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THERE ARE NOT enough good tactical
shooters in 2017, so a new instalment in the
Ghost Recon series should come as a welcome
course. In theory, Wildlands has everything —
a sprawling open world, a gear loot grind and a
staggeringly tone-deaf approach to any culture
that isn’t American. It’s a B-movie writ large,
with a surplus of low-key distractions (Defend
radios! Gather intel!) and the ability to stuff up
quiet stealth missions with three other friends.
It’s a good game, yes, difficult to deny, but it’s
also a bit like a soup that’s had virtually every
half-rotten ingredient from the back of the
fridge plopped into it.
From what we gathered, you’re part of an
American military enclave trying to stop
Bolivian druglords. This means blazing grunt-
like through beautiful mountains and sending
drones into enemy encampments before
raining hellfire from the sky. It’s possible to
take the quiet and tactical approach in
Wildlands, and there’s plenty of tools to let you
do it — you can sync shots with your AI allies,
you can use drones to mark enemies, you can
call in reinforcements and all manner of other
stuff — but the open world, Just Cause-esque
TORMENT: TIDES OF NUMENERA
A BOOKISH TACTICAL RPG IN A
REFRESHINGLY SURREAL WORLD.
$69.95 | PC, PS4, XBOX ONE
TORMENT.INXILE-ENTERTAINMENT.COMYes, Torment: Tides of Numenera is a
classic-style isometric RPG. But it’s also, in
some ways, a book. A book that you read on
a computer screen. We’re not being
disparaging: if you want a super-deep RPG
with lots of dialogue and exposition, this is
without a doubt the game for you. And
chances are, its classic predecessor
Planescape Torment was too. As you might
have established, this is a very niche
proposition, but its mix of science fiction/
fantasy world-building and strategic
party-based combat sits comfortably next
to its contemporaries Pillars of Eternity and
Divinity: Original Sin. While its surplus of
po-faced severity can become taxing for
those wanting a bit of comic relief, the
environments you’ll visit are refreshingly
surreal compared to the stock standard
fantasy settings the genre usually trades in.
Definitely one for the genre-converted,
but if you’re after an RPG that deviates
from the well-worn genre paths, it’s well
worth a look. [SH AU N PR E SCOT T]nature of this instalment takes the edge off
what really makes a tactical game tactical.
There’s plenty of leeway for making good when
you stuff it all up: just run for those hills until
the harried Bolivian druglords forget, five
minutes later, that they’ve just had four
Americans try to assassinate their leader.
It’s easy to long for the more focused Ghost
Recon games of yore, when one stupid error
could lead to dismal failure. But it’s also
important to take Wildlands for what it is:
a funny, goofy, lightly tactical buddy shooter.
If you want the stakes to feel high, you need to
suspend your disbelief (i.e. pretend you can’t
just run away).
In typical Ubisoft fashion, there’s tons to
do and, as a shooter, it feels good enough.
It’s just... why can’t we have a true slow-
and-steady-wins-the-race shooter for once?
Why does this need to be a Ghost Recon game?
Why can’t we have a real Ghost Recon game?
I don’t know. Blame gamers...
[SH AU N PR E SCOT T]Ghost Recon: Wildlands
SEVERE INFILTRATION SIM GOES WHIMSICAL AND EXPLODE-Y.
$99.95 | PC, PS4, Xbox One | ghost-recon.ubisoft.com
DISCOVERGAME REVIEWS431 / 2WINNERAPPROVED
AWARD“Beautiful view, now let’s go
blow things up down there.”It’s no wingsuit, but the
parachute is a good way to get
the drop on... corn fields.Environments are
refreshingly surreal.You can walk into this thing.
Don’t know why you’d want to.