I’ve been fortunate enough to spend a great deal of time testing betas for various games I’ve been interested in. Like most people who are testing and looking forward to your upcoming release, I grew up with a hobby of video gaming.

I’ve been semi competitive in multiple games from 2500+ arena in World of Warcraft to maintaining a Rank 1 position on the 4v4 ladder and top 100 in all other brackets of Company of Heroes 2 as well as Dawn of War 2, and recently Platinum/Diamond teams on Overwatch. There are other games and stats to list off, but this is not stated to boast on achievements, but rather a reference point for my interest in competitive PvP all the way to the opposing end of the spectrum – I love building different structures in the Sims series for one. I feel I have a range of interests that I’m competent at pursuing and have at least a measure of insight to provide.

I have tested a number of Ubisoft betas, and I have a very particular relationship with the company. I’m definitely a fan, but there is a disconnect. EA feels like a money grubbing cook, pulling out various ingredients of his famed dish unless you’ve paid for each one individually to experience the full course. Activision is the safe chain restaurant, they sell you what they sell you, and sometimes they make changes, but overall, you’re buying the same product year to year. Ubisoft is different, it feels almost like there’s a great chef daring to try various new dishes, but they’re left without some key spices to complete the task. Whether that’s by oversight or intentional budgeting, I don’t know, but I’d hope for the latter.

I’ve played a lot of Ubisoft games, and I generally am a fan of most of them. But none of them have personified this feeling I associate with Ubisoft games quite as much as Wildlands.

To be frank, I love this game. There is so much you have going on that screams of potential, and it has sealed my money for both the game and the season pass, which I’m normally against doing until after I’ve put in enough hours. The graphics can be fantastic, the coop play feels so refreshing and with a multitude of ways to have fun, particularly if you buckle down and attempt at a tactical route. The customization is such a welcome change. And despite all this, there are some glaring problems. Some that probably can and will be addressed, others that just feel like a pipe dream to even mention them in this feedback report.

Optimization --

The first issue I’ll address is probably the most important, but also the most likely to be taken care of prior to launch. Like many other games Ubisoft has released, the optimization is rough. I won’t hark on this for too long as I’ve seen it blasted all over the place a number of times. The coding needs to be worked and fixed so that the people who are buying your game, can enjoy it without instability ruining the experience.

Graphics –

When I saw the announcement trailer for this game, I was absolutely stunned by the visuals. Unfortunately, there was a tingling suspicion that they weren’t representative of actual in game play. I actually thought the visuals in the beta were great, but they weren’t what we saw at announcement, especially not the textures. I’m not going to demonize the strategy that others might, but it most definitely needs to stop. Why would you showcase something you are incapable of delivering?

However, I did really enjoy the visuals for the game, though the textures in game could use some work.

Content –

For the most part, Wildlands hits the nail on the head for content. At a reasonable pace, to complete everything in the starting zone, it took about 5 hours for me and my group of buddies to finish off. Multiple that by 21 and you have over 100 hours of content, give or take.

The worry however, is if that content will start to become redundant. I’m already in Wildlands withdrawal and I’ve only been absent the game for a day and a half now, so my gut instinct is that no, I’ll be able to complete the entire coop story without feeling burdened by repetition. But there’s still a nagging feeling. How many bases to take down before the next base feels more like a chore than a fun endeavor? I think coming up with further content down the road will help ease this suspicion, missions or activities that involve hunting down a specific HVT or VIP, or areas breaking out into a sizable battle where you’re notified via Bowman.

But again, the content isn’t all that much of a concern either, it seems quite full for now, and my suggestion would be to implement systems similar to the examples I made at a later date through DLC.

That also relates to the customization options. It’s very well done, but it’s not jaw dropping. As noted before, my suggestion would be to add more clothing and weapon options regularly down the line.

Oh, and on a final note, it does seem like missed opportunity not to be able to customize your team, if not their appearance, then their clothing. Nothing seems out of place like one guy running around in a ghillie suit with three in urban wear.

Gameplay –

Vehicles are going to be your biggest enemy here. I spent a significant amount of time traveling in the game, and while I can say I eventually got a grip on the aerial vehicles, anything on the ground was a mess. Jerky and far too responsive both with turning and acceleration. It felt almost like you were skating around the entire time with little gravity or grip to the terrain. That, and there were far too many vehicles capable of off road travel.

