Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands is an upcoming open world game focusing on a conflict with the Santa Blanca drug cartel in Bolivia. It will be released on March 7th, 2017 for PC, PS4 and Xbox One.
Publisher's summary
Bolivia has become the largest cocaine producer in the world. The vicious Santa Blanca drug cartel has turned the country into a narco-state, leading to fear, injustice, and violence. The Ghosts, a legendary U.S. Elite Special Operations team, is sent behind enemy lines to wreak havoc and break alliances between the cartel and the corrupted government.
Development
It is being made by Ubisoft Paris in collaboration with other studios.[1] Ghost Recon Wildlands was announced at E3 2015. The reveal showed a mission against "White Hat" and his drug lab in Bolivia.[4] At the show, it won 25 awards from the media.[5] The game will feature singleplayer and four-person Co-op.[6] The game has been in development for multipe years, and Ubisoft has stated that it is moving the series "in a new direction".[1]
An interview with the Lead Game Designer and Senior Producer reveals that it will be set in the near future - about four years from now.[3] The team has done significant research to make this entry into the "Clancyverse", and to create one of the series "What If" entries. This includes visiting Bolivia and conferring with subject matter experts.[7]
Along with the "What If" aspect, the developers asked what would happen if a gang took over the entire coca distribution. It allows for a group of special ops soldiers to go behind enemy lines and break the ties between corrupt government and the cartel.[8]
Gameplay
Reveal trailer
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands is an open world, tactical shooter utilizing a third person perspective. The game will not feature the futuristic setting used in Advanced Warfighter and Future Soldier, but will instead adopt a modern-day setting, similar to the original Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon. As a result, the equipment featured in the game will be based on weapons and gear commonly used by military forces around the world. However, the game will feature some original equipment, such as UAV Drones that can be used to tag and show the highlighted enemies and objectives. The game will be the first entry to feature an open world, which includes nine different types of terrain, such as mountains, forests, desert, salt flats and will also introduce dynamic weather system and day-night cycle.
Wildlands features over 20 regions to explore as they go about disrupting the Santa Blanca cartel. The game will feature 26 cartel bosses which can be taken down as the player chooses before drawing out the leader. Players will have to disrupt two of the four aspects—Security, Influence, Smuggling, and Production—of the cartel.[9]
When completing missions, players can reach the location where the mission starts through a variety of ways. Players can parachute from a helicopter, walk overland, or drive towards their objectives. Players are allowed to use multiple ways to complete objectives, such as utilizing stealth, mêlée combat, or using the long-ranged or short-ranged weapons provided in the game. Between missions, players are free to explore the game's world, and the game will feature outposts that can be taken down by players.
When not completing missions, players can interact, and build friendly or hostile relationships with other non-playable characters, such as the citizens, officials or the rebels of the world. These interactions require strategy, as interactions will bring consequences and impact the game's world, and change how players can achieve their objectives. Players can also gain experience points to level up, as character and gear customization is also available in the game.
The game will also feature four-player co-operative multiplayer, in which players can be joined by three other players to explore the game's world and to complete campaign's mission. The game can also be played solo, in which the player will be accompanied by three AI teammates, which the player can give orders to.
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands Trailer Character & Weapon Customization - Gamescom 2016 US
Customization trailer
Plot
Operation Kingslayer
- Main article: Ghost Recon Wildlands: War Within the Cartel
Ghost Recon becomes embroiled in the drug war in Bolivia. The Santa Blanca drug cartel [6] has bombed the US embassy in La Paz attempting to kill DEA special agent Ricardo Sandoval "Ricky" who has been under cover for 6 years but instead kidnap him and torture him to death. The action upgrades their status to a terrorist organization and puts them near the top of a threat list. The cartel is led by the vicious killer El Sueño, along with The Beauty Queen, El Yayo, El Muro and El Cardenal.
The cartel has also corrupted the Bolivian Government to the core that the Government cannot handle them and cannot call for any external help.The cartel mainly deals in drug production and trafficking and distribution of it because of which their influence is spreading to other countries and therefore needing to break the connection between them and the Bolivian government.
In order to stop the problem the CIA, NSA, DEA, and DIA has decided to send the Ghosts, an elite unit of the US Military as part of Operation Kingslayer. The team sent in consists of Nomad (Ghost Lead and Support Specialist), Weaver (Team Sniper and Weapons Specialist), Holt (Team Engineer and Drone Specialist) and Midas (Team Combat Specialist and Vehicle Engineer).
