Review Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint.The biggest profession this year?

Photo: GamezillaTom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint

There is also a third category, i.e. games that I do not predict success, unless the creators redesign a huge number of elements so that they are usable and fun, and at the same time not tired after 3 hours. And here comes Ghost Recon Breakpoint - a game that managed to disappoint a person who had almost no expectations of it. This game is a technical nightmare, the story is bland, with embarrassing dialogue, the most horrible interface I've ever seen, and on top of that, Ubisoft has drenched the whole salad with microtransactions.

Wildlands 1 & 1/2

Over the years, the Ghost Recon series has sought its identity many times. As with Rainbow Six, the productions from 15, 10 and 5 years ago are different from those we see today. Two parts of Advanced Warfare and Future Soldier found their fans, but Ubisoft made an almost complete turn towards open worlds at one point. From Assassin's Creed, through Far Cry, Watchdogs, to The Division and even The Crew - open worlds sold the publisher's next games, although not all their installments were masterpieces.

The time has come to refresh the Ghost Recon brand and here too the decision was made - "open world". And so Ghost Recon Wildlands was born, telling the story of El Sueño, the distinctively tattooed cartel boss in Bolivia. Sending the Ghost squad to the Bolivian jungle went well. The plot, despite some stupidities, held together, and we felt that we were actually performing some mission in the vast areas of the open map. An interesting addition, however, was the constant presence of three companions controlled by Artificial Intelligence when we did not decide to play with live people.

Photo: GamezillaTom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint

Unlike, for example, The Division, in Ghost Recon Wildlands we didn't see health bars or colorful RPG equipment levels with statistics straight from real loot shooters. The emphasis was somewhere between scouting, stealth, headshots, character development, and quickly deciding when to open full fire on alerted enemies. A headshot was always fatal, which on the one hand made it easier to play, and on the other hand gave the creators a field to design interesting missions with hostages and forcing synchronous shots.

And most of these elements can also be found in Breakpoint. In fact, at first glance, both games are identical. So much so that the new installment could easily be called Wildlands 2, or even ... Wildlands: Season Pass. But he can't, because it would be stupid for "two" to be worse. And it is.

Plot? I guess it is

I wrote "probably" because I'm not entirely sure about what I witnessed and why the events that happened on the screen were the way they were. The introduction looks like this - there is a small archipelago of Auroa in the Pacific, which since the 1950s has been the stationing place of American troops. These officially stayed on the island until the mid-1990s. After the demilitarization of the area, former marine Mads Shulz stayed on Auroa and founded a commune on it for people who wanted to live away from the industrialized world.

Over time, the number of inhabitants of the island increased, and in 2008, the visionary Jace Skell became interested in it, who bought part of the archipelago to set up laboratories and factories working on artificial intelligence and the development of drones under the Skell Technology brand. Over time, paramilitary troops began to appear on the island - Skell's private army, and the Shulza commune had to seek shelter. The action of the game takes us to 2023, when all communication with the island is interrupted. The CIA decides to investigate and sends a Ghost Squad to Auroa. However, the helicopters are shot down, and the only survivor is the main character. His mission, of course, is to get things done by shooting at everything.

Photo: GamezillaTom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint

It is a pity that the script is illogical, and the dialogues do not match the characters and situations in which they are used. Faking jokes from scientists in suits whose loved ones are at risk is one side. On the other hand, we have dispassionate monologues that bring to mind the first Gothic or recently Mass Effect: Andromeda. Breakpoint also shares facial expressions with the latter production. Maybe apart from one character played by John Bernthal, known, among others, from the title role in the TV series The Punisher. However, the screenwriters were able to write a few weak lines of text for him as well.

Survival by force

In the first moments of the game, the developers try to emphasize how much survival elements are developed in Breakpoint. There are several of them, but their usefulness is highly debatable. Let's start with treatment. Out of combat it's automatic, but during combat we have to stick together ourselves. We can do it in several ways - like an Egyptian mummy, we have an unlimited supply of bandages, but this method of healing is extremely slow. The syringe works faster, magically sealing wounds.

Bandages also won't heal major injuries, such as a sprained leg. Interestingly, the injuries seem to be random and depend on the amount of damage taken, not the type of damage. In practice, jumping from the third floor may not do us anything, and a shot in the shoulder may dislocate the ankle. After depleting the life bar, our character falls unconscious to the ground and can be picked up by companions for several dozen seconds.

Photo: GamezillaTom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint

A moment later we get to know new survival elements. It's the ability/necessity to drink water and use swampy or sandy ground to make a makeshift Arnold-style camouflage in the first Predator. And although it sounds good in theory, in practice it turns out to be as cool as the infamous pills in Far Cry 2, which we were forced to swallow at regular intervals. Not at all.

Smearing yourself with mud looks good and helps you get closer to your opponents. However, when we hide behind a stone and approach them from behind, we won't be noticed even in a pink reflective suit. On the other hand, camouflaged from the front, we won't be able to approach. In practice, this mechanism will only allow us to wait out the enemy patrol when we get too far to hide. And the developers realized the limitations of this element, because they added drones to the game that fly over the map in search of enemies. And when the appropriate sign appears, we must quickly fall, roll and wait a few seconds. Otherwise, we'll get a rocket to the head.

