Ghost Recon Wildlands and Breakpoint

Overly Dramatic Review in One Sentence

The best tactical open world shooter in existence whose size makes you dread playing it.

The Actual Review

Game Time

Breakpoint 22 hours Xbox/30 Hours PC
Wildlands 72 Hours Xbox/24 Hours PC

Gameplay

As you can tell I will be reviewing both Wildlands and Breakpoint as they are basically the same with the story being different but bleeding from one to another. The gameplay styles are identical with really the "class" styles being different, but not really.

The gameplay is what is the most fun thing in this with the ability to be hard to the paint or to be precise in your method of action, taking your time and planning your assault. The variety of weapons is also a really nice change of pace from time to time and sometimes needed for larger engagements. For instance, in Breakpoint there are a bunch of Behemoths that need to be taken out and changing to a grenade launcher or a light machine gun is a great idea as they are super beefy.

What kills both of these games is the size of the map. Wildlands already felt big being that it is 625 sq kilometers, but Breakpoint is outrageously large at 2500 sq kilometers. While there is a ton of different vehicles to use from planes, helicopters, motorcycles, and a variety of other land/sea vehicles. Wildlands already felt like a crazy big map, but at least it was cool to see the different biomes, and it is a real place, Bolivia. However, taking a plane and going from one side to the other takes so long. Then we move to Breakpoint and it is just gross. The size is what made me stop playing the game and move on to other things. Look at the amount played between the games, and you'll see that I didn't explore the whole map. Also when I came back I played only the main storyline missions and skipped all the side content. I talk a little more about this in the Story section.

Graphics and Sound

Both of these games are beautiful. There is nothing like cresting a snowy hill and seeing the wind kick up loose snow and see the rest of the area you are in or are headed to. Absolutely stunning to look at. Wildlands even more so since it is based on a real place, where Breakpoint is just an island. Nothing special. Still beautiful, but not as good.

Both games have great sound design, but Breakpoint I feel is just outstanding. Coming up with a sound for the drones that are involved is always something that impresses me.

Story and Characters

So what made me restart the playthrough of this game is Jon Bernthal. I played Wildlands and got 100% basically of the game explored and completed before the expansions on Xbox. When I played it on PC this time, it was just to play the story and see what Sam Fisher from Splinter Cell story was and how Walker, Jon Bernthal's character went from being a teammate to the main enemy in Breakpoint.

Breakpoints story was alright. However, you get so over inundated with the size, the TONS of faction missions, and the expansion storylines that are also all over the map that it is hard to pay attention to the story at hand. The size of the map and this confusion is what stopped me from playing the DLCs even though there are some leftover questions. I wanted to see what others thought, and based on this Reddit post, I won't ever play them. I'll just watch this video on YouTube that covers the story which covers everything buy the last DLC, but that last DLC has plot holes from the beginning.

Nomad and Walker are outstanding characters. They really push you to enjoy the game and get involved in the mission.

My Rating

I enjoyed the gameplay of these games. Speaking that they can be co-op, this is outstanding way to play with friends or family. I played Wildlands a bit with my nephew and had a great time. The characters and story are well done, but the size of the map is just outrageous. Wildlands is the better game and I will put it in the "GET THIS GAME" rating, with Breakpoint being a "Worth a Playthrough."

Parental Rating

This game is all about combat violence with limited language. Speaking that you are playing for peace and the stability of people, they might have let it slide as a kid, but would not have been happy about it.

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