is to ignore the guns’ stats and opt
for those with the highest power
ratings, then upgrade them with parts
scavenged from dismantled weapons,
you’ll start to be able to cope easily
enough with enemies like the machine
gun-equipped heavies.
Give it a shot
Another move which might not play
particularly well with Ghost Recon
diehards is Breakpoint’s alteration of
sync shot, the franchise’s crucial and
much-loved mechanism for taking
down multiple enemies with a single
action. In Breakpoint, you must use
sync shot drones – up to three at a
time – to get your shooty satisfaction,
via a process which involves aiming
at each enemy while tagging them
individually with the left bumper,
which is pretty fiddly.
The skill tree, at least, will be
familiar to anyone who has played
a previous Ghost Recon game,
containing a mix of abilities, useful
objects and perks. The maximum
number of perks you can equip is
three, though, so before long, you find
yourself ignoring perks which might
come in handy in certain situations
but would otherwise remain unused, in
favour of things you don’t really want.
One thing you can’t criticise
Breakpoint for lacking, though, is size.
The map is vast and with entire trees
of faction missions and a branching
storyline, it’s packed with an almost
bewildering amount of content.
Breakpoint is a game which has
the depth to keep you occupied for
months, and Ubisoft has a plan to add
even more content on a regular basis.
But while many would see that as
a plus point, you can’t help feeling
that Ubisoft’s obvious desire to turn
it into a game-as-a-service along
the lines of GTA Online is what has
led to Breakpoint’s core being so
disappointing. If developer Ubisoft
Paris had reduced the game’s scope –
at least at launch – and concentrated
on eliminating its systemic flaws
instead, it would have been much
more fun to play.
But sadly, even while you’re finding
elements in the game that are
commendable – and discovering that
it’s much more fun and considerably
easier to play in conjunction with other
players co-operatively (presumingyou have the organisational skills
and enough spare time to assemble
a squad) – the constant feeling that
you’re making headway despite its
fundamental flaws renders playing it a
curiously joyless experience.
It simply isn’t as much fun to play
as 2017’s Ghost Recon Wildlands,
which leaves us worrying about the
future of the franchise. Breakpoint
certainly ticks more marketing boxes
than Wildlands, with its sprawling loot
system and extensive endgame, but
it also feels like it has succumbed
to that modern scourge among
developers: design by committee.
Hopefully, Ubisoft will be able
to fix the cover system and erratic
respawning via updates and add a
grappling hook – although the former
may just be too fundamental for that
to be possible. Until that happens,
sadly, Ghost Recon Breakpoint will
continue to disappoint. QPOST-LAUNCH
PLANS “Players at
different stagesof the game can
still compete on
a level basis”
OXM VERDICT
Breakpoint is huge
and meaty, but
fundamental flaws
suck most of the
fun out of it.5
LEFT The drone
is back, yet it
doesn’t play as
prominent a role
as it did in
Wildlands.
BELOW Stealth
swimming’s back,
but enemies
always seem to
spot your
doggy paddle.The first Ghost Recon game surfaced on Xbox way back 2001, and it wasn’t half badOne aspect of
Breakpoint that is
beyond reproach is
the sheer amount of
missions,
side-missions and
activities it contains,
and Ubisoft has
ambitious plans to
add more. The first
tranche of the extra
content planned to
drop for Breakpoint
over the next year has
already been put in
the game. Called
‘Episode 1 – Operation
Greenstone’, the most
exciting element it
contains is
Breakpoint’s first raid.
Ubisoft will continue
to add new
elements to the game
each month, including
a number of faction
missions, along with
three new classes in
the first year.More Xbox news at gamesradar.com/oxm THE OFFICIAL XBOX MAGAZINE 067REVIEW