Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Breakpoint

Breakpoint offers initial fun following Ubisoft's open-world structure as gospel, but a lack of variety and conflicting pieces leave it devoid of personality.

Ghost Recon Breakpoint is a confused hodgepodge of disparate ideas that rarely come together in an enjoyable way.

A smudge of systems from other Ubisoft games fail to coalesce - and sometimes are plain crippled - in this weak open world shooter.

Poorly stapled-on mechanics and a general lack of polish make Breakpoint's open-world tactics simply not worth the time.

The player character customization is also a lot more detailed than its Division cousin, which of course sets up an opportunity to throw even more microtransactions at the player. The good news is that player progression isn't tied to anything that can be bought for real money. Though the in-world currency is sold for real cash, there is no need to buy it if you'd rather avoid the premium economy.

Despite hewing close to its predecessor, Ghost Recon Breakpoint feels like a step backward for the franchise, with mechanics that hew too close to its open-world cousins.

Playing with friends can be fun, especially when stealth is working. But whether the game "works" is the key question at all times

Early missions in Ubisoft's latest Ghost Recon open-world shooter seem impossible, and it barely gets better from there

In 2019, a massive and meticulously-crafted open world just doesn’t cut it. Any life breathed into Ghost Recon Breakpoint will have to be pumped into it by you and your friends, and you’d do better to save your breath for other games.

Ubisoft has failed in two areas where it usually excels here – sequels and open worlds – but there’s still a small glimmer of hope in another area: reinvention. Perhaps this concept will get scrapped entirely for the next one and we’ll go back to the good old days where Ghost Recon was an excellent shooter with its own identity. Right now it’s out of focus, confused, and frustrating. A ghost of its former self.