OK guys just back from a trip to Paris where the Wildlands media event was being held in a really cool venue done up to represent a Cartel stronghold. Live chickens, the lot! The photo was just typical of the whole layout of the place.
Whilst there, Ubisoft invited 4 of us to get a hands on session for solo play and then a co-op session. I will check on what I can share with you, further, and as soon as I can, but the overall impressions I can say at this point are hugely positive. We played on consoles for this event.
I tried some casual gameplay styles, still being careful just trying to push harder, but with the difficulty up and that just wasn't going to be happening! The AI seem tuned up, the reinforcements were a serious issue and there has been some consequences added for getting reckless in a fire fight. You will see videos from the journos on easier levels and with HuD elements turned on. Don't be fooled, if you want the old school classic feeling GR it's there in the box for you.
The bullet physics are just completely insane and i'll be showing a capture of a test I ran on that as soon as I can.
I also took the opportunity to test out some open world aspects and one thing I did made me realise the sheer depth of what we have here. I decided to ignore the roads in one province and just dirt bike across the landscape in more or less a straight line. Often something I do in an Open World. The first time I kept coming across little homesteads and farm houses where the fences and walls were getting in the way, and people were milling about getting on with their business. It felt organic and real. The second time was across a less populated expanse, but I soon worked out why it was less populated. The sheer amount of rocks and trees just made traversing the area much more difficult. My bike could handle it and there was the odd little footpah, quite often with an NPC or two using it, but it was rough terrain. It slowed the bike down so much as i weaved up and over and around the rocks that I gave up and found a suitable road. It wasn't like some games where a big hill you can't get over is just plonked down to make the map bigger, as I could have carried on going. Both those cross country trips made me realise that the world "makes sense" if you get what I mean. The world feels real.
With enemy AI that also behaved in realistic and convincing ways, there are a couple of things I captured that made me just go "wow", and weapons that do the same then we might have a serious problem ahead of us here! The immersion may be so high that this will need a sit down and chat with your partner, spouse, serious other, parents, (your kids) to agree a certain amount of time you're allowed to play the game.
It's looking good. I'll add more info as i can get it cleared.