15 Fixes Ghost Recon Wildlands Needs

Ghost Recon Wildlands is an ambitious game. When it's at its best, it's one of the most fun, cooperative experiences I've had in years, channeling the best bits of Metal Gear Solid V, Splinter Cell: Blacklist, and the legacy of Ghost Recon. However, a lot of elements get in the way of the game being at its best, and many of them seem possibly fixable in an update. Matt Bertz, who reviewed the game, Jeff Marchiafava, and I have collected our grievances here.

Let Players Import Their Own Music
Or at least have music options available. Bolivia is a big place and you spend a fair amount of time driving from mission to mission. It seems really bizarre not to give players an option that isn't Listen To The Annoying DJ And His Bad Music or Drive Silently Through The Land.

Let Players Change The Time Of Day
Night time offers more tactical options, so why not pull a Phantom Pain and let players speed up the clock? Especially if they're playing by themselves and need more of a tactical boost since they're working with wonky A.I. squadmates.

Add A Mute A.I. Squadmate Option
Wildlands has a lot of bad writing. The worst of it is often in the conversations between squadmates, where they discuss the art of torture or make dumb jokes. It's boring and the voice acting for these characters is atrocious. Please let us mute them. Please.

Add A Photo Mode For The Console Versions
Bolivia's vistas are gorgeous. Throw in a photo editor ala The Last Of Us Remastered, Horizon Zero Dawn, and No Man's Sky to let players take advantage of that.

Make The UNIDAD Less Annoying
In Wildlands, the UNIDAD are an army that patrols over Bolivia. They have a system similar to that of the Wanted system in Grand Theft Auto and are relentless. You kill them, they just keep coming with tanks, helicopters, armored infantry. That in itself isn't a problem, but they have a habit of showing up all the time, especially when you're tailing a target or doing a mission where if you're seen, you're immediately hit with a game over screen. It'd be great if Ubisoft could dial back how often you run into them.

Make Conversations Skippable
Failing a mission often means having to listen to an NPC cycle through their bad table-setting dialogue all over again. Just stick a skip button in there.

More Mission Checkpoints
Several missions have multiple steps. Those steps often include driving across regions, which amount to a large amount of time doing nothing. Often, if you're doing a tail-the-target mission or a stealth mission where being spotted ends in failure, getting hit with that game over screen means going back all the way to the first step, which can mean anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes of progress gone. Some more checkpoints to alleviate the annoyance and boredom of having to redo these long sections would be nice.

Make Using The Helicopter Weapons Easier
Most helicopters you can jack come with powerful miniguns capable of laying waste to everyone and everything in front of you – if you can use them. They're actually a pain to aim. It'd be great to have a fix that makes these weapons easier to use. 

A.I. Squadmates Who Can Drive
If you're playing solo, you're stuck with squadmates who talk way too much and can't drive, which means you can't sit in the passenger seat and shoot at foes. It's a bummer and makes taking down convoys much harder. Though it's probably unlikely, it'd be great to have an update that adds A.I. drivers. 

Tie More Tactical Options To Corpses
If you kill someone in Wildlands, you can't move their corpse or hide it. You just have to wait for it to disappear. This means an enemy can stumble upon it during that time and put the whole camp on alert and there's no option to move it to increase the probability of remaining undetected. Also: removing the corpse disappearance on higher difficulties would probably make the game even more challenging for those who like their tactical games hardcore.

Stop Blocking Fast Traveling 
We know Ubisoft doesn't want players to fast travel out of danger, but it is ridiculous that you can get cut off from your player squad by the UNIDAD, then have to hide and wait for minutes on end for their wanted level to dissipate, just to rejoin your friends back at the mission.

Shorten Respawn Times Or Let Players Skip Them Entirely
We understand respawn times are a way to balance encounters and potentially fail a mission. It's still a lousy solution; waiting for a minute when your entire squad is on the other side of a compound or kilometers away is just a boring waste of time. Setting a limited number of respawns during team missions would preserve the challenge, without forcing players to hover over their dead bodies when they know no one is coming to revive them.

Let Players Spawn In Vehicles
If I choose to fast travel to a friend, spawn me in their damn helicopter/car/boat/friggin' gondola. If there's not room, then fine, dump me by the side of the road – but that shouldn't be the default.

Item And Loot Collection Should Count For The Entire Team
In co-op, if a character collects some intel, the whole team gets it. However, if they find a gun, accessory, or resource and collect it, the collection only counts for that player. So what ends up happening is you'll have an entire team take the camp and then have to wait while everyone goes, one by one, to collect those items. It's dumb and taxing and a waste of time.

Add More Gadgets
The drone is incredibly useful, no doubt, but it'd be great to have more gizmos to play with that add tactical options, like an RC car with explosives taped to it or tranquilizer weapons.

For more on Ghost Recon: Wildlands, be sure to check out our tips to help you take the fight to the cartel.