Ghost Recon Breakpoint Seems Like A Step In The Right Direction

For the uninitiated, Ubisoft (among other game companies), has a habit of using some pretty disingenuous marketing tactics for their games. Games like Rainbow Six: Siege and The Divison were marketed using trailers that utilized faked gamer voices and reactions to in-game action, as a way to drive home the idea of them as multiplayer games. While it’s not exactly wrong, per se, at worst it gives a false sense of what the game will be like, and at best it just sounds corny as hell.

Game trailers, especially “gameplay” trailers like the one shown for Anthem at E3 a couple years back, also have a tendency to be “bullshots”. I didn’t come up with the term, but it’s remarkable how accurate it is. Essentially, a bullshot is the gaming equivalent of using Photoshop to erase imperfections on a model for a photo shoot. It may be the real deal, but it’s heavily doctored to say the least. Savvy gamers might remember the original Watch_Dogs or The Division for being core to the creation of what’s called a “Ubisoft downgrade”.

But I’m not wanting to focus on that, because something snuck up on me today, and I didn’t even see it coming: Ghost Recon Breakpoint.

You may already know that I’m a sucker for Ghost Recon games, and especially tactical shooters. I actually enjoyed Ghost Recon Wildlands quite a bit, despite the numerous complaints I had, though thankfully some of them were addressed. While Breakpoint doesn’t seem to be a return to the Ghost Recon I remember from the days of yore, I’m actually really excited for it.

It’s the announce trailer that did it for me initially, for the excellent hook of seeing the Ghosts taken on by an enemy that actually stands a chance against them. Granted, there’s a bit of what I’d consider to be high-tech BS with the numerous fights against drones on display, I can’t even knock it, because it isn’t that much of a departure from entries like Future Soldier, which had that one mission with the awesome artillery mech.

That’s not even mentioning how giddy the reveal right before the end of the trailer made me, but you might understand if you watched it yourself.

However, it isn’t the cinematic trailer that got me interested in the game, but the gameplay trailer. You may be interested in my reasons though, because it isn’t that the game looks super awesome with sick graphics and wicked gameplay. Sure, there’s a bit of that still, but let’s circle back to the original point I was getting at up above.

It doesn’t look too good to be true.

It’s honestly refreshing to see Ghost Recon Breakpoint showing a little game-y-ness to it. For instance, what caught my attention initially was their attempt to portray the player turning to fire back at an unseen enemy, which I thought was incredibly cheesy and pointless (despite being something I totally would do), only to head towards a steep hill and slide on down.

Partially down that slope, the character loses control and tumbles, before catching himself as a result of running out of what I’d assume to be some sort of stamina meter, and taking cover behind a tree. From there, I saw the first thing that piqued my interest: the character heals himself, but it doesn’t look too real. When applying the bandages, they don’t look perfect, which is something that carries on throughout the rest of the trailer. The mud that’s displaced by the character doesn’t perfectly conform to his movement, and the combat looks realistic, but not overly so. There’s a bit of jank to be found, but it’s like it’s gamejank or something… Stuff that you’d expect to see in a game, but not in a gameplay trailer prior to release.

In other words, it actually looks like a game, and a fun one at that.

It makes me look forward to playing this with Jennifer when it comes out. Speaking of which…

Jennifer? Can I buy us Ghost Recon Breakpoint when it comes out?

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