I see Breakpoint getting a lot of bad rep for glitches despite being only six days out from release. It just came out, guys! Of course it's gonna have some issues! I personally have not experienced many "game-breaking" glitches, the only "real" one being that the game just randomly crashed and I had to restart it. One thing I do not like, however, is not being able to play Ghost Recon offline anymore. I also don't like the player hub system in Erewhon, but my wifi is fairly consistent so this isn't really "game-breaking", per-se.
That set aside, however, Breakpoint really offers a real, authentic, "spec-ops" feel. Bases are harder to drone out. Enemies are actually able to spot you, whereas in Wildlands you might as well walk in, do the mission, and walk back out. Some new mechanics, such as the prone camo feature, do need some work, but I'm giving the developers the benefit of the doubt since this is only 6 days out of launch. One thing I do miss, however, are my three NPC buddies that help me out during missions. Though I didn't like this at first, it does act as a nice change of pace and really make you think twice before engaging in a gunfight.
Now onto what has everyone worked up: micro-transactions and the loot system. I see a lot of people complaining about aspects from The Division being transferred to Breakpoint. Lucky for you, reader, I have also played both Division games. Let me state, first, that I've seen people saying that Ghost Recon is turning into The Division based only off of the looting system. Nobody has yet mentioned that you are able to get blueprints in various bases and thus be able to get a gun set to your gear level. In the Division, to get a higher level gun, you need a higher level blueprint.
Microtransactions are meh. I don't like that you can only buy some certain customization items with the currency you have to buy, but these don't affect gameplay. All they do is make your Ghost look cool. I've forked out ten bucks and it hasn't changed my gameplay one bit. Loot is fairly plentiful throughout the world, and you can use a "skin override" feature to completely customize your character and hide the actual armor they have equipped, which is a good idea for this kind of game. One thing that could be better is face paint, but again that's a very minor thing.
In terms of overall gameplay, I will say that civilian life is fairly sparse, but will agree that this is in part due to the fact that this is an island in the middle of the Pacific and not a country in South America (Bolivia in Wildlands). Environments are beautiful, but no footprints from players in snow or water ripples from helicopters does kind of irk me, but once again, this is a very small issue. Guns are fairly consistent, and I do like the feature of the "one shot headshot" regardless of level. Players need to remember that this game is based around tactical realism, and that getting shot in the head typically leads to death.
Overall, Breakpoint, while fairly buggy and suffering from a few issues, gets a lot of bad credit because of a few micro-transaction issues trumped up by the public and players who don't particularly enjoy shooters that have a looting/leveling aspect in them. Breakpoint, at its heart, is a good game, but needs time and dedication by Ubisoft in order to be fixed and modified. Hopefully, with time, Breakpoint will turn into a masterpiece that combines tactical realism, looting, leveling up, and a beautiful environment.
