Ghost Recon and Ubisoft have a deep history when it comes to the tactical military shooter. During this console generation, Ubisoft has taken many of their games from having guided story lines to setting them in open worlds. Ghost Recon Wildlands was their first attempt in the series at giving players a large amount of freedom and choice when it came to how they tackled tasks. Ghost Recon Breakpoint is the newest entry in the Ghost Recon family of games. With Breakpoint, Ubisoft is taking what they did with Wildlands and adding elements of survival and role playing into there version of open world gameplay. You are once again playing as Nomad as you attempt to solve the mystery of a comrade and his betrayal.
Starting with the story, most people agree that it is nothing too outside of the ordinary for a military shooter. What makes it the most interesting is the technology and the parallels to some of the characters in current society. Ghost Recon has never been a stranger to technology in their videogames but in Breakpoint, we have a more grounded view to how technology is used in society today or in the near future. There are bits and pieces of story and lore that you get from interacting with NPCs in the world and during missions. There is also an element of research and discovery with some of the side missions. The player is able to find bits of information about various side missions through both enemies (if you keep them alive long enough to interrogate) and random NPCs scattered across the map. You can lean
The story is just okay and kind of generic, but it’s a military focused story with military characters so options for a narrative driver are pretty limited to revenge or rescue. The civilians are interesting enough and give you some context of “why” when taking on side missions. I just think my character, aka main protagonist, is a bit generic. It doesn’t really take away from my enjoyment of the game, but it’s just a note.
Joel
Lets get it out of the way, the story is serviceable, in fact most elements of this game are. Everything in this game functions relatively well but without any sort of depth or nuance. This game feels like it was too afraid to carve out a specific and targeted gameplay experience so it decided to give up and add all of them.
Ethan
Early in the game, players are introduced to a hub area that is very common in current games. Here the play is able to shop and upgrade gear, prep for upcoming missions and participate in various PVP and PVE game modes. After playing the game for a while now, we believe that the various stations and modes could have been implemented in the world in a way that feels more natural. The stations scattered throughout the map are a lot more convenient to perform some of these actions. You are able to craft items that offer healing and give players buffs but we never found a need to really use them.
I think the main hub area is awful. It does the awful thing of slowing down your character, not allowing you to jump over little fences, and makes it unbearable to navigate. It brings back awful feelings I had with Anthem’s and The Division 2’s main hub areas. Which I despise. Luckily, if you have discovered other “camps” or campfires around the map, you can fast travel there and even summon a vehicle you have stored in your garage.
Joel
The most important part of the game may be the gameplay loop. Overall, everything here feels very good and technically solid. Ubisoft has a lot of experience when it comes to 3rd person gameplay and shooting mechanics. They also know how to keep people playing their games for months and years on end. There are some hitches when it comes to some of the AI throughout the game. At times, enemies just seemed pretty stupid. One thing that has to be said is, not all players are having the same experience when it comes to Ghost Recon Breakpoint.
The problem overall with the gameplay is that it all sorta just has gameplay mechanics, but none of them were really tailored for this game’s experience. However the sandbox of play, the content, the looting, and everything about this game is meant to offer is better off with friends. It just begs you to ignore any tension about the game, and even then, the game itself does not feel good nor rewarding. This game has a lot of jingling keys; a mile wide and a centimeter deep.
Ethan
I still really enjoy the gameplay loop of investigating areas for clues or information about the island and the people involved in the grand scheme of the story. With each clue, I inch my way closer to a mission that will give me some more story beats about the tech company of the island and Walker the main antagonist.
Joel
The gameplay loop in Ghost Recon Breakpoint reminds me a lot of Metal Gear Solid 5. The fact that it’s not game over when I get spotted is very alluring to me, a person that is not great at stealth games. At the same time, the fact that I can take out strong enemies with a single headshot feels really good. It makes sense that in a military game, a headshot will take out any enemy.
Julian
Ubisoft has learned that the name of the game is loot. In Ghost Recon Breakpoint, Ubisoft has added the gear score system from the Division games. For the serial collectors out there, this is a welcomed addition. There are a ton of chances for the player to collect and buy loot throughout the world. Missions award loot, enemies drop it and the many camps have boxes scattered around. Again, as stated before, if you are good enough at the game, you can enter various areas that are above your gear score and still take out enemies to gain some goodies. Much like Zelda: Breath of the Wild, the player is given the freedom to access any part of this game world. Nothing is stopping you from going straight to the final boss, but will you be equipped for this battle?
Overall, we have to say that Ghost Recon:Breakpoint is a game with some flaws but it packs in a lot of fun. If you are a fan of the open worlds of Grand Theft Auto, Metal Gear Solid 5, and Zelda: Breath of the Wild, you are going to find something to like out of this title. The story can be a little campy but there are a lot of good bits to enjoy hear. Like many of Ubisoft’s other recent games, there is a strong team behind Breakpoint and we are excited to see what updates and additions will come to the title.
With all of that said, who is this game for? If you are a long time fan of Ghost Recon and Ubisoft, give this game a try. If you have been away from the franchise for a while, this may be a little different from what you are used to. This is not necessarily a bad thing. If you aren’t one hundred percent sure, rent the game. There may be some wonky things here and there but there is a lot of fin to be had with Ghost Recon Breakpoint.
