In Ghost Recon's history the usual threats have ranged from conventional military forces, to paramilitaries, to PMCs (Private Military Companies). Cartels and drug traffickers have never formed a part of the package until now. Though the war on drugs is a somewhat...odd setting to choose considering its growing unpopularity, it's hard to deny that the cartels make a great threat to take on. More brutal in their methods than the usual Ghost protagonists, these organisations will really up the ante for the guerrilla warfare that Ubisoft Paris is so intent on providing the player with - making the prospect of capture evermore worrisome and threatening. Perhaps the best thing about their inclusion is their motivation - that being monetary gain. This makes the Bolivian criminals evermore malleable to the actions of the Ghosts, and harkens back to the leadership system made famous in Monolith's Shadow Of Mordor. If Ubisoft can emulate that system in a modern setting, we really could be in for something rather special indeed. No doubt the various cartels' brutality will lead to some grizzly moments such as the one the trailer depicted, but the best thing about it is that they provide a new enemy to combat. At long last the days of poorly contrived Russian nationalist caricatures are coming to an end.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
