➤ Ghost Recon Breakpoint, the review 🎮

Making the Ghost Recon Breakpoint review it was not easy due to timing that defining narrow is an understatement, even more so considering the extent of an open world of this type and the need to analyze in the most in-depth way possible not only the novelties and the merits, but also the critical issues which stem, in particular, from its not being a brave title. Because, let's face it, the premises and promises of Ubisoft for this new chapter of the series they were talking about a deep and interesting experience, characterized by survival mechanisms that should have transformed the caciarone shooter we met with Wildlands into something closer to the origins of the franchise, which was born as a high-strategic rate FPS.

Instead, what is proposed to us in the game, after a first suggestive phase, is an all too direct sequel to the previous episode which, however, has been removed from the vocation. a cooperative offline, eliminating AI-controlled companions, and added a loot shooter substrate that pushes you to explore any corner of the map in search of crates containing progressively higher level weapons, accessories and equipment.

History, characters, setting

As told in the tried of the first hours of Ghost Recon Breakpoint, the history of the game revolves around a major corporation that works to improve people's lives and has settled on a fictional island, Auroa, creating a real paradise made of renewable sources, high technology and suggestive landscapes that alternate different biomes within a few kilometers. Behind this idyllic project, however, there is also a production of war drones that appeals to a former Ghost, Cole Walker (played by Jon Bernthal): Together with his army of mercenaries, the Wolves, the man takes possession of the Skell Technology and the entire island, thus posing as a concrete threat to the most important nations of the world.

Our character, Nomad (created through a not particularly rich editor) is sent on the spot to lead a team of over thirty men, but Walker's defense systems intercept the helicopters and shoot them down, decimating the Ghost team and putting us in a particularly difficult situation: alone, wounded and in a place swarming with soldiers enemies.

After an initial phase in which shooter mechanics and the importance of an approach are introduced stealth, also highlighted in this chapter by the possibility of blend in with the terrain, Ghost Recon Breakpoint involves us in a sequence of missions that can be linked to the main plot, to the support of the factions that move within Auroa or unlocked by interacting with the many characters with whom we will come into contact during the campaign .

These figures are located inside one map generous dimensions, divided into zones to be explored, each with a set of base camps (or "bivouacs") where you can move quickly and which allow you to take care of the protagonist by temporarily improving specific skills, creating objects, buying and leaving the camp at a set time to be able to move in the sunlight or at night.

Compared to Bolivia, the new openworld it appears wide but not very characterized: there are suggestive landscapes, red beaches lapped by water (very well done) and snow-capped mountains, dense forests and boundless plains crossed by roads, but nothing that actually remains imprinted in the mind.

Campagna in single player...

Ghost Recon Breakpoint can be played fully in single player, if desired, even if the degree of difficulty of the missions is visibly higher than the aforementioned Ghost Recon Wildlands and the lack of companions controlled by artificial intelligence feels a lot.

The developers have deeply rebalanced the mechanics of the synchronized shooting, which in the previous episode allowed you to tag enemies with the drone and order the other members of the team to eliminate them accurately and on time, effectively trivializing the conquest of the various enemy bases. Now this resource is available as a consumable, in limited quantities, and requires you to actually frame an opponent to be able to "stick" on him a drone that will explode on command.

The management of weaponry heavy, such as rocket launchers, has also been limited to a consumable, but in this specific case it very often happens that the mechanism jams due to a glitch... one of many, but we'll talk about it shortly.

By acting resolutely it is possible to flush out the guards, make targeted shots with silenced rifles, quickly change positions to lose track if they have been identified and start over, eroding blow for blow the defenses of the settlement on duty. Running into the game over is a far from remote possibility even at the level of difficulties intermediate, but there is nothing to despair: on the return we will be able to resume with the eliminations from where we left them, since the enemies killed do not carry out respawn.

In concert with the progressive release of new ones ability, with the selection of classes and the continuous upgrading of weapons and equipment, completing the campaign alone stands as a perfectly viable path. The problem, more than anything else, is the extreme repetitiveness of the proposed pattern: you go to a place, pass the guards, interact with a character or find a document that says that the target is actually from a other part, then you get back on the road and repeat the same thing once or twice.

Taking a cue from Assassin's Creed Odyssey, the possibility of playing in exploration or guided mode has been added: in the latter case the objectives are indicated automatically, otherwise you have to check the documents and cross the information to understand where to go: a pinch of extra thickness that can perhaps turn a blind eye to the lack of variety.

... or in a cooperative?

The choice to radically change the approach with respect to Wildlands and make the cooperative available only online, with companions controlled by other players, he undoubtedly boasts great potential but also some edges that should not be underestimated.

In fact, if you organize yourself with a group of friends, starting all at the same time, it is possible to carry on the story of Ghost Recon Breakpoint, to range among the many missions or simply explore the map in search of loot having a good time and even forgetting the many glitches that currently plague the experience, particularly when playing in multiplayer.

You all get on a helicopter (still terribly slow: the feeling is that with a motorcycle the objectives are reached sooner) and you have a laugh seeing the characters sitting in the nothingness outside the vehicle, you accept unexplained deaths gladly , the constant slowness in the appearance of weapons in the hands of the Ghosts, the projections in the air that defy any law of physics, the bugs, that eliminate the noise of certain vehicles, the problems related to stalking (you lean out from behind a door, press the left trigger to quickly aim at the enemy's head but the character points the rifle at the wall) and an automatic aim that on PS4 it works little and badly, unable to smooth the corners of a gunplay that despite the many sensitivity adjustments appears jerky, with a discreet input lag and dead zones that weigh particularly on precision shots.

