Ghost Recon Breakpoint Stadia Review
Google Stadia is clearly struggling. While there was some enthusiasm for Google’s new video game streaming service out of the gate, things have stalled, with obstacles like Internet data caps and poor wi-fi connections preventing most players to give it a chance. Those with enough Internet to experience Stadia to the fullest don’t really have much to play with it at the moment, although Google has worked hard to add a variety of third-party releases to its library. Recently, it included Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint, but a poorly received tactical shooter/looter-shooter hybrid does little to make Stadia a more attractive prospect.
Ghost Recon Breakpoint suffers from a major problem that many other third-party Stadia releases suffer from, and that is a generally dead online community. The poor reception of Ghost Recon Breakpoint probably means that its versions on PC and consoles are probably not very crowded either, but the Stadia version is less populated. Stadia has a smaller userbase compared to other platforms, so this isn’t surprising, but it’s a common problem for Stadia ports.
When players first try to connect to Ghost Recon Breakpoint’s online servers, they will be asked to create a Ubisoft account. While this is really just a minor inconvenience, it’s still another hurdle that could prevent some Stadia owners from bothering to go online, narrowing the potential player pool. Considering how difficult it really is to experience online with the Stadia release of Ghost Recon Breakpoint, it seems like it would be best to simplify the process as much as possible.
As it stands, Ghost Recon Breakpoint’s online multiplayer experience is almost nonexistent compared to the game on other platforms, though its online is a bit more populated than, say, the Xenoverse 2 Stadia port. Sometimes it takes quite a while to get into a public co-op session, and it’s usually with one other person instead of a whole team, but it’s better than literally never being able to find anyone else even online.
Getting into a PvP match is a different story, with nearly hour long queue times. Anyone thinking about taking Ghost Recon Breakpoint to Stadia for Ghost War PvP multiplayer should really think twice about it, because PvP is completely dead at this point. And it’s likely that Ghost Recon Breakpoint’s Stadia population will continue to dwindle over time, so things will only get worse.
When players manage to get into a game with other people, they can take advantage of an interesting feature unique to the Stadia version of Ghost Recon Breakpoint. Ghost Recon Breakpoint uses the Stadia Stream Connect feature, which allows players to watch what their teammates are doing. Stream Connect is a neat tool and while it doesn’t have a ton of practical use in Ghost Recon Breakpoint’s current dead-online state, it’s easy to see how it could be very useful in other games.
Although Ghost Recon Breakpoint’s online multiplayer is well populated, the game itself is still mediocre at best. Ubisoft is changing its approach to game development because of this game, which plays like all of the company’s other open world games. Players explore a large map dominated by enemies, vehicles, animals, and a bunch of random activities to engage in. But while there’s plenty to do in Ghost Recon Breakpoint, none of it is all that interesting outside of the main story missions, so most players will find themselves running from one mission to the next. . All the open world does is prevent players from engaging with the actual content.
Besides having a generic Ubisoft open world, Breakpoint also has elements of The Division’s looter-shooter. As pointed out in our original Ghost Recon Breakpoint review, the problem is that bullet sponge enemies and the like associated with looter-shooter games don’t translate to a tactical shooter series. The tradeoff is that none of the gear really matters or feels different in the slightest. Most enemies are still killed with a headshot, except for the special bullet sponges that players sometimes encounter. That’s where gear really makes a difference, but since most encounters aren’t against bullet sponge enemies, Breakpoint seems better off just ditching its gear system altogether. In its attempt to be both a tactical shooter and a looter-shooter at the same time, Ghost Recon Breakpoint falls short in both categories.
Players have the freedom to approach many situations stealthily just like in a classic Ghost Recon game, but most shootouts can be avoided simply by hiding behind something and shooting enemies as they rush in. their location. The AI in Ghost Recon Breakpoint is some of the dumbest in the franchise’s history, only putting up a challenge when players are caught outside or have to face enemies where better gear actually plays a role.
To make matters worse, Ghost Recon Breakpoint is buggy, and things haven’t improved much with the Stadia version. The camera in Ghost Recon Breakpoint likes to get stuck in weird positions when players move in and out of cover, and running into something while driving can very well send players flying through the sky. The driving controls are generally clunky, and that combined with how easy it is to go off-road makes driving in Ghost Recon Breakpoint frustrating. Unfortunately, with mission objectives often miles apart, players will spend most of their time in the game wrestling with the driving controls to get from one point to the next.
Exploring the open world of Ghost Recon Breakpoint is no fun, but one positive thing to say about it is that it looks pretty good. Furthermore, Ghost Recon Breakpoint runs well on Stadia, with minimal stuttering and lag that sometimes plagues other games on the platform.
But while Ghost Recon Breakpoint’s open world looks great, the same can’t be said for other aspects of the visuals. The art style is bland and generic, and many of the NPCs are downright ugly. The leaves also have a strange habit of shaking in an unrealistic way whenever there is a breeze, and things like that make the game world look cheap.
Ghost Recon Breakpoint is mediocre at best when everything goes right. The Stadia version has an almost non-existent online community that makes some of the modes and features inaccessible, making it the worst way to experience the game by a wide margin. Project Titan Raid seems to be in the works for the Stadia version, but if the game’s online population doesn’t grow, it’s hard to see Ubisoft supporting it as seriously as the other versions of the game. Ghost Recon Breakpoint is already a shaky recommendation on other platforms, but it’s impossible to recommend for those looking to grow their Stadia library.
Ghost Recon Breakpoint is out now for PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One. Today Technology was provided with a code for this review.