The Ghosts are brought into Bolivia by helicopter, on which they meet up with their CIA contact Karen Bowman. When they land in the province of Itacua, they meet "Pac Katari", leader of the Kataris 26, the only resistance against Santa Blanca. He gives them their first mission - to recover Amaru, an old man who founded the Kataris rebels and who has been captured by Santa Blanca.
Itacua
The Ghosts rescue Amaru in exchange for information about the people who tortured Sandoval. These are revealed to be La Yuri and El Polito, Santa Blanca's chief doctors and torturers, as well as being devoted lovers of each other.
The Ghosts infiltrate FOB Amarillo, the local base of UNIDAD (a Bolivian special forces organisation originally set up to combat drug cartels but now on Santa Blanca's payroll and turning a blind eye to their activities), and interrogate the base's commander. They force him to call El Polito and request that he and La Yuri return to Itacua.
Having lured the duo back to Itacua, the Ghosts determine their exact location by infiltrating a Santa Blanca camp and stealing El Polito's car. Their analysts examine its GPS history and locate El Polito and La Yuri at a mountain hunting lodge.
Before going after the two, the Ghosts perform a favor for Pac Katari - raiding a Santa Blanca food convoy for the rebels.
The Ghosts then go after El Polito and La Yuri. They locate them in the basement of their hunting lodge, torturing a prisoner. Both are killed by the Ghosts along with their guards, much to Bowman's satisfaction.
Montoyuc
The Ghosts then move to continue their assault against the Santa Blanca's Security Pillar. They move into Montoyuc, site of the cartel's sicario training camp.
They discover that El Muro chose a former Army Ranger as his head of training. The Ghosts then pursue and eliminate that man, Carl Bookhart.
Weapons
Equipment
- UAV Drone
- C4
- Grenades (flash, frag, diversion)
- Flare gun
- Mines
Vehicles
- Truck
- SUV
- Buggy
- ATV
- Dirt Bike
- APC
- Boat
- Lamborghini
- Zodiac
- Helicopters
- UH-60 Black Hawk
- Cobra 2
- AH-6 Little Bird
Release
The game will be available in a standard Edition, Deluxe Edition with new equipment and an XP boost, and a Gold Edition with the Season Pass.
The Season Pass will include access to two expansions.[10]
Additionally, players who get into the Beta and then purchase the game will receive a reward of three missions based around Unidad forces.[11]
The preorder bonus will be a mission called "The Peruvian Connection" to disrupt the ties between Santa Blanca and Peruvian cartels.[12]
Tie-in media
Along with live-action trailers, Ubisoft is producing Ghost Recon Wildlands: War Within the Cartel, a film focusing on the cartel character Marcus which premiers on February 16.
Longtime series writer Richard Dansky is writing the novel Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands: Dark Waters as a prequel to the game.
Additionally, Ubisoft is releasing a feature-length documentary titled Wildlands which focuses on the real-world inspiration and background of the game. It will be released on March 6.[13]
Furthermore Ubisoft has released an app where players can track their status, recruit teammates, and play a prequel game where Karen Bowman starts the resistance against the cartel.
Live action trailers
Ubisoft has also produced live action trailers. The "Red Dot" trailer was directed by the same person who directed the original Die Hard.[14]
Gallery
Bibliography
- Ubi Blog Ghost Recon Wildlands Announced
- 5 Things You Need to Know
- Ghost Recon Wildlands Infiltrates Consoles PC March 7
- Four Things You Need to Know About Customization
- Intel: the Ghost Unit
- BUILDING A REACTIVE WORLD
- Live Action Red Dot Trailer
- Official Site
Notes and references
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 [1]
- ↑ [File:Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands Trailer Cartel Cinematic – E3 2016 US]
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Ghost Recon goes open world with Wildlands! - E3 2015 interview
- ↑ Reveal Trailer
- ↑ Accolade Trailer
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Official Site
- ↑ http://ghost-recon.ubi.com/wildlands/en-US/news/detail.aspx?c=tcm:152-221066-16&ct=tcm:148-76770-32
- ↑ E3 Press Conference
- ↑ [ghostrecon.com Ghost Recon website]
- ↑ GRW Special Editions
- ↑ [2]
- ↑ [3]
- ↑ Wildlands Documentary
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2On9gv3C_iI