My Wildlands Review - Best Game I've Ever Played! | Forums

[Virtual-Chris]

I’m a bit late to the Wildlands party (you can read more about me at the bottom), but I wanted to show my appreciation to Ubisoft for creating this wonderful game. Please make more games exactly like this. The combination of open world, realism, culture, environment, and a great story and thus excuse to kill a bunch of bad guys using a great selection of weapons with tons of gun and character customization is awesome. The option to use tactics and stealth but still barely prevail (at least on some difficulty settings) when things go loud is super challenging and satisfying.

If people don’t want to read this whole review, here’s the list of what I love and what I would like to see improved:

Love:
- Exploring the vast environment and the beautiful and varied terrain
- All the little details in the world and how much time was invested in making it seem real
- The rough terrain - so realistic - making the use of roads and paths essential
- The size and expanse of the game world and some of the great locations you discover
- The day and night cycle and weather and the fact that enemy patterns change at night
- The great story, cast of characters, and scope and variety of missions
- The action - from sneaking around to blowing stuff up to getting in intense gun fights
- The AI is tough - enemies are not easy when alert, and for the first time in a game ever, an opponent such as the Unidad requires breaking contact to the point where you quickly learn not to engage
- The guns! Oh the guns! I love the HK 416 with short barrel - I can’t put it down.
- The character customization… my team has different outfits for rural recon, base infiltration (which invariably end in fire fights), night ops, and town or village recon and we change our camo to suit the environment (even though it doesn’t matter)
- The intensity added by having realistic damage you take on higher difficulty (I find Advanced is ideal for me) - no bullet sponges on either side. This adds intensity.
- The ability to turn off most of the HUD after you get use to the game to make it more immersive, realistic and intense
- Sync shot and having AI team mates… despite my initial skepticism, I love having a squad. I like the fact they are invisible in recon mode - not becoming a liability.


Would Love to See Improved:
- Gun stats should be more accurate or reflective of actual performance in the field. I think a lot of people make decisions based on these stats and they can be misleading or wrong. There’s plenty of videos on Youtube demonstrating differences in bullet drop (range), full auto accuracy, and silencer detection that are not reflective of the stats. Why bother offering stats if they are not accurate? For example, the SR-25 Liberator is advertised as being designed for stealth and has stats to support that but in testing, it’s no more stealthy than a standard SR-25 with silencer.
- Enemies are spread too thin in most bases or outposts, making them almost too easy to pick off one by one. Even where patrols overlap, dead bodies are often removed by the game engine almost immediately, making body discovery a non issue. I wish the enemy AI was more aware of their surroundings so that if a sniper is suddenly not in their perch, they should start to investigate, and maybe even someone else should take up an important post. Or if a guy feels like all his buddies are gone, maybe he would raise the alarm and call in reinforcements rather than continue to stand around with his thumb up his bum like nothing was happening.
- Make what your character is wearing matter in stealth, combat and interactions with locals. Provide some kind of modifier to stealth based on your camo or clothing colour and take less damage with plate carriers and helmets vs t-shirts and ball caps. Make night vision only available if equipped. And maybe have locals react less frightened if you’re wearing street clothes vs a skull mask, and perhaps even have SB or Unidad ignore you in some cases if you’re wearing their outfits.
- While I love my squad and the sync shot feature, I don’t like that it’s a magical ability where my team can basically sync shot anyone through solid objects without line of sight. Make them move to get line of sight or if it’s not possible without giving themselves away, have them proclaim it’s not possible. As it is, I have to play this myself - in other words move my team or get them in a position where they can see the guys I want them to shoot just for the sake of not cheating. It’s a pain.
- How about offering rebel insertion and extraction by vehicle or helicopter. Rather than summoning an empty vehicle out of thin air, which is a terrible immersion breaking cheat, insead have a driver or pilot show up at a nearby RV/LZ point to drop you off at your designated waypoint. So much more realistic than Ghosts summoning helicopters and flying around themselves.

Thoughts on purchasing gear with real money:
- I like the option to buy some weapons and items before I even start so I’m not distracted from exploring the world and getting immersed in the story trying to equip myself. So I don’t mind paying for some gear before I start a game. It would be nice to have more granular choices rather than being forced to buy a $20 bundle to get one item you really want. I’d probably spend $20 anyway, but I would end up with stuff I really wanted. For example, I would have liked to buy an equipped HK 416 not the Rainbow pack and 3 other weapon mod packs to get there. Similarly, I would have liked to get a properly configured SR-25 not one of the unmodifiable skinned weapons like the Jungle or the Liberator.
- I find the random crate system a really bad idea and I regret spending any money on that. Who enjoys throwing money away on emotes and stuff… that’s horribly lame content to be charging people for.

