TOM CLANCY'S GHOST RECON WILDLANDS

This shooter is more than the sum of its parts.

- - By Kyle Hoekstra

Though I have clocked up several dozen hours in Wildlands, 2017's open-world military shooter, it's taken till now to notice that I hadn't finished its first mission. Instead, I've fought the cartel sponging off Bolivia haphazardly, daisy-chaining disconnected missions together with the odd opportunity to kidnap a henchman and raid a hacienda, inviting mishap en-route.

Chaos spirals quickly in the wildlands. I only wanted to commandeer a convoy when my helicopter was shot down. Next, the minibus I hijacked was made undriveable by a road accident. The town I then entered to pump a random guy for secrets became a battleground when he pulled a gun on me, inspiring me to call in rebel reinforcements (and a mortar bombardment, why not?). Our helicopter escape crossed paths with another convoy, whose leader I kidnapped, drove away and interrogated. This unexpectedly fulfilled a task, leading to the location of a commander whose death marked the completion of a main mission I have no memory of ever instigating.

BAD COMPANY

Wildlands is a sequel in the tactical, squad-based Ghost Recon series which began in 2001. Typically, you issue movement and engagement commands to your team and use fancy gadgets. Wildlands is a bit different. Its creators identified the fun thing about the series – using your wits and gadgetry to navigate a hostile environment, to better attack the enemies therein – and built a sprawling world around it.

The first missions