Nathanicus Gamer First Impression: Ghost Recon: Breakpoint
Player Character
In the brilliant Ghost Recon: Wildlands, you begin the game as a competent four-man fire team. In this GR, you play as literally Some Guy. We’ll call him “Nomad.” Nomad is going it solo because he’s just that operator. Nomad also possesses the notable distinction of being the world’s least physically fit special operator. His typical running pace is an airborne shuffle. Though, is sufficient to keep pace with wild boars in the game... so that’s something. He can also “sprint” for about 100 meters before getting severely winded. Having served in the military as a combat arms Soldier, I can tell you that many Army and Marine basic Infantry Riflemen and Cavalry Scouts can run two miles in full battle rattle (15 to 45 lbs of assault gear) at a relatively fast pace (seven- to eight-minute miles) before getting so winded as to require rest. Special operators could probably do several miles in full battle rattle at a 10mph pace before being spent. Not Nomad, though. He sucks at war. I suppose in this alternate future militaries are more humane and allow soldiers with disabilities like Chronic Fatigue Syndrome to join. However, Nomad’s excess premature fatiguability makes him a distinct pleasure to control.
Without substantial upgrades, Nomad is not combat ready and mission capable. The initial phase of the game is basically grinding to gain XP to upgrade Nomad. With clever leveling, Nomad is ready to fight for real at about level 10. Nomad has to get started stacking bodies right away. The fastest way to do this is to commandeer an attack helicopter and light up enemy encampments. The large electric grid base has an attack helicopter with a number of missiles that asymptotically approaches infinity. It’s quite good fun.
This grinding requirement makes it feel more of an RPG than a Ghost Recon or other tactical game. This is quite a shame. Basic character development for a warfighter should’ve started in the training pipeline for whatever spec ops schools Nomad attended (as an Operation Detachment Delta tier one operator, I’m assuming he attended most of them).
Gameplay
My goodness, is this gameplay unbalanced. The gameplay was designed to allow a mix of guided mission-oriented play or open exploratory play. Only the latter is well-executed. The missions do not feel as a natural progression with challenge titrated up at a consistent brisk pace. Between main missions, faction missions, and side missions, there are just missions everywhere and it presents as a disorganized, untidy collage of missions. Most of them seem rather elongated and many are challenging. Aside from killing the Yautja from Predator, most of the missions in GR: W were not particularly difficult. The challenging aspects of Breakpoint are often for the wrong reasons. I’ve utterly failed a faction mission in Breakpoint during a cutaway because some enemies randomly appeared and slaughtered the lot of my defenseless charges. I suppose that’s realistic, at least. I mean, it could happen that way IRL.
Controls
The controls feel somewhat stiff due to a lagging response latency. When breaking contact from a fire fight, which is usually necessary because of being hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned by all arms units hitting one with small arms, mortars, drone strikes, and helicopter weapon systems, Nomad cannot be counted on to accelerate on command. This is particularly frustrating when indirect fire comes arcing in.
Navigating over rough terrain is also a particularly unwelcome challenge. Even the best of us have stumbled navigating the hillside. However, Nomad lacks even the most elementary athleticism. Nomad doesn’t have much vert. Nor is he good at climbing up using upper body strength. He gets exhausted when controlled sliding down a decline after about ten meters and stumbles down, losing health in the cascade. What a complete shame. A good drill instructor will teach privates to go up and down hills diagonally to avoid tumbling. This is good advice for this game, too.
Mobility in wheeled vehicles is realistic, at least. The controls are sensitive, they tip over when erratically maneuvered, and collisions are rather impactful. Off-roading through dense wooded areas, even on a dirt motorbike, can be perilous. The relative speeds are also deranged. It is entirely possible to outrun a military helicopter while driving a bradykinesic pickup truck over winding roads. That just shouldn’t be.
Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures
The kit that I prefer is that of a sharpshooter. The combination of a long rifle with scope for stealthy hits on small buddy team patrols and an LMG for achieving high volume fire superiority while engaged in a pinch is optimal in my opinion. This game is overwhelming. No where on the open world is safe. Engagements are best avoided and, when engaged, always be looking to quickly win decisively or promptly break contact. One should assume reinforcements are always en route during a fire fight. I also prefer toting a combination of rocket launcher (for felling birds) and frag grenades (for angling additional geometries while engaged).
The human enemies are not particularly formidable. They are quick to give up chase, easily diverted and tricked. The drone enemies can be a nightmare. They attack in swarms from the land and air. The large tracked land drones are nigh invincible. They should be avoided. The PMC enemy provides a seemingly ubiquitous presence with frequent patrols by land, sea, and air. The player must maintain camo discipline. The best way is to go prone or stealth swin, which Nomad can do for an impressive duration in a demonstration of his only real natural athletic talent. However, for some peculiar reason Nomad cannot go prone in shallow water. He can fill his canteen in it, though. So, presumably, he understands how shallow water works conceptually.
Typically, I will infiltrate a location by doing drone recon, playing hit and run with peripheral patrols to test the scale of response, taking out snipers at dusk whilst there’s some visibility, cutting the power by sabotaging the generator after dark, and sneaking in after my objective. If that seems too perilous because of a tight defensive perimeter, I’ll free-fall parachute in from a helicopter at about 1KM in altitude (though one can safely parachute from an altitude of less than 1000m; one supposes parachute technology has improved in the future) and take the facility that way. It tends to be easier to fight down than up, doesn’t it. I always try to take the high ground, provided the high ground affords some cover and concealment from aerial patrols and helicopters.
