 80 mph is a classic, of course. All this to say, if you can get someone to play Wildlands with you, do yourself a favor and make it happen.
[h3]Punitive Deathloop[/h3]
My single biggest issue with wildlands. When you go down, you need to wait for your AI teammates to revive you. This takes anywhere from 5-120 seconds. Sometimes they just don't want you to play the game. If you screw up early in a mission and try to fight it out, then you may be stuck in a 30-minute defensive battle where neither side makes any progress before you run out of resources and end up dead. Fast travel isn't available in combat which seems reasonable. But it also means if you want a quick restart after an early failed attempt at a mission you'll need to exit to the main menu. Unfortunately, the loading screens are pretty long in Wildlands. All this is to say, if you screw up, Die, fail, or trigger Unidad. Your momentum is brought to a screeching halt which can immediately frustrate you. If you lack patience and precision, then you may want to stick to the easier difficulties. Extreme difficulty will certainly test your tolerance.
[h3]Jank[/h3]
This game was developed by Ubisoft. Thus there must be jank. Some of it is good/funny. Like vertex stretching, absurd physics bugs, or weird unintended animations. Others like random crashes and falling through the map are not so good. For the overwhelming majority of your gameplay, jank won't cause you issues. But expect it to pop up here or there. The next section is kind of an extension of this one. It focuses more on the negative aspects of jank.
[h3]Dumb stuff[/h3]
Your AI teammate got spotted by the enemy, and you're now in a warzone. A random explosion happened a mile away; now every enemy in the base is alerted. Enemies are aggro'd but don't know where you are; they catch a glimpse of you for a nanosecond, and now thirty of them are chasing you through a forest trying to confirm your location. You went down while on a staircase? Your teammate can't revive you there, so have fun bleeding out (this is how I lost my ghost mode save). Hitting any obstacle on a motorcycle will send you flying at Mach 15, killing you instantly. Dialogue will be playing, then you'll trigger more dialogue that interrupts the first dialogue, then you'll get into a fight that will interrupt that dialogue... Some of this is just RNG, while others are issues the developer never addressed. Regardless, it's frustrating that wildlands can be an inconsistent experience at times.
[h3]TLDR/Summary[/h3]
8,000 characters can't do this game justice. Whether you play solo or with friends, this game is an instant recommendation at its sale price of $10. The stealth gameplay is fantastic; the variety of tactics available keeps things fresh; the gunplay while not fantastic is plenty good enough; higher difficulties offer worthwhile rewards; the antagonist is fantastic; postgame content is plentiful and rewarding; and co-op is magnificent fun. Just be aware that you aren't playing a perfect game whatsoever. Certain aspects are overtly punishing or outright stupid, such as the absurd wait times after making minor mistakes or RNG just deciding the entire country of Bolivia is going to give you the middle finger because a random rebel decided to throw lead in the middle of a stealth op. Overall, the good is worth taking the bad alongside it.