Drinking water is also enforced. During the game, the stamina bar (or stamina, as some prefer) shrinks, which is not so impressive. A short sprint or a small climb is enough to make our character gasp for good. Over time, with successive exhaustions, the total pool of available hit points also decreases. However, the process is reversible when we drink water. In practice, it is enough to do this once an hour. In turn, we can replenish water in mountain streams, but our heroes do not mind, for example, chlorine from the pool. Strong stomachs.

Photo: GamezillaTom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint

There is also the option of camping, crafting, cooking, or writing a few words in a notebook to increase the experience points gained by 10% for an hour. In a sense, we light a bonfire (but only in designated places!) and we can choose some statistics to improve for the next time. Something like Final Fantasy XV, but less "fantasy" and more "final".

Alone on the web

OK, we've started the game, we're alone, exploring the immediate area. We had already patched ourselves up, refilled the water and splashed mud. We also collected the first weapons and quests. Around us on the map there are question marks straight from The Witcher 3, and the map itself seems huge again. It looks quite decent, because the graphics are nice and the music is pleasant. The plot explains why we're alone, but it doesn't explain why, after finding Shulz's camp, we meet dozens of agents just like us.

Photo: GamezillaTom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint

Hub ripped straight from The Division in that title had the most plot-explained sense of existence. In Breakpoint, the plot explains exactly why such a location has no right to be a place for other players to organize. We can spoil the theme of "the only survivor" even earlier. Although this time the bots are not our companions, we can play with others online from the very beginning.

And then it's even a bit better on the one hand, and even worse on the other. Better, because together you can laugh at the bug festival, and worse, because there is information chaos caused by the worst designed interface I've seen in AAA games in recent years. Mission tracking is a nightmare. Each player sees a different one, and you can track up to three at the same time. Worst of all, this pool is divided between main missions, side missions, faction challenges and searching for weapons and add-ons. Setting markers for other players doesn't always work as intended, and looking at the minimap is difficult... the screen-closing mission interface. We can turn it off, but then we will also lose ... the minimap. The solution is to completely disable mission information, which in turn has to launch the menu every time we want to read about the objectives. But at least the map will stay.

Photo: GamezillaTom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint

It's also unintuitive to use gadgets. As many actions are performed depending on whether the appropriate button is pressed or held down, sometimes we throw a grenade for no reason. I also happened to die because of the rocket launcher, which is one such gadget. It turns out that pressing the right mouse button, normally responsible for aiming with any other weapon, in the case of a rocket launcher causes ... a change of weapon. Pressing sprint will work in a similar way. Why? I don't know, but I can guess.

Maybe at least the tasks are interesting? Well, I'm going to surprise you - they're not. After a few hours, the action starts, there is a little plot-twist, but everything breaks down to "get to this place, kill everyone, find the chest / documents / informant". You then find out about the next place where you go/ride/fly/swim to kill everyone and find another chest/document/informant. Then you go back to the hideout, talk to the boss, a few other people and you already know where the next place is ... you know the rest.

Some loot, some shooter

Ghost Recon Breakpoint wasn't just a hub filled with players that stole from The Division. The loot system is also very similar, and fans of the latest Assassin's Creeds will also find themselves in it. So we have, like in popular loot shooters, weapons with statistics, different colors and levels. By dismantling them, we can get scrap that will allow us to upgrade weapons. This makes scrap collecting fans will love it, but on the other hand, it causes the whole system to focus on collecting the highest average until we reach the maximum levels. As it was in The Division, but also, for example, in Destiny.

Photo: GamezillaTom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint

The point is that we collect the better equipment, the higher its level we have. So if we shoot great with DRM, but we find a submachine gun with a higher rating, the only sensible solution is to put it on so that we can continue to get better and better equipment. So we go from case to case, replacing all the equipment we have with us. So there is no point in upgrading or creating builds for specific types of weapons. There is one rule - you assume what is best according to the numbers generated by the game.

The system in Breakpoint is so tiresome that weapon stats in the form of damage are tertiary. A shot in the head is always fatal, which was supposed to reduce disproportions and meant that in Wildlands everyone walked with the weapon that suited him the most in terms of gameplay. It's a pity, because the shooting itself is fun in the game. The power of the weapon can be felt, just like in The Division 2. Especially the shots from the sniper rifles are "juicy" and you can feel the weight of the flying bullet.

(Not so) microtransactions

As I write this, a large amount of microtransactions are disappearing from Ghost Recon Breakpoint. No wonder, because the possibility of buying not only experience bonuses (we've gotten used to it) or skins for weapons and characters (I'm totally for it), but also directly acquiring new skills for money was an absurd and stupid idea. The intention of the creators was "an opportunity to catch up with players who started playing earlier", i.e. buying the opportunity after buying the game to not play the game we paid for, in order to achieve the progress we would have gained by playing anyway. Brilliant, right?

