Familiarity a strong point
GHOST Recon has enjoyed quite an evolution since it first landed back in the early Noughties. A solid, military simulator, what was starting to become a paint-by-numbers actioner, took a step up in 2017 with the release of Wildlands.
Under development from a new studio, Ubisoft, the franchise’s 10th outing was the first to feature an open world environment. And while Wildlands was a much needed breath of fresh air for the series, it did manage to incur the wrath of the entire country of Bolivia, thanks to its offensive portrayal as a violent, lawless, drug-state.
Lessons learned, and Ubisoft has set Breakpoint in fictional Auroa, a remote Archipelago in the Pacific Ocean. Auroa, owned by Silicon Valley types Skell Tech, has fallen in to the hands of The Wolves, former Ghosts led by the charismatic Colonel Walker.
Walker, portrayed by Punisher and Walking Dead star Jon Bernthal, is the absolute stand-out of the game delivering a Brando-esque, Apocalypse Now, level performance.
His monologues are mesmerising, and thank God, because as the game progressed I needed something to shake off the strong sense of déjà vu. Auroa has myriad environments to explore from lush forests to snowy mountains – it’s an open world of gargantuan proportions that’s lots of fun to run, fly and drive across.
The loot and shoot system has been streamlined, with your character Nomad automatically collecting items, from ammo and health packs, to useful plants. Gaining your first skill point prompts you to choose a classstealth-specialist panther, sharpshooter, field medic or assault. In co-op you’ll now find yourself grouped with complementary classes, so you’ll no longer find yourself with three other sharpshooters.
Perhaps the biggest shake-up comes in the single player game, where you are no longer part of a team, you’re a lone fighter in a strange land.
Once you’ve sat through the barrage of tutorials, cutscenes and exposition, you are free to take on any of the missions dotted around the Auroa map.
Colour coded to show main and side missions, investigations or faction quests, arriving at your destination triggers a familiar process – collect clue, speak to person, fight to the death, and continue ad nauseum until you can return to base and unlock your achievement.
To be fair, the excellent ‘exploration mode’ – borrowed straight from Assassin’s Creed Odyssey – removes the waypoints, giving you more of a rough approximation of the area where an objective is located. Being allowed to use your investigative skills is really refreshing, and I found it to be a strength of Breakpoint’s.
What isn’t a plus point however are the microtransactions which have been liberally sprinkled throughout the game.
The scourge of modern gaming, even before the game was released much of the hype surrounding it was about the wealth of purchasable content you’d be able to buy: new character classes, raids, episodic content, live events, and much more.
There were rightly concerns that you could bypass the game’s grinding process, purchasing heavy weaponry from the outset for an unfair advantage in combat.
Many feared the game would become pay-to-win – a fear Ubisoft was quick to address and, as you would expect, dismiss.
That being said, I’m a little over 20 hours in to the game and have chosen to ignore the store.
I haven’t found myself prompted, or even tempted to put my hand in my pocket – and I have progressed strongly, and steadily through the missions.
There is still a very, very long way to go with Breakpoint – gameplay wise I’ve barely scratched the surface. But what I’ve found has been solid. Yes, the story is a little lacking, and yes, the gameplay feels very familiar – but then so does my favourite jumper, and I go back to that time and again because I know what I’m getting – reliable, dependable fun.
■ Bargain buy: £43.99 from 365games.co.uk