The gunplay was well done. The bullet drop was a great touch, but it seemed tuned a little too drastically. I wouldn’t expect a sniper rifle to accommodate for drop as low as 50 or 100 meters. That said, the mechanic is great, it just needs to be less of an issue until longer ranges.

This is more personal preference, but I do believe the game suffers by it. The cover system. Ghost Recon Future Soldier was generally well accepted, but it wasn’t one of the best entries in the series, I think mostly due to the online matches and integrity, and the gimmicky stealth system of the single player campaign. One of its undoubtedly best features, however, was the cover system. Moving from cover to cover with limited range of motion felt restricting, and quite frankly, dramatic; almost theatrical. The animations were phenomenal and you really appreciated the use of the cover system both during stealth and loud scenarios. I’m in very serious doubt that it could ever be implemented at this point, but I believe it would do WONDERS for your game and continuing to set it apart from the general stock of the genre.

A little more to the animations, sometimes things felt amazing, the way models rotated to their reticle while prone, but, as noted prior, there was some life that felt absent since Future Soldier. Not just the cover system, but sprinting to prone had a very fluid animation in the previous installment and was no more. Even strafing seemed further removed from the fluidity of Future Soldier. Again, I’m not holding out hope that these are animation and cover mechanic issues are on the radar, but I believe they should be. They’re the pleasant details that set Ubisoft games apart.

Lastly for gameplay, I’d like to see the skill system expanded on. I’m very happy and grateful that this isn’t the Division, unloading a mag into an enemy only for them to shrug it off is incredibly disappointing for a Tom Clancy game, but the skill system of Wildlands feels slightly lacking. I get that the game isn’t designed to be class based, but squad based coop games are generally better when they promote teamwork, and nothing promotes teamwork like strengths and weaknesses. Perhaps more reconnaissance and first aid skills would be well received, but I think weapon specialization should be more in depth, skills that enhance preferred weaponry; suppression for LMGs, penetration for Assault Rifles, advanced suppressors for SMGs only and so on. Having a well rounded team, say a grenadier, light recon, support gunner, and sniper should provide further options to a team rather than a group of players all going for solo style loadouts.

Another point, an extension of the skill system, drones should be less readily accessible. I believe the binocular function should be improved on to be the main source of recon unless skill points are spent in pursuit of a drone. I get the counter argument would be that a drone is necessary for solo play and why pigeon hole someone into having to take a mandatory skill? In the case of solo players who do not pick up the ability to use a drone, this could easily be circumvented by the drone key queuing up the ability from a squad mate, in which the animation plays out from the AI's point of view and you manually handle the drone as you would normally. The drone is a great utility, but it's silly for all four members of a team to have access to it.

PvP –

A lot of players are denouncing the game for its lack of a PvP mode at launch, I agree to a certain extent, but I don’t think it’s as big of a disaster as others are making it out to be. It gives people time to focus on the single player while anticipating a future update.

That being said, I think your PvP modes need to follow the precedent set by Wildlands’ development. It needs to be something fresh that truly utilizes the tool you’ve created for yourself, which is this gorgeous map you’ve spent so long creating.

I’m sure the standard modes would be welcome, namely capture the point and death match, but how often did the other modes generate play? They were near non existent on the PC side of things.

I think one of the best things that could compliment a standard round/match PvP system would be a mode drastically different as a separate option.
Something similar to a Battle Royale mode.

I get and understand that Ubisoft very likely does not have the servers to provide such an experience on a grand scale, but it seems like mode has become very popular with the online community, and Wildlands might be the perfect platform to provide such an experience.

Following the Division’s example, a smaller solo and/or pairs mode could be started with, 12 to 24 players in a random region. Once the region is announced to the round, players will have the opportunity to equip desired clothing and maybe a sidearm. Players or pairs could be dropped in along the region with primary weapons, intel, explosive ordinance, and if you’re fancy, maybe a resource like food/water that is necessary to maintain. From there it’d be pretty straight forward, last one alive wins with a mechanic pressing players towards eachother over time. The goal would be to eventually provide a mode that incorporates the entire map with teams of 4.

It’s reaching really, throwing in a lofty suggestion in a feedback post, but I believe it should be said if it hasn’t been already. There’s very little competition currently for this market, and players and streamers both love it.

In closing, this is a good game. I’m very thankful for the opportunity to test it and the work you’ve put into this for people like me to enjoy it. But like most Ubisoft games, I feel like it’s so incredibly close to greatness it pains me that there are very small, but very real problems punctuating its capabilities.

Thank you again, and good luck with your success in Wildlands.