Photo: GamezillaTom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint

But luckily they won't be there anymore, so chill out, right?. Oh no. Microtransactions will be exactly as described above, but later. Because the mistake, according to Ubisoft, was not their appearance, but their appearance on the day of release. And the week after? Well, then you will have to catch up with the best, so you can pay. There are also annual passes. The first one can be found in the Gold and Ultimate editions, in the base game and later you will have to pay extra for new classes and story quests. Some of the skins and weapons are also closed behind a paywall and without the appropriate version of the game or additional payment, there is no chance to get them. Also, the leveling system for specific weapons requires an increasing supply of spare parts, which we get by dismantling other rare weapons. In practice, we are forced to use weaker weapons, disassemble dozens of good weapons, or ... buy raw materials. Easy.

Technical laziness or haste?

Above all this, there are also technical problems. I perfectly understand that a game on such a scale simply cannot be free of bugs and glitches, but in Breakpoint their accumulation is all too visible. Playing in a three-person team, every move one of us stopped because he either wanted to take a screenshot or laughed out loud over what was happening on the screen.

Blocking on objects, invisible vehicles, textures and models not loading are just the basic palette of problems. Collision detection is very bad. Collisions of different objects often lead to funny situations. I also have the impression that the creators took a bit of a shortcut, removing some of the causes of the problems, instead of focusing on solving them. A Jeep can explode almost automatically when it comes into contact with a motorcycle. Why, if the bumper sheet touches the tire rubber on the motorcycle? I don't know, but maybe the collision calculation was throwing up too many errors. We explode, we die, we learn not to run into vehicles, there are no collision problems.

Photo: GamezillaTom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint

I have similar feelings about the door. And basically everything that is connected by hinges. There are no opening hinged doors in the game. At all. The native wooden huts are always open, and in Skell's headquarters and mansions everything is sliding and automatic. So none of the characters touch the door, no character animation related to this procedure is triggered? Why? Again, I can only make assumptions based on some observations. When more than one character reaches the loot chest, they lift its lid. This splits each time to match the animations of both characters. Split lids influence each other, causing glitches in the form of strange vibrations. Perhaps the same thing happened with the door, but then a figure might have stood in the doorway and… I can only guess what happened then.

At best, the lack of improvement is also seen in the artificial intelligence algorithms, so that even on the highest difficulty level, the game does not pose any challenge for two or three averagely smart players with a sense of tactics at the level of a deer running into the road. Opponents represent an even lower level. I complained about the stupidity of the enemies in The Division 2, but I guess I have to apologize to them. In Breakpoint, enemies not only run senselessly under the crosshairs, they even do it without trying to flank us. The old trick of alerting the garrison and entering the building with one door also works - a snake of enemies will pour in one after another, and the ability to kill with a single headshot will turn this place into a corpse factory. Literally. You can also shoot everyone from 200 meters and the effect will be similar.

Photo: GamezillaTom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint

So far I also don't know whether to laugh or cry over the driving mechanics. Motorcycles behave the same, regardless of whether we are riding a cross or a village "mosquito". Ten-meter jumps on rocks are normal. Cars, in turn, behave like cardboard boxes, and the squeak of tires on the mud only completes the picture of this embarrassment.

PvP

Just when I thought that the next evening, pushing the boring story forward, I would just turn off the game and go sit in the corner or do some other more interesting thing, I remembered that he had still be PvP mode. And is. Completely similar to that of Wildlands and completely unremarkable.

There is quite a bit of content at the moment. Several maps and random modes, two teams of four players and a festivities of two tactics - spotting the enemy through the scope of a sniper rifle or sneaking up the entire opposing team from behind with a quick rush. There can be several objectives - from simple elimination of the enemy to planting explosives in one of two places. I just replaced them all. Seriously.

Photo: GamezillaTom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint

A new feature is the shrinking zone, which reduces the advantage of snipers in the final stages of the match. Somewhat like the popular Battle Royale games, the circle limiting the playing area forces you to fight on medium and close range in a stalemate.

Is everything so bad?

Is everything in Ghost Recon Breakpoint that bad? Well, no, after all, the game is the responsibility of a team that has repeatedly shown that some elements are refined to perfection. Graphically, the new Ghost Recon looks very good. Apart from the moments when something is not read or sleeps. The fire and smoke effects are a big step up, as are the animations. Contextually running in water with a rather comically leg-raising hero is a nice detail, but that's how we'd run knee-deep wading.

Photo: GamezillaTom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint

Collecting items without pressing buttons is another mechanic that simplifies and facilitates the fun. It is true that now we pick up any junk, but of the two evils, I prefer to clog my inventory than to position myself in the right way every time to pick up every item, including ammunition.

I don't want to say that Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint is a hopeless case, but there is some potential here that Ubisoft's new production does not want to take away. The technical side may someday improve, and secondary missions do not have to be a disadvantage for everyone. In the end, it's a cooperative game, and in any, even the most hopeless situation, buddies will save you. An evening with a good drink and a handful of friends is able to get a lot of fun out of Ghost Recon Breakpoint. Even if it's just laughing over the next glitches, poor acting, or the idiocy of the script. Strong 4/10.

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