Javier
First off, this is a beta and there were definite glitches and lag; some were actually hilarious, but that’s the whole point of these demos, so I’m not going to dwell on those as these will mostly be fixed by release (at least I hope so). Instead I’m going to focus on the positives, of which there are many.
Having played many Ubisoft games, I’d say they are one of my favourite developers; I could draw lots of comparisons to the games I’ve played before, and what you’re getting here is a mix of Ghost Recon: Wildlands and The Division 2, a really good mix. You’re getting the open world fun of something like Far Cry, but with the solid tactical gunplay of The Division (with more big bang explosions…); I compare it to Far Cry simply because there felt like there was a lot more going on when making your way to the point of interest, such as enemy trucks that gun you down, drones that mess up your HUD or civilians that need rescuing, but with that ‘ghosts’ element.
This is obviously very effective when you’re not noticed, and you can sync up the sniper shots. Most of the time, however, it all goes to pot and you’re left gunning as many people down as possible, which is equally as fun. The combat when working as a team of 4 worked, and felt heavy, more grounded and realistic, especially with the pretty violent melee animations that’ve now been put in. This felt closer to Ubisoft’s other games like Wildlands, which felt a bit more like a less crazy Just Cause to me.
What I liked in this is the same as what I enjoyed in wildlands which is the element of coming together as a team to take down groups of enemies but this feels more fluid and open than something like division. Add that into this seemingly huge open world map that has variations of jungle and mountains you’ll be hard pressed to not lose hours going from one location to another chasing down big Jon Bernhtal. There was also the soft RPG element of not only clearing the map but also collecting gear to upgrade your stats, a system I’d gotten used to in The Division 2.
Overall the game was fun when it should have been, whilst also displaying some solid gameplay. This will almost definitely be a day 1 purchase for me as I love games that have tactical online play, yet still manage to achieve a great feel on their own. For a better idea of how we got on check out our stream here:
Lance (aka LemurTango)
As a huge fan of the Ghost Recon franchise and having played Wildlands from its midnight release, I was excited to see what the next chapter had in store. From the outset, Breakpoint is a vast improvement on Wildlands. The gameplay and controls feel more fluid, interactions seem solid and the enemy AI certainly seems improved; I like how they’ve now added an RPG element into your loadout, the kit you equip isn’t purely cosmetic now, and you can equip both weapons and gear based on its levels and traits. Whether this means we’ll have repeated item drops in game is yet to be seen… However, they’ve seem to have that covered if they do, with the introduction of vendors at the social hub.
They seem to have taken aspects of The Division in the way that equipment can now be crafted or upgraded with materials found in the open world. Additionally they’ve introduced an in game credit system ‘Skell Credits’, which can be spent on upgrades and equipment. All of these additions are certainly pointing towards longevity within the game, whilst searching for that perfect piece of kit, or gathering enough material to craft that unique upgrade perk.
My only criticism so far for the game would be the objectives and mission selection system. At times you are bombarded with so much information that the real objective or goal can sometimes get lost in the multitude of icons, text and on screen prompts. I’m sure with practice this will become easier to decipher, but coming in fresh it can seem a little daunting and confusing. With the in game menu issues aside, this game is seriously shaping up to be social life killer and a firm favourite for co-op play within the Respawning team!
Joe
For me, this beta marked my entry into the Ghost Recon franchise, and to my surprise I had an absolute blast with Luke, Javier and Lance – The amount of tactical gameplay involved with picking your targets, coordinating with your mates and trying not to alarm the whole base you’re picking away at (Javier.), only to have one of them throw a grenade by accident and seeing all of those exclamation marks pop up brings so many laughs that I nearly fell out my bloody seat.
The RPG elements don’t feel forced or contrived, and blend in well with the gameplay too, much to my surprise – Exploration feels a little bit stilted, but out of the small portion we played there was a good amount of variety in the environments.
So am I excited for Ghost Recon: Breakpoint? I think I’ll be waiting till the full release to see how the bugfixing process pans out, but if things go well, I’d quite happily throw money towards it!
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