Let us remember: on 04.10.2019 Ubisoft’s “Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Breakpoint” was released and got off to a more than unsuccessful start. We also looked at the title at the time and came to the conclusion that we cannot and do not want to make a judgment. Shortly thereafter, Ubisoft saw its own mistakes, apologized to the players and announced numerous improvements that should help the game achieve its true potential over time. Even if the big improvement is still a long time coming and has been postponed again, we took a look at the preliminary adjustments and judge “Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Breakpoint” up to date.
Welcome to the jungle
Our mission takes us to Auroa, a large and vegetatively diverse island somewhere in the South Pacific. After a US freighter has disappeared from the radar off the island, we are sent out in the role of the elite soldier Nomad with a handful of people to see if everything is right. Because on the supposedly peaceful spot of earth there is chaos and military oppression. Above all, a former friend and comrade named Cole D. Walker (played by Walking Dead and The Punisher star Jon Bernthal) causes problems. He has taken control of the high-tech company Skell Tech on the island and wants to use its technology to terrorize the world with drones and weapons.
Unfortunately, our infiltration mission fails right at the start, because our helicopter is shot down, we are seriously injured on the ground and, after we have been put in place, try to get to safety while Walker and his special force, called Wolves, hunt for us. After grabbing a mobile stand, we take refuge in Erewohn, a kind of last refuge in the middle of the forest. This base also serves as a community hub, as we meet a large number of other players here who are getting new vehicles, weapons and attachments, optical adjustments or one of the numerous missions. Here, for example, faction missions are waiting for us, with which we can gain their trust, but also missions, with which we want to put a stop to Walker, explore the events on Auroa or compete against the Terminator, who appeared on the island, as in the last special event . All of this can either be done solo offline or in a team with other players. However, this is more difficult because if we don’t have a fixed squad we play with, we are rarely put together with more than one player.
In addition, should we join a new server, we suddenly come into play in a completely different place, and, if need be, we can only tell the other participants with great difficulty which mission objective we have in mind. The quick trip to the teammates also takes an incredibly long time and causes a lot of frustration. Especially since the game as a whole will not win a price for speed, whether traveling or even when we start the game or just go to a shop. In terms of performance, there is actually still a lot of room for improvement. It’s a shame.
In “Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Breakpoint” a lot is put on the loot that can be collected in the game world. Everywhere there are objects, weapons and resources to collect, with which we build up a large arsenal in order to combat increasingly strong enemies. Unfortunately, the entire loot system is not really clear, sometimes weapons with a higher level are much weaker than those with a lower level. There are also very limited possibilities for improving the weapons, here there are only a handful of simple points that affect damage or range. Adding attachments is relatively simple, but getting them is almost a mammoth task, especially since every weapon has its own attachments that you either have to unlock or create. This is absolutely not intuitive and player-friendly, but it stretches the playing time immeasurably.
But otherwise you definitely won’t get bored, at least when it comes to the amount of tasks. In the huge game world, numerous POIs await us to be explored, as well as enemy bases and bases, which we infiltrate and complete various goals. It is entirely up to us whether we prefer to sneak in quietly or act brutally. Variant 1 is much more interesting and appealing, even if various problems in the gameplay, such as completely illogical AI, which can already see us at thousands of meters, or drones that we can hardly break, make the whole thing very difficult, we can do that with variant 2, if we use an armed helicopter, shoot everything short and small in the shortest possible time without being seriously damaged. Here, too, the balancing is not fully developed.
If things get too hot for us and we want to retreat or heal ourselves, we are dealing with a complicated selection of medication, as well as only very limited possibilities to take cover, because our enemies have an almost superhuman eye, with which they keep an eye on us. If we play offline and go to the ground, we usually have no way of reviving ourselves, the comrades can save us online at any time, or we spawn with them again.
Online before offline
In general, it is very striking how much focus is placed on online gaming. Even Ubisoft describes in various info texts that the title was designed for the multi-player and also offers greater gaming enjoyment. Ubisoft seems to have tried to combine several game concepts to pick up fans of both offline and online gaming. Unfortunately, both are only partially successful. There simply seem to be too many compromises to make gameplay really appealing to the type of game. One should not misunderstand, the gameplay is not a total failure, but unfortunately not really appealing or consistently implemented. There are good ideas that are rarely thought through to the end or have really been worked out.
If you don’t mind, you get a lot of content, a huge open world and a lot of loot, but if you like well-developed gameplay, you will be bitterly disappointed. After all, friends get a lot from many customization options, because everything can be adjusted down to the smallest detail, regardless of whether the HUD, the controller or one of the many other items. One or the other will certainly get his money’s worth. Overall, it has to be said that “Ghost Recon: Breakpoint” doesn’t really know what its line is, and it doesn’t do any of the concepts really well.
Wonderful island
With the island of Auroa, Ubisoft has opted for an environment that offers various weather conditions. There are extensive jungle landscapes, snow-covered mountains and large industrial parks where there is something new to discover and explore everywhere, whether small bivouacs, abandoned outposts or military bases. In all of these there are numerous loot boxes, blueprints, skill points and information material to collect, which allows us to improve our equipment and learn even more about what is happening on the island.
The environments are very detailed and offer an appealing level of realism, sometimes you have to be very logical in order to penetrate every area. For example, we have to put an enemy in a headlock to gain access to closed rooms, because he doesn’t do us anything dead. It is therefore almost essential that we scout the target area extensively with our drone to mark all POIs. However, there is always the question of what we actually collect all the things for, such as the blueprints and the resources. We can use them to improve our weapons or to access new ones, but the simplest weapons are usually enough to take out the enemy, if you do not add a few drones. It is therefore rarely worthwhile to get stuck behind the rather opaque workbench and to forge new weapons and equipment.
In general, it should be noted that the title is incredibly confusing. There’s just too much of everything – too many missions that overload our huge map, too many collectibles you don’t really need, too many menu items to click through to reach your goal, and too many options, with which we can customize our game. You almost need a sophisticated battle plan if you just want to join a friend’s lobby. Unnecessary and time consuming!
All of these factors mean that we cannot really feel comfortable playing Ghost Recon Breakpoint. We never build a real bond with the title, and the relatively well-staged but not really new story can change that. This moves so much into the background that we quickly forget what our goal is. A real shame. The rather sparse soundtrack and the rather standard sound and graphics effects can no longer change that. The certain something is missing, which binds us to the controller for hours. So “Ghost Recon: Breakpoint would rather be in the drawer, hoping for a saving patch.
