rather than level-gating. No matter
how much armor someone is
wearing, if you shoot them in the
face, they die. This is generally how I
prefer shooters to work, and I’m glad
Ghost Recon sticks to this. But it also
means the first gun you pick up is
functionally very similar to the last.
Ubisoft’s struggle to make drab
military gear interesting as loot also
leads them to some absurd places,
where a trucker’s cap offers greater
protection than a crash-proof helmet.
These bolted-on systems come at
the cost of improving the core
experience, which, in the right
circumstances, can be enjoyable. Like
Wildlands, Breakpoint can be played
with up to four people. Personally I
found it most enjoyable with two, as
beyond that it’s difficult to play
stealthily. Specifically, one of us
would deploy as a sniper in an
overwatch role, while the other
performed the wetwork of infiltrating
bases and completing objectives.
Using this structure we quickly
fell into a fun routine, hovering over
bases in a helicopter and studying the
layout, before dropping off the sniper
at a nearby elevation point with a
good overview of the base. They
would then scout out enemy patrols
and take out straggling guards, while
the other player located an entry
point and tried to sneak
to the objective. If the
alarm was raised we’d
switch to all-out
assault, which Ghost
Recon facilitates nicely
through its slick aiming
and lethal-feeling guns.
Played in this way
Breakpoint is fun in
short bursts. However, it takes little
for the enjoyment to stall. Trying to
navigate Auroa on foot is incredibly
difficult due to its craggy terrain,
compounded by Breakpoint’s weirdly
specific simulation of traversing
slopes. If you run too quickly down
one or try to climb one that’s too
steep, you’ll start to slide, before
eventually stumbling into a health-
depleting roll. Ground-based vehicles
are also generally a no-go, as they too
easily alert enemies to your presence.
There is some method behind this
apparent madness. Breakpoint is
notionally a survivalist shooter, one
where your team is deep inside
enemy territory, forced to subsist in
the wilderness over a long period of
time. Essentially, it wants to be a
Bravo Two Zero simulator. The scree-
40
VERDICTTrying to
navigate Auroa
on foot is
incredibly
difficultCOOKIE CUTTER
How Ubisoft is it?Large map covered in iconsCookie-cutter quest designStapled-on systemsDronesLarge, obnoxious UIMurderable animalsSidestepping its own politicsNPCs whose behavior is
at-odds with the situationIconic capPoorly stapled-on
mechanics and lack of
polish make Breakpoint’s
open-world tactics not
worth the time.scrambling mechanic is one of
several ideas intended to reflect this.
One of the few ideas I genuinely like
about Breakpoint is the way your
character gets covered in mud and
snow as they traverse the terrain. You
can even use it to camouflage
yourself, although since most of the
fighting takes place in buildings and
urbanized areas, the system doesn’t
get much of a look-in.
The other major
component to the
survival element is
bivouacs. These are
unlockable fast-travel
points where you can
set-up a camp that lets
you purchase and craft
new items, summon
vehicles, and activate
buffs by eating, drinking and cleaning
your gun. It’s not a terrible idea, but
it is terribly implemented, forcing
you to watch a protracted cutscene
every time you bivouac, even if
you’ve already been to that spot.
Once you’ve done that, you’re
forced to contend with a dreadful
menu, which amongst other
problems, doesn’t let you bulk buy
basic items like grenades, or
quick-spawn a specific vehicles. It’s
so slow and clunky that, despite
the advantages they offer, you’ll
avoid them wherever possible.ON YOUR OWN
Breakpoint caters particularly
poorly for solo players. The AI
companions who accompanied
you in Bolivia have been cut outcompletely, but the game doesn’t
compensate for this in solo play.
Breakpoint is not an especially
difficult game, but there are points
when it becomes punishingly hard to
play solo. In one example, where I
had to defend a scientist stood at the
end of a causeway, the only way I
could stop my position being rushed
by enemies was to deliberately crash
a helicopter in the doorway from
which they approached. Criticizing a
co-op game for poor solo play may
not seem fair, but there are plenty of
similar titles on the market which are
enjoyable when played alone, such as
Remnant: From the Ashes or Ubisoft’s
own The Division 2.
Even when played properly in
co-op, Breakpoint never evolves
beyond the basic teamwork I’ve
outlined. The upgrade tree, which
becomes the main thrust for
progression in the absence of
compelling or distinctive loot, is far
too anaemic. The most interesting
unlockable tool is a torch for cutting
through fences, and even this is so
slow to use that it’s generally easier
to find another point of entry. Your
objectives, meanwhile, nearly always
involve collecting ‘intel’ from a base,
which then usually points you to
another base where more intel has to
be collected. Sometimes you’ll need
to extract an individual from an area
or assassinate a specific target, but
these are much rarer by comparison,
and more bespoke mission structures
are one in a dozen if you’re lucky.
Ghost Recon: Breakpoint is a
bizarre Frankenstein’s monster of a
shooter, functional in a basic sense,
but fundamentally at odds with its
own existence. The only breakpoint
here is for Ubisoft’s carte-blanche
open world design, which completely
loses sight of the core experience
Ghost Recon is supposed to offer.
The systems borrowed from other
Ubisoft games are about as fitting
for a tactical shooter as a clown
suit, while the toolbox available
to the player is nowhere near
deep enough to spread across the
hundreds of samey activities
filling the world. If Wildlands
was disappointing, Breakpoint
edges close to disaster.REVIEW