So, it's up for grabs courtesy of steampunks and I helped myself to it.
Basically what was expected, it works as a military-themed hiking sim slash exotic safari, a bit like Far Cry 2 but a tad less broken and you get to shoot spics instead of negroes.
The excuse for a story reminds me a bit of a more religiously oriented version of Narcos (the tv series).
Overall, it works better as a game than the latest Far Cry and Ghost Recon, but it's still Ubisoft Sandbox - It's like masturbation where you change hands from time to time,
it's essentially doing the same thing over and over again so you have to find ways to entertain yourself.
However, this iteration of the Ubi sandbox is a tad better as (as far as I've seen) you don't really have to touch the main story to unlock anything and all the regions are available.
Thankfully, there's no radio towers to climb this time. You can get to da choppa and go pretty much anywhere straight away, dodging the occassional SAM.
It only takes some running around to unlock the weapons and their mods.
All in all, I am finding the gameplay to be quite forgiving and hand-holding. You don't really have to worry about or manage anything.
The AI is of course brain dead, which is kinda fitting when we're talking about ese gangbangers, but this goes double for the teammates. They feel like dumbed down versions from Ghost Recon, there's some meh-quality banter,
they report when they spot an enemy or when you're about to be discovered, they even sorta try to act as spotters when you snipe, confirming kills and commenting on misses.
They also tend to teleport magically to wherever they're needed at the moment. One of your dudes missed the helicopter ride? Don't worry, he'll be there.
You can order them around a bit, but I never really felt the need. Most of the time the squadmates do a decent job of staying out of the way and pretending they're not there.
I only came here for hiking and the gumporn, how does the game deliver?
Compared to previous Ghost Recon, it's a bit dumbed down - as far as I can tell, there's little effect on accuracy when going prone, and no functional bipods.
Gunsmith mode lost a few options (hair triggers, manipulating pressure), which is a shame, and the scopes could be better (6x magnification on sniper scopes is the best you can get and the reticles are pure fantasy).
No little touches like keeping an extra round in the chamber.
Hiking works great, color me easily impressed, but I really liked all the environs and landmarks. I really liked walking around the salt flats and I genuinely enjoyed a helicopter ride around the cathedral that is built on top of the hill in one of the provinces.
Compared to Far Cry, no more annoying animal attacks. Also, you don't have to pick flowers anymore. You get to collect resources to unlock new skills (which is an important part of keeping yourself entertained, although
I'd avoid unlocking some of them, as they feel broken), but you find those by finding caches, stealing helicopters/airplanes or hitting convoys.
All in all, the time spent leeching them 60 gigs didn't feel like a big waste.