I'm a part-time gamer at best... and I play on a PS4 using a Venom X mouse and wand as I can't aim worth crap using a console controller. I can really only afford to play a game for a couple of hours a day here and there. Sometime I have to go weeks or even a month or two between playing due to other commitments and sometimes I binge play all weekend - it really varies. I loved GR titles back on PC in the early 2000’s. For the last few years though I’ve been a major Far Cry fan… playing FC3, 4 and 5 multiple times. I just tried Wildlands recently, and wow… this is the best game I’ve ever played. It’s so much more realistic, serious, and intense. It makes Far Cry look comical in comparison, although I’m still fond of it, FC5 takes crazy distractions to a ridiculous level.

I will be spending a lot of time on this game, and eagerly awaiting it’s sequel.

[Kean_1]

Glad you're enjoying it. It's one of my favorite games as well.

....btw, most of your suggestions have echoed through this forum so you're not alone.

[Frag_Maniac]

Actually pretty much ANY game makes Far Cry 5 look comical. I was SO much anticipating their changing up the formula from FC 3,4, but they just messed so many things up in 5. It's so bad my faith in their development vision has gone from optimistic to worrisome at best.

Anyway, glad you like it, and I think you'll find most here, even those whom mention their many nit picks, really love the game. I myself feel it's easily the best game of 2017.

Now where's that new Splinter Cell damn it!

[Ubi-Lucipus]

Thanks for sharing this with us VirtualRain1!

It's good to see that you highlight both the things you enjoyed and also things that you would like to see.

These are all points that I'll forward and we hope that you continue to enjoy the game!

[Virtual-Chris]

Thanks for sharing with the dev team. I really think games are the best entertainment value on the planet and Ubisoft makes the best games going. I’m a huge fan.

It’s just a shame it takes 3-5 years to turn out a new game these days - but I can see why... they are massive undertakings. More DLC missions would seem like a great way for Ubisoft to make more return on the initial investment in building the engine and world while also offering something for players to keep them engaged between titles. Or even an NG+ so we could replay with our skills and kit on a harder difficulty. (Not sure why Ubi has never embraced this mode in any of their franchises - is it philosophical?).

One other thing I love that I forgot to mention:
- The sounds: The ambiant sounds, the birds, the rain, the townsfolk or musicians playing in the square. The footsteps of nearby enemies (critical without tagging). The odd cartel member humming “Santa Blanca”. The guns (sometimes I take off the suppressor just to enjoy the sound). The thud of your bullets making contact. The sound of a helo overhead... although the frequency of that is getting annoying at this point.

[AI BLUEFOX]

Pretty much agree with the OP on most views there. Certainly the best game I have played and still going strong.

Sure there can be improvements, we all have something we'd like different, but for me that is to make the best even better.

[LaMOi]

It’s in my all time top 10 fav games. Which is no small feat ....

😎👍

[RedCeII]

I get frequent crashes, I get killed by enemies that should be on-screen but are currently culled out (both in the main game & Ghost War), I often watch my bullets travel straight through an enemy but register as a hit and put the whole place on alert, and so many more issues, but...

...I just love the game too much to quit. It really is the best game of its kind since SOCOM. For every one thing it gets wrong or needs improving on, it does several things right.

The campaign is so immersive and gives you so much variety & choice (if yoy choose to utilize it), and the PvP isn’t just a typical tacked-on obligatory online mode - it’s really the only PvP I’ve actually gotten into and stuck with since the PS2 SOCOM games.

Despite all the great games that are put there right now, including games I’ve bought recently, this is the game I’ve kept coming back to, despite it’s flaws. Easily my most-played game on the PS4.

So yeah, while it’s not perfect, it’s great when it isn’t jerking you around. Really looking forward to what else is in store for the game in the future.

[Virtual-Chris]

I have been playing now for about a month and logged about 150 hours and I’ve enjoyed every minute. The best part is, I’m only about 1/2 way through the campaign. I explore every province fully before moving on and I’m going from Influence to Production (now both complete) to Smuggling and then onto Security. It’s just amazing to be getting this much mileage and satisfaction out of a game.

I really hope Ubisoft is already working on another epic title like this for the future. Take my money! LOL.

[Frag_Maniac]

I get frequent crashes, I get killed by enemies that should be on-screen but are currently culled out (both in the main game & Ghost War), I often watch my bullets travel straight through an enemy but register as a hit and put the whole place on alert, and so many more issues, but...

...I just love the game too much to quit. It really is the best game of its kind since SOCOM. For every one thing it gets wrong or needs improving on, it does several things right.

The campaign is so immersive and gives you so much variety & choice (if yoy choose to utilize it), and the PvP isn’t just a typical tacked-on obligatory online mode - it’s really the only PvP I’ve actually gotten into and stuck with since the PS2 SOCOM games.

Despite all the great games that are put there right now, including games I’ve bought recently, this is the game I’ve kept coming back to, despite it’s flaws. Easily my most-played game on the PS4.

So yeah, while it’s not perfect, it’s great when it isn’t jerking you around. Really looking forward to what else is in store for the game in the future.

That sounds a lot like the weird problems I used to get in some games on PC when my rig was seriously needing an upgrade. I know Sony concentrates on juicing decent graphics out out their PS systems, which involves a lot of complex coding from the developers, but they also tend to have a problem with severe frame drops in a lot of titles.