Final Thoughts on Final GR Pre-Order
I've played every game in this franchise, and have been a diehard fan since the original Ghost Recon dropped in 2001. The original focus of the series was on a gritty, realistic, unforgiving near-milsim experience that placed a premium on authenticity and staying true to the weapons, gear, and TTPs of the US Army SOF units it derived its inspiration from.
With each installment since GR2 the franchise has moved further and further from its original intent. GRAW and GRAW 2 were still good, but got a little wrapped up in what at the time was still theoretical technology (technology that still hasn't fully come to fruition). Wildlands was a solid step in the right direction after the enjoyable but fanciful GR:FS, and the addition of an open world and true freedom of playstyle was amazing, though I should have had whatever weapon and accessories I wanted from the first mission, what with being fully supported by the CIA and DoD.
This new game is ten steps in the wrong direction. I get what the development team was trying to accomplish with the addition of online looter shooter/RPG-lite elements, but the direction they're taking the franchise is so far away from what Ghost Recon was conceived as that it is starting to become unrecognizable in anything other than name. Ghost Recon wasn't ever intended to appeal to a broader gaming community. It was intended to appeal to military nerds, SOF fanboys, and to some extent the veteran community. That's okay. Not every game has to be for all the people.
Someday, some other studio will see that there is still a captive audience waiting for a well-written, carefully considered special operations game on console that prides itself on true authenticity and respecting the fans who care about that. If that studio is Ubisoft and the game is a Ghost Recon game, fantastic. But after what they've done with Breakpoint I'm not holding out much hope for that.
While I do still enjoy the game, there is too much that is wholly unrecognizable as GR, and too many elements, such as loot, social hub, gear score, and inventory management that take me out of the experience. Frankly, the fact that they chose not to advertise ANY of these new mechanics in the reveal and instead presented this game as a grittier, more punishing, and difficult return to franchise roots indicates that they knew what the core community response would be.
This will be the last Ghost Recon game I pre-order, and if the franchise continues down this new, less authentic path, the last one I ever play. I hope that is not the case, but if it is I look forward to the day that another studio decides to get it right again.
Ubisoft Breakpoint Marketing Meeting