Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands Review

[Jos]

Ghost Recon Wildlands is set in Bolivia following a terrorist attack by the powerful Santa Blanca drug cartel, with players assuming the role of a "Ghost," an Army special forces operative with the authority to do whatever it takes to dismantle the cartel and deal with their leader, the sinister but charismatic El Sueño.

Read the full article here.

https://www.techspot.com/review/1354-ghost-recon-wildlands/

 

[S horton]

This is a GAME, not a political statement lol. Please keep your political opinions to yourself and just review the game.....

 

[tomkaten]

Not a good idea for mobile users to put those animated GIFs on the main page...

 

[OcelotRex]

This is a GAME, not a political statement lol. Please keep your political opinions to yourself and just review the game.....

This is one area where I wish Techspot would not just blindly re-post a Kotaku article and not overtly distance themselves from it. I think this review needs a disclaimer at the top.

Try not to take too much from this review: this is the same writer who yesterday spent 700 words espousing their gratification for the ability to cross dress in Breath of the Wild.

The moment passed and I was now left with the clothes and could use them however I wanted. One of the most radical things you can do when you are marginalized is to reassert and reaffirm the value of your own identity. The game afforded me that opportunity. Link could be fabulous, if I wanted. He could dress like a girl and still be the hero. I could walk up to the Master Sword and so long as I had journeyed enough, I could claim it. It didn’t matter what I was wearing.

With her everything it seems everything is political and if you don't identify with her beliefs yours are bad.

 

[davislane1]

This is a GAME, not a political statement lol. Please keep your political opinions to yourself and just review the game.....

Kotaku is a joke. Expecting them to treat a video game like a video game is like expecting Count Chocula to deliver Froot Loops.

 

[Uncle Al]

SSDD

 

[davislane1]

This is one area where I wish Techspot would not just blindly re-post a Kotaku article and not overtly distance themselves from it. I think this review needs a disclaimer at the top.

Try not to take too much from this review: this is the same writer who yesterday spent 700 words espousing their gratification for the ability to cross dress in Breath of the Wild.
With her everything it seems everything is political and if you don't identify with her beliefs yours are bad.

We sure this is a "her?"

https://archive.is/DfBtI

That would explain the compulsive political commentary and why cross dressing is a feature of Breath of the Wild.

 

[OcelotRex]

We sure this is a "her?"

https://archive.is/DfBtI

That would explain the compulsive political commentary and why cross dressing is a feature of Breath of the Wild.

I believe from her twitter handle @transgamerthink she has transitioned and would prefer to be called her.

My issue with reviews like this or with the Zelda article I linked is that they are as guilty as anyone of seeing things only through their own lens - when it's "progressive" (something they agree with) then it's good. When it's something they disagree with it's silly/stupid/intolerant/bigoted. Emphasis added by me:

Let’s be clear: fans shouldn’t have to make up for developers’ shortcomings. Fans shouldn’t have to twist and bend to take back an image and affirm their identity or to deal with gendered jokes during their time playing a game.. They shouldn’t have to forge a path for greater inclusion themselves, shouldn’t have to draw Link as a girl or Zelda on her own quest in a major game in the franchise.

But they can and they do. Breath of the Wild drops the ball with Vilia and Link’s crossdressing. Thankfully, fans picked the ball right back up and ran it upcourt for a slam dunk.

 

[Julio Franco]

Thanks for your feedback, we'll take this in consideration for future repubs.

 

[SamuraiSamson]

This is a GAME, not a political statement lol. Please keep your political opinions to yourself and just review the game.....

Put political messages in games then expect political commentary.

 

[OcelotRex]

Thanks for your feedback, we'll take this in consideration for future repubs.

Thank you for your response Julio. As an avid reader of both Kotaku and Techspot I feel as though each site has different goals:

Techspot tends to side on objectivity and tries to identify when you all head to the subjective.

Kotaku (and game reviews by their nature) tend to be subjective. I thought Heather's review was on point up until the paragraph starting, " It is possible to play the game with a team of AI partners." It seems fitting that the paragraph ends with an unnecessary expletive, a hallmark of the Univision Ex-Gawker writers. It's also something (thankfully) I don't see much on this site.

Another reason I like Techspot is you don't see as much "personal agenda" as you see with certain writers at Kotaku/Gizmodo. That's why I brought up the Breath of Wild article from the day before. I can appreciate someone else's point of view especially when it differs so greatly from my own experience. When I feel that point of view spills into a review which should maintain some levels of professionalism because of the writer's body of work it devalues the piece in my opinion. That's why I'd prefer to further distance this site from theirs and not just when it's this writer or this review.

I'll end my rant by saying both sites have merit but I don't want Techspot becoming more like Kotaku; if anything Kotaku could learn something from this site.

 

[davislane1]

Put political messages in games then expect political commentary.

The game doesn't try to make a political statement. It's generic cartel vs commandos nonsense that the author of the review needlessly politicizes as if any sane, rational individual is going to fire it up and use it to inform their view of the world.

 

[Bluescreendeath]

When did Techspot become a political mouthpiece expousing social propaganda? Or do the staff simply not read what they repost?

 

[OcelotRex]

When did Techspot become a political mouthpiece expousing social propaganda? Or do the staff simply not read what they repost?

Techspot has long reposted Kotaku game reviews and articles.

The criticism for the message/writing/politics of Wildlands is also not unique to that outlet. Ars Technica came to the same conclusion they just handled it in a more professional manner.

