I was incredibly excited for Ghost Recon: Breakpoint when it was first announced. The game looked to iterate on the Ghost Recon formula once again, retaining that open world feel, whilst also leaning heavily on bleeding edge technology. However, the game didn’t quite live up to my expectations at launch. Among the issues was the lack of Ghost Recon: Breakpoint AI Teammates, a feature that had been part of the last game.
Myself and a number of other fans of the series felt cheated. We loved sneaking our way through missions or random encounters with our AI companions, but now that wasn’t going to be a possibility. Thankfully Ubisoft has now corrected this misstep, and they managed to implement the change just as the second live event, Resistance, began.
You’ll never walk alone
Ghost Recon: Breakpoint AI Teammates change the game completely, and all for the better. After you load the game up with the update installed, you’ll be able to roam Auroa with your teammates in tow regardless of whatever stage you’re at in the story. These teammates also alter the game in a meaningful way even for those who have completed every mission and simply roam Auroa looking for a fight.
Your three AI teammates are Fury, Fixit, and Vasily. Each one has their own distinct look and preferred weapon loadout. While you’re able to customise most things about each of these teammates, including their gender, you’re not able to mess with that loadout. These weapons have been chosen for a reason, and they do make the team feel like a balanced unit of Ghosts.
You’re still able to upgrade your teammates’ weapons in the Gunsmith though, so it’s not all running around with presets. I never felt the need to mess around with the characters Ubisoft has created though. They fit in the world thematically without being so over the top that they pull you out of the game’s atmosphere.
Like a well-oiled machine
The AI Teammates in Ghost Recon: Breakpoint are competent for the most part. A new order wheel ensures that they won’t run off into the distance to kill an enemy you can’t see. In fact, they won’t even engage enemies unless you give the all clear. This gives you the feeling of being the leader of a tight group of soldiers, and I’ve never felt any better in a similar game.
Through scopes, binoculars, or your drone, you can order your AI Teammates around. It’s possible to tell them to head to certain locations and wait while you set up an ambush, or have them move so that they can take an enemy down from a distance.
Thanks to these orders and abilities, you can set up sync shots that will kill four enemies across a huge space. Once you’ve lined up three enemies for your AI Teammates to kill, they’ll take their targets down when you fire a shot at a different one. This is a satisfying feature that makes sneaking around enemies feel like a proper operation.
Of course, things go pear shaped at the best of times. When you need to go loud, your band of Ghosts is just as efficient. I found myself acting more like a battlefield tactician than a soldier most of the time. Each AI Teammate is capable to locating and taking down enemies, and all you need to do is give them a small nudge in the right direction.
Not the smartest
With all that said, AI Teammates are not without their flaws. For starters, they’ll run right into enemies if you accidentally order them to. It’s as if they have no sense of self-preservation, and just want to get shot in the head. This led to me going loud when I was trying to sneak a few times, but in most cases I was able to rectify the situation by ordering the one enemy who could see a Teammate dead.
AI Teammates will also wonder off to explore the area around you. If you’ve gone loud and are taking out enemies, they’ll stay active in shooting until you get in a vehicle to leave, or order them to stop. This means that they’ll quite often just run off after groups of enemies that are gradually appearing after a tough fight. It can be infuriating, but if you’re quick you can avoid getting stuck with this issue.
Ghost Recon: Breakpoint is definitely better with these AI Teammates, but the game still needs improving so that it can accommodate them properly. In vehicles you’ll see weapons sticking through car roofs, or have to wait for a good minute just for a teammate to catch up with you. Ubisoft still has work to do on this feature, but what’s in the game right now is pretty great.
Resistance
As I mentioned, AI Teammates were introduced along with Ghost Recon: Breakpoint’s second live event, Resistance. This is a real godsend, because the event provides a great way to showcase the feature to those who may have dropped out of the game since launch.
Resistance makes the resistance forces on the island of Auroa way more active. You’ll catch them driving, patrolling, and even flying around the island in their own brand new vehicles. This means that there’s always a vehicle nearby if you need one, and makes Auroa feel much more alive, in keeping with your expanded team.
Resistance also plumps up the game with more daily missions to do. These are all pretty close together and easy to complete. They also play well with the mechanics you’ll use your AI Teammates for the most. I’ve never snuck into so many bases, hit so many convoys, or captured so many run down locations in all my time with the game.
Verdict
I’ve already pointed out that AI Teammates still have some way to go. I think that they’re a fantastic feature that has real potential, but Ubisoft needs to invest in upgrading them so that they’re way more competent.
However, in my time with my new team, I had a fantastic time chasing down a convoy in a car and destroying them all with just me driving and my team shooting. I also had a daring helicopter shootout with a fully stocked enemy chopper, which ended with them blowing up, and us all parachuting to victory. Our chopper might have blown up too, but we all survived the crash at least.
The biggest downside to AI Teammates right now is that you can’t take them into raids. This isn’t uncommon in games with raids, because those activities require real humans for certain mechanics. I think that Ubisoft could probably make the AI Teammates’ UI work for the lowest difficulty version of each raid though. It would make the game far more accessible as a solo player.
If you’ve dropped off of the Ghost Recon: Breakpoint bandwagon since it came out, there really hasn’t been a better time to get back into it. Stop thinking about all the reasons you don’t want to play it, and let yourself go while you and a band of Ghosts take down every enemy in sight.
