On many levels, there is no contest.
A shot of the Bolivian wilderness is the backdrop of my PS4 home screen after all. Going back to Wildlands is like going home, just with more cartels.
But Steve and I have been spending a bit of time in Breakpoint, culminating in a five-hour "where the hell did those last five hours go" session recently, it turns out it's not a bad game at all.
But it's not one to compare with Wildlands, they are very different games.
So let's do that anyway;
Environment
Wildlands is a vast 'Bolivian' map that looks spectacular and really is. Time and again as we traversed it in helicopters, cars and on foot we lamented that the game didn't make more use of it's environment. For example, as you move around you come across farms or villages, and some have no sicarios in them at all - they're just villages - but you imagine the awesome firefight you could have across the buildings, it would be awesome.
And the jungles, it's dense and would make for an excellent warfare area, but it's hardly ever you're fighting there.
Breakpoint is similar really. We notice there are less NPCs, so fewer cars and you can't spawn a helicopter. Often it's a case of hoofing it across the landscape until you find some motorbikes. This is an important point as it changes the dynamic of the game from mission-based to travel-based, remember that.
Hello from Bolivia
Shoot'n'loot
Wildlands is quite limited in this - there are a few weapons crates and a few more ingredients crates that help unlock more skills. It's totally feasible to collect them all (as we have).
As mentioned, Breakpoint is all about the loot. It's everywhere. It's a hosepipe down the throat compared to it's predecessor. Getting used to harvesting, crafting, upgrading and generally spending almost as much time in menus as in firefights has taken some getting used to.
But... once you get in the saddle it's not half bad. The trick has been to not sweat upgrading all the time, I mean, we do... but not at the cost of the game. It's a fine balance. One thing though. the food crafting... that's all too much, I'm sure we're missing some cool game dynamic, but what with breaking down guns and picking new skills... we're OK without.
Weapons
This is a hard comparison. In Wildlands we went from regular to advanced, or whatever it's called. At the higher levels it's one shot death and multi-shot to kill. Frankly, I don't enjoy it - the game should be balanced in terms of the effectiveness of weapons. Turning it back down a notch and it's all good.
My choice of weapons in Wildlands has been the same for some time, the DesertTech sniper and a Stoner LMG with silencer and short stock. Both have prodigious stopping power for sure. And I'll be honest taking the silencer off the LMG and opening up is very satisfying!
Breakpoint, hmmm. With the weapons leveling up all the time (with your xp, we think) the choice isn't so clear-cut. But I was using an AUG assault rifle with a grenade launcher, but then moved to a designated marksman rifle in recent gaming. For sure the stopping power isn't the same as Wildlands (it's lower), and it's a bit cheesy that a full .50cal anti-armor rifle can't take out a heavy in one shot, and certainly not a helicopter. Not the case in wildlands where you can drop a helicopter at hundreds of meters away.
Breakpoint does nail it with grenade and gatling damage though, these are deadly compared to Wildlands.
Story
Wildlands is easy, faction action until there's no more faction, pretty much. There's a plot, but it's all but transparent. To be honest, it's better for that. You can work your way through the game as you wish.
Breakpoint is similar in fact, you can work through various missions. But here in is probably the biggest bugbear of the game. There is so much going on in the mission board. Main stories, chapters, factions, and all sorts. It says it all that I have some fishing mission to complete, and it keeps popping up. This area of the game is completely over-engineered and if you get embroiled in managing your missions you'll not enjoy the game. Probably.
Helicopters, and all the other vehicles
Being able to call up just about any vehicle in Wildlands makes for a great game. But it also makes it an easy game. Playing three up one session we had a helicopter with gatling guns and a Unidad helicopter with rockets whilst Ghost #3 went in for the kill. There was no hope for the sicarios.
It pains me to say this, but I think Breakpoint is better balanced here, finding helicopters is better than calling a delivery in - and overall they're better helos anyway.
So in summary...
- Breakpoint is tailored for roaming over flying
- Loot boxes are everywhere in Breakpoint
- It's a lot harder to achieve kills in Breakpoint
- Weapons are more complex to manage in Breakpoint
- The mission board in Breakpoint is like the NY stock exchange in it's complexity.
- There's less transport in Breakpoint
If you add all of the above up and try and play it like the mission focussed Wildlands with limited mucking about with weapons and no crafting - you're going to be very disappointed (we were).
If you play Breakpoint as a more free-roaming looting game, dare I say it more like a DayZ (it's not that by any stretch) approach you're going to enjoy it a lot more. Do all you can to avoid the mission media and plot lines and you'll have an excellent game.
Final word
It seems I like Breakpoint. I do, I really do. But Wildlands is the only game I completed, came back and played through some 80% with a friend... then continued and got all trophies, then continued (again!) and collected the remaining skill points and documents. And... Am still re-playing missions with a mate online. There's no other game, other than racing sims, that I've come back to so I can replay the same stuff again as much.
Wildlands Vs. Breakpoint. No contest.
Edit: Final, final word
So we're now many hours into Breakpoint, and I think the critics may be wrong. Breakpoint is every bit as good as Wildlands, it's just not Wildlands. If you embrace the free-roaming in Breakpoint there is far more to see and do - one of our criticisms of Wildlands was that there was not much action across the map, only at bases. They've addressed this in Breakpoint - there are little groups of guys everywhere.
I can see how casual gaming of Breakpoint lost favour though, you really do need to embrace the game and spend time in it. A cautionary note to those who seek reviews - look for folks with many hours on it, not a cursory 10 or less. It's not so much the depth of plot or gameplay, just the style takes time to sink in.
Not sure it's better than Wildlands, but there's room in my heart for both now for sure. Well done Breakpoint.
