Not gonna take too much time up here to introduce Darth_PurP, because he just reviewed the Modern Warfare BETA last week. We both spent a good amount of time in the Ghost Recon Breakpoint Beta this past weekend, and while he was a bit more impressed than I was, I think it’s fair to say it exceeded our expectations (minus the bugs). So without further ado, Darth_PurP:
WOW, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint releases THIS WEEK and the open BETA occurred over this past weekend. I spent over ten hours on the BETA and the report is finally in: Holy Navy Seal Shit, This Game Was An Absolute Blast!
I had no clue this game even existed until The Unfiltered Nerd put it on my radar, and for that, I am forever grateful. Breakpoint boasts an open world, detailed storyline that you can grind with up to four friends along with one of the most fun and unique PvP modes I have played in some time. I am thinking it falls easily under 2019’s Most Overlooked Game. Before I get into all the HYPE that this game brought into my life, I want to discuss the few downsides I came across during my experience with the BETA:
First, with this game being a completely open world story the first thing it needs to have is content. Content is a must with this style of video game which is why I am still not playing Destiny 2 (little content at release) and Anthem (barely any content at all, ever). Now having said that, this BETA had so. much. shit. in it that it had me feeling like a washed-up rapper on codeine until I put the time in to actually understand why there were 18 menus and 69 different ways to interact with your weapon. Literally though, for the first hour of playing, I was basically like: What the fuck bro… Where’d my gun go? Five, Four, Three, Two…I eat Gumbo?
Second, did Tom Clancy’s estate let his great-granddaughter draw the treasure maps in this game?
Finally (on a more serious note), during heavy traffic times the BETA’s PvP mode (“Ghost War”) was essentially unplayable due to server connection issues. I think we waited about 15 minutes on Saturday night for a game just to play one round before everyone got kicked. This was absolutely heartbreaking because my squad and I were literally falling in love with Ghost War. We only dropped two early games out of over twenty matches played and were ready for more if the servers didn’t hold us back. Normally, for a BETA this would not be an alarming issue but with the launch of the game coming this week, I have some concerns. However, if Ubisoft gets their shit together, I would go ahead and hand over the “Greatest Ghost War Squad of All Time Award” to DARTH Mall Cop, DARTH PurP, Suddentt, and UnfilteredNerd.
Ghost War was electrifying when we were getting games. I would imagine this multiplayer mode is as close as you can get to a virtual Navy Seal v. Spetsnaz matchup, in which overall team strategy has more value than individual skill. The game type is a 4 v. 4 team deathmatch with a very unique feel. Unlike your typical TDM, stealth is important over everything else as each team fights to gain positioning over a neutral surveillance system. Whichever team gains control and accesses the surveillance system gains the ultimate advantage, as all of the opposing players are immediately marked. Winning the round then becomes an inevitability. Describing all of the unique aspects of Ghost War without writing a 5,000 word paper with a prologue and citations would be impossible.
Luckily, I got a sick ass clip for you all that might help lend some perspective on Ghost War. Please note that prior to the moment the clip starts, there was about a three-minute standoff in which we were using drones, maneuvering the map, and marking enemies in an attempt to take out one person to give our team a slight advantage in numbers before giving away our cover. Getting that first kill is crucial. After some time, the opposing team took one of our players down and immediately moved in and gained access to the surveillance system. At that point, the crafty strategic elements that Breakpoint offers were useless to me and I had to go RAMBO on these KIDS (Welcome to Weekly Facts With PurP: every living being on Xbox Live despises being called a kid, even kids). With the help of my teammates’ callouts, I was able to turn this hopeless situation into the ultimate CLUTCH victory.
The HYPE does not stop there! The PvE part of the game was just as engaging as the multiplayer and left me wanting more. A lot more. The game is set on the island of Auroa which is yours to explore if you can survive the people hunting you down. I had so much fun using my helicopter to get to random parts of the island and mowing down bases of enemies to find new missions, treasure, clues for current missions, information that cued side missions, and higher leveled weapons that I could take into the next Ghost War game with me. With so much fucking shit to do, I do not know why anyone would want to leave Auroa. Oh yeah, maybe because of the swarm of death drones that seem to attack anything leaving the island including my character’s helicopter:
Jon Bernthal (The Punisher, The Walking Dead) portrays Cole Walker, resident island badass and controller of the death drones. The main character, Nomad, and this guy have a lot of history that the BETA eluded to, including one intense scene in which Cole saved Nomad’s life on a secret mission in Bolivia. The BETA provided about three hours worth of main storyline missions which concluded with a final badass scene where Cole (possessing the world’s largest fucking hand cannon) and his badass posse of armored-out Jason Stathams are glaring at Nomad through bulletproof glass. There is some good dialogue followed by Cole proceeding to shoot the glass several times with said hand cannon. In all honesty, this BETA left me wanting so much more. I need some questions answered: how do I get the best weapons for Ghost War? What’s on Egg Island? Why do certain characters have a slightly weird glow to them? (clones?) I really want to know where this story ends up, and I need to know why they chose Lil Wayne for the marketing campaign.
If you would like to see more of the game then check out one of my two Breakpoint BETA streams at https://www.mixer.com/DARTH_PurP. Just go to “past streams” and click on one of the streams with the title: Ghost Recon Breakpoint BETA. I hope everyone out there has a great week and if you want to make it better for yourself then go ahead and buy Breakpoint and grind it this entire weekend when it launches!
