In many ways,DOOMis still the cornerstone of the modern FPS genre, but John Romero’s favorite shooter is about as far from that formula as you’re able to imagine. As one of the co-creators of theDOOMfranchise, John Romero founded developer id Software with John Carmack and Tom Hall and designed much of the original games. The franchise’s heavy metal sensibilities and his gaming rock star image went hand-in-hand, and it would be easy to assume that he maintains a preference for fast-paced, bloody FPS games that pack a punch.
To be clear, Romero has never abandoned his love forDOOM, and he’s made two newDOOMepisodes calledSigilandSigil 2in recent years. The re-ascension of the “boomer shooter” genre styled after 90s FPS hits just hasn’t claimed all of his attention. If you check in on his gaming takes over the years, he’s always seemed to keep up with major releases of every sort, andTom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpointfrom Ubisoft is apparently the shooter that’s captured him most since its 2019 release.
John Romero’s Favorite “FPS” Is Ghost Recon Breakpoint
Ubisoft’s Tactical Shooter Has Captured Romero’s Heart
John Romero mentioned his love forTom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpointin a2021Screen Rantinterview, where he claimed that he “can’t say enough about it.” He’s doubled down on the sentiment in two seperate Reddit AMAs, first calling it one of his all-time favorite games in response tofortwaynebatman’s question in 2020 and later citing it as his “favorite FPS” that he didn’t personally make when asked bysome-kind-of-no-namein 2023. It’s a surprising pick in a number of ways, but that also gives it a lot of credence as a genuine perspective rather than a PR-minded answer.
Perhaps most notably,Ghost Recon Breakpointisn’t really an FPS at all, as all the action occurs in third-person. When you’re one of the grandfathers of the genre, though, the FPS name probably feels a bit immaterial, especially when most were simply called"DOOM clones" for a good portion of the ’90s. Either way,Ghost Recon Breakpointis a very different beast fromDOOM.
DOOM & Ghost Recon Breakpoint Are Wildly Different
Stopping To Smell The Roses
Romero mentions the tactical focus as a key element of its greatness, which is a large part of what sets the game so far apart fromDOOM. WhileDOOMcan be played intelligently, the thrill is more in the run-and-gun intensity than in careful planning.The speed ofDOOM’s gameplay helped it dominate the market in the 90s, as building an engine that could handle that pace and detail fundamentally put the game ahead of its competitors.
Ghost Recon Breakpoint, on the other hand, follows the legacy ofTom Clancy’s Ghost Recongames that lean on careful surveillance, positioning, and, in the case ofBreakpointand its predecessorWildlands, open-world exploration. The games don’t prioritize realism over all other factors like some particularly hardcore tactical shooters do, but they bear more resemblance to actual military operations thanDOOM’s venture into hell does.
Ghost Recon Breakpointtakes place on a fictional Pacific island chain, leading to a surplus of stunning vistas and a predictable lack of demons. Compared toWildlands,Breakpointplaces a bigger emphasis on survival mechanics, another departure from the power fantasy thatDOOMprovides. While multiplayer exploration and operations are the main points of appeal for many players, it does attempt to have a story campaign, although the narrative doesn’t rank amongGhost Recon’s best.
John Romero’s Love For Ghost Recon Breakpoint Is Rare
Breakpoint Is A Divisive Tactical Shooter
John Romero isn’t the only dedicated acolyte ofGhost Recon Breakpoint, but when the game first released, that positivity was certainly a minority position. The overall critical and audience consensus landed somewhere nearScreen Rant’s review, in which we deemed the game clunky and unfocused. Ubisoft didn’t ignore this criticism, however, anda series of post-launch updates addressed many of the biggest criticisms, leaving those dedicated to the game with a better overall experience than the undeniably mixed bag available at release.
Even with these changes,Breakpointremains the target of negative comparisons withWildlands, and modern Ubisoft games tend to have an uphill battle in public perception across the board. While the publisher has made some strides in the past few years,Breakpointreleased in 2019, a point when the company’s staple design trends were becoming tired and little iteration was being done to improve the fundamental ideas at play. Players who found it disappointing at launch might never have felt motivated to see if they liked it more a year or so later, and it’s hard to blame them.
It might seem more likely that Romero would fall in love with a modern boundary-pushing boomer shooter likeULTRAKILL, and he’s definitely a fan of that throwback style. In aYouTubevideo by A16Z Games,Romero speaks enthusiastically about the rise of retro-style FPS gamesand labels new experiences born from an affection for 90s shooters as “really cool to see.” In the same statement, however, he espouses a broader philosophy that explains his affection forGhost Recon Breakpoint, describing his love for the broadened, diversified shooter market that has emerged over the decades sinceDOOM.
“I just love where the FPS has gone, because when it started it was basically our games. And then when it started to splinter into different areas, like tactical shooters, military sims, hero shooters, Destiny-style stuff. It’s huge. And now, since the last five years or so, retro shooters. And so these retro games are trying to be like 90s shooters, using modern tech and everything. And they’re just great. It’s really cool to see so many people who had a great memory of playing games back then and want to create their own memory of a game that has that aesthetic."— John Romero
Ghost Recon Breakpointmight seem like just another Ubisoft game to those who grew up in an era of tactical shooters, but for Romero,it’s one of many representations of how far the FPS genre has come. The scale and detail of a Ubisoft open world was completely out of reach at the time ofDOOM’s creation, and even then, he had a fondness forgames likeUltima 7that raised the bar for exploration and freedom.
Minecraft,World of Warcraft, andThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wildall made the cut in Romero’s Reddit list of favorite games, and each reflects that love for expansive ambition. Regardless of Romero’s feelings on the subject, plenty ofDOOMfans are likely to have minimal interest inGhost Recon Breakpoint, and the reverse might well be true ofBreakpointdiehards. The two titles could each be great for the right player, however, and John Romero happens to be the perfect audience for both.