We said: there is fun, there is no doubt, but if you don't organize yourself with someone and rely on the normal matchmaking things take a very different turn and reveal the limits of the choice made by Ubisoft.

It is in fact possible to select the preference between main missions, factions, exploration and "role play", but not to choose the specific task if perhaps we are completing the story and we need help for a particularly difficult quest. In case you need to communicate, propose, vote and it is not certain that in the end we do as we want, indeed there is inevitably the risk of catching some spoiler accessing more advanced phases of the campaign than where we had arrived.

The PvP modes

In addition to online co-op, Ghost Recon Breakpoint includes two competitive multiplayer modes for up to eight players, Elimination and Sabotage. The first is a classic team deathmatch with an extra element represented by the progressive narrowing of the scenario, while the second requires you to place an explosive in turn and defend the position to prevent the opposing team from defusing the bomb. Both options appear frankly of pure outline with respect to PvE content, but they can be exploited to easily get some skill points to spend for the progression of the character, which is part of a shared system.

Progression, news and microtransactions

As mentioned at the beginning, Ghost Recon Breakpoint tries to introduce some very interesting news on paper: mechanisms survival e RPG which manifest themselves in the form of physical resistance and debilitating wounds, to be quickly bandaged under penalty of a consistent loss of mobility and resistance; a loot shooter-style approach that heavily emphasizes the search for crates, weapons and materials around the map; the online-only cooperative approach, which we have already talked about; a weakening of the drone and of the synchronized shooting for a gameplay more difficult, with less assistance; and finally a rather multifaceted progression system, which allows you to select one of the four available classes at any time (Assault, Shooter, Panther and Field Medic) and spend the skill points earned on the field to unlock a whole series of improvements.

If this last feature works properly and concretely allows you to adopt different playstyles, unfortunately everything else appears sketchy: the much talked about emphasis on realism immediately reveals itself as a largely negligible gimmick, but above all the enormous amount of loot available. it translates into laughable increases in the effectiveness of weapons, so much so that two rifles of very different levels have very similar effects against targets and you have to really get to the top equipment to notice any difference. This is an understandable choice from the point of view of balance, because it is clear that significantly increasing the damage and / or accuracy of the weapons would have translated into an inconsistent degree of challenge already after a few hours.

At the same time, however, we realize that the effort of going around looking for new loot is not adequately rewarded, and consequently we tend to limit efforts a lot.

Then there is the question of microtransactions, which has inevitably generated controversy and that Ubisoft has managed badly, trying to run for cover when it was too late. It is possible to complete the game without making any purchase in the nourished shop in-game, but doubts arise in relation to the upgrading of weapons in the most advanced stages and the rarity of materials Required: Shadows that could further sink the game's reputation.

PlayStation 4 Trophies

Fifty-one Ghost Recon Breakpoint Trophies are earned by completing campaign missions and specific assignments, unlocking all classes, and spending time on side quests. There are of course different achievements related to kills in various circumstances, including executions and headshots, as well as the upgrades available for the character.

Narration, interface and technical realization

If the story behind Ghost Recon Breakpoint is fairly linear and offers very few surprises compared to the premises, the way in which it is told moves between highs and lows: the interpretation of the actors in the dubbing Spanish is technically good, but the dialogue lacks the emphasis one would expect from certain situations and the very basic audio design doesn't help.

The quality of cutscene it seems superior compared to Wildlands, but the graphic inconstancy also plays a role in these situations and creates a very mixed situation.

From the point of view of the in-game indicators, a good job has been done, since you can choose to move without a map or activate the radar and information on the current mission with a touch of the d-pad. On the other hand, theinterface accessible from the pause menu, which not only appears deadly slow and heavy in the operations that one finds oneself to carry out continuously (see the equipment adjustments), but also unnecessarily cumbersome in the management of the information that accompany each individual assignment, and which require our intervention (a simple gimmick too, though) every time we come into possession of new clues in order to "solve" the enigma of the moment.

The feeling in these situations is that the graphics engine makes a beastly effort, yet during the action on PlayStation 4 Pro no particular blunders are noted, with i 30 frames per second which are maintained consistently, no matter what happens on the screen, and two different display options to emphasize resolution or video quality, in the latter case using more sophisticated effects. This goes to embellish the surfaces with reflections and shaders that add thickness and realism to the visual sector, and which indulge in an evident pop-up phenomenon only when we explore the map aboard a helicopter. The qualitative level of the assets, however, is highly inconstant, and so it happens to pass from evocative and convincing scenarios to others that are much less brilliant.

Comment

Tested version PlayStation 4 Price 67,90 € Resources4Gaming.com

7.0

Readers (58)

6.4

Your vote

Ghost Recon Breakpoint is a half-successful project, which in Ubisoft's intentions should have renewed the Wildlands formula thanks to greater depth and interesting survival mechanics, but in fact it limits itself to re-proposing it, imposing an online cooperative only with so much potential but also the inevitable edges related to matchmaking and poorly organized situations. This is not the only aspect of the game that does not fully convince, see also the loot shooter-style approach managed in an approximate way, the repetitiveness of the missions, the intricacy of the interface and the formidable amount of glitches that can be encountered during the matches, some of which are quite problematic. Breakpoint has some great moments and within certain limits it works, has fun, gives satisfaction ... but it was legitimate to expect more.