Regardless of your overall feelings towards Ubisoft, their Tom Clancy franchise, or the Ghost Recon Breakpoint title that suffered a few blows when it finally released, there are a few things that it gets so right it’s almost astonishing. The gear and kit that you equip operators with have been yoinked straight from forward-deployed units, allowing veterans and active-duty members alike of militaries around the world to flawlessly remake their kits from deployments past, from the SAPI carrier to the various modifications on your rifle.
The rifles all fire believably well with recoil and maximum effective range, although the lack of range-specific zeroing on scopes removes the ability to ‘Kentucky-windage’ for dynamic engagements on the fly across a modicum of ranges. The inclusion of various skills of your operator somehow affecting bullet trajectories is a sore spot for many military simulation fans, that may bring many designated marksmen to back out from the title in horror. Yet each weapon carries its own nuances in reality, and it transitions surprisingly well to Ubisoft’s Ghost Recon series. The only game that does ballistics better is likely ARMA, which has spent more on weaponry testing than most people could ever fathom.
The good news for the fans of less gamified mechanics, is that Ubisoft has finally announced the incoming Breakpoint Immersive Mode, titled Ghost Experience.
It brings a hearty number of changes that will be welcomed by fans that haven’t been necessarily thrilled with how Breakpoint has shaken out since its release on October 1st, 2019. Before you get too excited, it’s worth noting that Ubisoft has not announced that the game mode will stifle the obscene number of microtransactions littered across their shop, so paying for power continues to be a loophole that some may prefer.
It does eliminate the bizarre gear-score that seemed to have bled over from The Division 2; operators can now equip anything they find in the field, and take that equipment with them to the very end of the campaign without worrying about whether or not your favored rifle is doing adequate damage. No more upgrading to SMGs and the ilk to continue to push out a modicum of firepower, nor re-kitting your armor every thirty minutes to ensure you have some form of defense against the onslaught of bullets.
User interface elements are also placed entirely in the hands of the player; you can opt to completely remove all elements of the HUD, or keep them all there on your game screen to make mission completion a bit more straightforward.
In an odd move, players can also determine you likely they are to be wounded by incoming fire, and how many bandages they can carry. It seems like a wide experience available for anyone to play through any way they see fit; only the gear-score silliness will be removed overall.
It might not be what everyone was expecting or hoping for, but it’s a step in the right direction, and many are echoing the sentiment the excitement of what they think should have been the basic game. It’s slated to release on March 24th, 2020, allowing everyone to sink their teeth into and offer their two cents.