 

[SamuraiSamson]

Put political messages in games then expect political commentary.

The game doesn't try to make a political statement. It's generic cartel vs commandos nonsense that the author of the review needlessly politicizes as if any sane, rational individual is going to fire it up and use it to inform their view of the world.

Hmm..what's a generic cartel vs commandos nonsense for you might not be the same for someone else. For me this normalizes American imperialism and I would not like to spend a single penny on this game . So this review was certainly helpful in that. Surely an argument can be made that games like Counter-Strike which lets you play as terrorists or GTA is guilty of the same thing. But this is a more sombre game which presents a motivation for why it's taking place and with definite parallels to the real world making it propaganda. If you think movies which feature propaganda should be criticized for it then the same extends to games as well.

 

[davislane1]

Hmm..what's a generic cartel vs commandos nonsense for you might not be the same for someone else.

Four guys and a chick who hangs out in inconspicuous shacks take down a multi-billion dollar cartel organization by killing some middle managers and operations directors. If someone interprets this as anything other than fantasy filler for Wildlands' map, they aren't rational.

But this is a more sombre game which presents a motivation for why it's taking place and with definite parallels to the real world making it propaganda.

Ubisoft is riddled with SJWs. It is one of the most social justice oriented companies in the gaming world. If you somehow think Ubi of all people is publishing pro-imperialist propaganda, you are as delusional as the Kotaku writer.

If we use your reasoning, any game with any context with a parallel to the real world constitutes propaganda because for the game to have a win or fail state it must take a side.

That's absurd.

 

[SamuraiSamson]

Hmm..what's a generic cartel vs commandos nonsense for you might not be the same for someone else.

Four guys and a chick who hangs out in inconspicuous shacks take down a multi-billion dollar cartel organization by killing some middle managers and operations directors. If someone interprets this as anything other than fantasy filler for Wildlands' map, they aren't rational.

But this is a more sombre game which presents a motivation for why it's taking place and with definite parallels to the real world making it propaganda.

Ubisoft is riddled with SJWs. It is one of the most social justice oriented companies in the gaming world. If you somehow think Ubi of all people is publishing pro-imperialist propaganda, you are as delusional as the Kotaku writer.

If we use your reasoning, any game with any context with a parallel to the real world constitutes propaganda because for the game to have a win or fail state it must take a side.

That's absurd.

You can reduce any criticism to a propoganda movie to the same argument. The reasoning makes sense in the same way as a movie like Zero Dark Thirty or American Sniper or Reefer Madness is criticized while other movies which features more explicit content like Kill Bill is not. Just like the way you see liberal propoganda in Techspot content, Heather saw an imperialist propoganda in Wildlands .

 

[davislane1]

You can reduce any criticism to a propoganda movie to the same argument. The reasoning makes sense in the same way as a movie like Zero Dark Thirty or American Sniper or Reefer Madness is criticized while other movies which features more explicit content like Kill Bill is not. Just like the way you see liberal propoganda in Techspot content, Heather saw an imperialist propoganda in Wildlands .

ZDT is a political expression.
AS is a political expression.
RM is a political expression.
KB is not a political expression.
GR:W is not a political expression.

The point is that the author is complaining about something that doesn't exist. It's literally been injected into the review to transform it into something that it isn't, a political expression.

Yeah, people see things differently. But there is a difference between having a different perspective and seeing something that isn't there.

The Kotaku review and the Ars Technica review are both guilty of the latter. They are delusional and fake.

 

[SamuraiSamson]

You can reduce any criticism to a propoganda movie to the same argument. The reasoning makes sense in the same way as a movie like Zero Dark Thirty or American Sniper or Reefer Madness is criticized while other movies which features more explicit content like Kill Bill is not. Just like the way you see liberal propoganda in Techspot content, Heather saw an imperialist propoganda in Wildlands .

ZDT is a political expression.
AS is a political expression.
RM is a political expression.
KB is not a political expression.
GR:W is not a political expression.

The point is that the author is complaining about something that doesn't exist. It's literally been injected into the review to transform it into something that it isn't, a political expression.

Yeah, people see things differently. But there is a difference between having a different perspective and seeing something that isn't there.

The Kotaku review and the Ars Technica review are both guilty of the latter. They are delusional and fake.

Of course it's upto the reader to determine whether it makes sense or not. Just disagreeing with the sentiment that games can not be criticized politically

 

[yRaz]

I read the review because all the comments said how bad it was. What a horrible review...

 

[SamuraiSamson]

Really great review which explores the political context in which the game takes place which Imho more reviewers must do. Not going to buy!!Sad!!

 

[Drew Valadez]

I read the review because all the comments said how bad it was. What a horrible review...

Ok, I'll stop myself from reading the review before I end up like you. I'll stay one step behind.

Really great review which explores the political context in which the game takes place which Imho more reviewers must do. Not going to buy!! Sad!!

Trump, is that you?

 

[OcelotRex]

Trump, is that you?

I thought the same thing.

 

[SamuraiSamson]

Ok, I'll stop myself from reading the review before I end up like you. I'll stay one step behind.



Trump, is that you?

I was trying to channel Trump. Glad it worked out. Happy!!

 

[StrikerRocket]

This is a GAME, not a political statement lol. Please keep your political opinions to yourself and just review the game.....

The opposite can be said too... It's a video game, not a political statement... LOL! The fact that a video game presents a political action under such angle, "GI Joe" style can *also* be seen as a political stance.. don't you think?