The fiction that Tom Clancy developed in his novels makes them triumph precisely because they do not seem fiction , with plots that are feasible
in the eyes of the reader, in which situations, countries and even real characters are mixed, with an adventure that would only be real in the imagination of the
Writer. Or at least that’s the way it should be, because there are not a few who believe that Clancy’s contacts with the CIA or the KGB gave his novels more reality than might be expected.
In any case, the work of Clancy has always been shown as a paid field from which to obtain good arguments on which to build a videogame. That
“realistic fiction” fits perfectly into our tastes. This is demonstrated when we have been receiving for 20 years , with more or less frequency, titles based on the universe of Clancy.
The first installment, from 1998, was Rainbow Six , a whole “pitch” that supposed the entrance of the already hackneyed term ” tactical ” in the games of shots or FPS,
that by then lived their golden age. Rainbow Six obliged to foresee the action, plan the movements and, its great paradigm, that several players should collaborate with each other, perfectly coordinated, to achieve a common objective.
Over the years, Clancy’s novels were leaving behind already consumed scenarios, such as the cold war, to enter new and no less terrifying, such as
narco-terrorism, industrial espionage or the wars instigated by corporations and money , not by flags or religion. In the same way, the games based on this franchise were adapting also to the times.
After the resounding success of Rainbow Six and its successive updates, Ubisoft decides to give a return to the franchise and launches the first Ghost Recon .
Like the Rainbow, the Ghosts are patrols that work in absolute secrecy, executing almost surgical actions behind the enemy lines. The difference? The game based on the Ghosts dispenses with much of the tactical requirements, planning and coordinated action, to
offer a much more arcade game, with direct action, open scenarios and, ultimately, much more accessible for players.
This change (we still had not created the term “casualization”) did not please Rainbow Six’s purists, but it greatly expanded the player market by including those who sought fun more quickly, without too many complications and, above all, without having to have several friends equally passionate freaks to the game as if to throw ten minutes planning an entry that then resolved in a few seconds.
That first Ghost Recon has been sixteen years, but the discussion is the same. Just as the Clancy universe adapted to the new times, videogames based on it have done the same, pretending to offer what the public demands, even at the cost of abandoning what has differentiated them.
And what Ubisoft understands that players look for today is an open map, huge, with a style of game “sandbox”, absolute freedom, with dozens of hours of game,
hundreds of customization options, graphic power and, above all, be enjoyed within a large community of players. That is the purpose of this Wildlands.
A bad dream
We will begin by presenting the storyline. To enter the game, it is enough to know that our target is a criminal megalomaniac, known as “El Sueño”, who
has been able to build a ” narco-state “”About the huge amount of money allowed by the cocaine trade and about a brutality and lack of scruples that has eliminated anyone who can oppose him. Perhaps the greatest
point of interest of the plot is beyond the game itself and it is the use of a real state, Bolivia, to recreate a story in which the government, the army and a large part of the citizens have folded to the demands of a capo cocaine and, not only live obeying their mandates,
but also do so being happy, offering the feeling that before they lived worse. A line of argument that has caused little grace in that South American country,
which has come to present a formal complaint to the governmentof France (Wildlands is a production of the French division of Ubisoft), not only for turning their country into a “narco-state”, also for the abuse of clichés and the presentation of its citizens, unfavored in all aspects.
And as it can not be otherwise, Uncle Sam will be obliged to fix this mess, sending his best men. And yes, with four of these Ghost commands it will be enough to take down the entire narco-state. The way to do it will be causing losses, sabotaging production and,
ultimately, generating as many problems as we can to the organization. This will cause that some responsible of area is put at our disposal, whose elimination will
facilitate, at the same time, the entrance in scene of a narco of superior rank, whose elimination will cause that … well, and thus, until compelling to leave the shadows to the capo, to “El Sueño”, whose elimination is the final goal of the title.
