GHOST RECON: BREAKPOINT
Uninspired PvP can’t save this open world
Just in case you missed last month’s review of the main game, we didn’t much care for Ubisoft’s latest covert soldier. Actually, we more or less thought it sucked. Save for some semi-strong gunplay, the publisher’s latest open-ended effort is one of the shabbiest sandboxes we’ve played on PS4. Its PvP isn’t much better.
Ghost War isn’t bad, there’s just nothing that makes it feel special. Breakpoint introduces the Shrinking Combat Zone, the most notable addition to Ghost Recon’s take on multiplayer since Wildlands. In non-nauseating PR speak, that means: “Fortnite and PUBG have decreasing play zone sizes. Let’s copy that!” On the sweeping sandbox map of a battle royale, a shrinking area of engagement makes sense. In an online shooter with boxy maps? It’s as logical as installing solar panels on a nuclear power plant… that’s mid-eruption.
Ghost War is split into two modes: Elimination and Sabotage. The former is a pretty basic team deathmatch where every player is limited to a single life per round. The latter is similarly vanilla, and boils down to Breakpoint’s version of a standard bomb defusal mode. Both concepts are as uninspired as the half-baked, hugely samey campaign.
At least Ghost War tries to respect your time. Though its matches are plodding and the brief moments when you actually unload your gun in the direction of another player all too fleeting, Ubisoft does incentivise continued play. For example, every action you take contributes to improving your character. Progression is shared between the campaign and Ghost War, so players who prioritise PvP over single-player grinding
BOTH BREAKPOINT’S PVP MODES ARE AS UNINSPIRED AS THE HALFBAKED, SAMEY CAMPAIGN.
can level up as easily as someone who focuses on story missions.
The presence of dedicated servers for Ghost War is also appreciated.
While the actual matches are uneventful, we never experience any problems finding a game. Server connections are rock-solid, and thanks to a reliable matchmaking rating system – or ‘MMR’, for kids in the know – rounds are usually closely contested affairs.
That doesn’t mean we suggest diving into Ghost War for hours. Your time would be better spent sweeping leaves during a hurricane. Still, Ubisoft deserves credit for putting together a PvP mode where finding a game is so easy… if very dull.
Unoriginal and drab, Ghost War offers the sort of snoozeworthy online ‘action’ you’d expect from arguably the year’s worst sandbox. Don’t waste your time on it. Dave Meikleham