Ghost Recon Breakpoint Beta Preview

September 10, 2019 at 3:12pm
By Jason Stettner

After the success of Wildlands, we now have Ghost Recon Breakpoint on the horizon. This is the second open world take on the franchise and it continues to expand the sense of freedom. The series is typically known for tighter, tactical cooperative play and that is pushed outwards with this release. Following in the footsteps of what Wildlands provided with its open area. It features a seamless cooperative multiplayer, with more options for how you work together.

You’re able to pick missions, freely explore or just generally hang out as a grouped hub area is available. When it comes to movement, there are vehicles for flying, driving or even boating. The island itself is a key part of the overall story. You’re battling against this group called the Wolves, they’re technologically advanced and have cut off communication with mainland United States.

As the Ghosts you’re sent in for Recon, and it all goes bad. I won’t dive into that too much, as this isn’t a review. We’re taking a look at the specific beta that was available for me to jump into. It does tell that initial story, but it’s neat to see as a big name actor is right there, good old Punisher Jon Bernthal is the key army based antagonist. There’s a history there, and you’ll explore that in the full game I imagine.

In this beta you’re limited mission wise, but you can just go out there to explore. It’s a rather large environment, and the island offers multiple biomes which is interesting. I took flight in a helicopter to get a sense of the scale, and also spent time with foot or vehicle travel. To get a sense of the world, and the general performance that’s present here within this entry. I was playing this on Xbox One X and its enhanced there with an improved resolution along with HDR. It definitely looked good visually, but there were certainly some performance issues. It played fine in some parts, but in a number of areas it definitely needs some work.

I suppose that’s why they run these betas ahead of time, always make sure to note that in case you’re not aware of how the development runs. I will say that the world renders quite well scale wise and when you’re soaring over in terms of keeping that environmental depth present. That aside, if you’re a fan of Wildlands you should be right at home. If you’ve yet to try the open world take on Ghost Recon it’s certainly interesting. I just went around checking out areas, battling with groups online and getting an idea of what’s here. It seems like a large landmass with lots to do. I enjoyed the slightly futuristic tech meshed with the natural landscape, that was interesting.

At this point I really just want to dig into the full package, but it’s a nice taste of it. I’m looking forward to reviewing this in the future, it seems enticing and I’m just curious how expansive this full release will be. They have some neat perk trees, multiple ways to tackle situations and I’m curious how intense the core narrative is when working through it. Promising, just hope they smooth out the general performance. Check out our hub for the franchise below to see additional coverage or view our thoughts on the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2019 campaign.

Read our Modern Warfare Campaign E3 Preview
View our Ghost Recon Hub