Ghost Recon: Wildlands Hands On

Now that the embargo has been lifted I can share my impressions of my
gameplay sessions with an early version of Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon:
Wildlands.

The game allows up to four players to play various missions in large open
world setting where all manner of vehicles, weapons, missions, and side
missions are possible.
I started by playing in South America where I had to navigate the jungles
to take on strategic targets, rescue hostages, and eliminate enemies and
targets of interest.

At first I was reminded of Far Cry 3 as I worked my way through narrow
mountain roads to attack vehicles, checkpoints, and locales, and delighted
in hopping out of the vehicle to do some intense combat from a third
person perspective.

Along with three other players who dropped into my game, we were able to
make short work of the enemies and made our way through the mountains to
clear a path through the main locale where a hostage was in need of
extraction.

We approached via an SUV and went off road through the jungle before
making our way on foot. An intense fight punctuated by several explosives
soon gave us access to the captive and we were able to rescue him.
I decided to liberate a helicopter from the base and we piled in for the
flight back to safety. This was much easier that it sounded as the control
system took some getting used to and the flight was punctuated by drops,
dives, steep climbs, and spins, but I was able to get us through the
mountains and land safely at a base.

We were then given options for new missions as well as a chance to change
vehicles, and I opted for a motorcycle which helped me navigate the narrow
roads better.

A subsequent mission involved taking on enemies and a locale defense force
in a town and I had to use plenty of cover from the constant barrage of
enemies. I used a run and gun tactic punctuated by setting up fire zones
so the team could dig in and take on all that came our way. While we had
initial and sustained success, the eventual numbers caught up with us.
One of my favorite missions involved taking out a private airfield. I hid
in the grass to take out guards on the tower or those who came at me from
the road while the team spread out and made their way to the objectives.
Once completed, we entered a compound and were battling drones and other
enemies and had a very heated and prolonged firefight.

Even though it was an early version of the game; the vehicles, weapons,
locales, and open world environment showed much promises and was lots of
fun.

Playing solo was fun but highly demanding. Enemies come at you from all sides and blend into the jungle well. I can also say taking on defense forces alone was like being a level 20 player in The Division encountering a bad of level 26 Last Battalion troops. You will get some licks in but they will prevail. Solo worked well for driving, exploring, and hit and run, but for an assault a Lone Wolf approach is risky.

Naturally having good players is a plus but based on what I saw,
Ghost Recon Wildlands looks like one of the more compelling titles of 2017
and I look forward to trying the completed game.