Review NaN of 4
Price Paid:
$50.00
from Best Buy Summary:
If Breakdown’s main character Derrick Cole was walking down the street with his hands in his pockets, he just might be arrested for the concealment of two deadly weapons. In Namco’s newest first-person shooter/fighter hybrid, Derrick’s fists are the two most lethal weapons in his arsenal. Played entirely from the perspective of Derrick (you see what he sees for the entirety of the game, even in cutscenes), Breakdown is something of an anomaly amidst the games in today’s FPS genre.
This certainly isn’t a bad thing.
For what Breakdown tries to be and for what it is, I have to give Namco (who both developed and published it) credit. They’ve somehow managed to successfully (for the most part) meld two gaming genres into one. The game controls just like any other FPS, but at the same time features a fighting engine that distinguishes it from just about anything else I’ve ever played. The gameplay in Breakdown, despite its technical flaws, is truly unique and a great start for Namco in this new subgenre, should they decide to make a sequel.
And they should. Breakdown will test the patience of even the most experienced gamers, but the immersive qualities of the intricate plot and “first-person perspective, all the time” play mechanic will ensure that this game receives a following on the XBox. Maybe not a following as large as, for example, Halo, but a cult following nonetheless. Namco deserves praise for having the guts to try something original (a rarity, especially in the FPS genre), but needs some constructive criticism for their faults as well.
Getting into Breakdown is easy; the game integrates a small training session into the first few minutes to let you get your bearings and a grip on the control scheme. Jumping, running, climbing, ducking and crawling are all standard FPS fare, and eating ration bars and drinking sodas will cause your health and T’langen meters to fill up. The thing that sets Breakdown apart from other games is that whenever you interact with any object, Derrick’s hands come out into view. He’ll then reach down, swipe up the object, and bring it up in front of his face. He’ll shove the ration bar into his mouth and you’ll hear crunching. He’ll pop the tab off a soda can and chug it, accompanied by the appropriate gulping noises. When you destroy a mutant, its body will evaporate, leaving behind either a blue or red orb. Interacting with one of these will cause Derrick’s hand to hover over it, absorbing it into his palm (blue recharges your T’langen and red recharges your health). Breakdown is absolutely determined to immerse you inside the head of Derrick Cole, and it works.
Control is exactly like any other FPS you might find on the Xbox, with the exception that the aiming with guns is done with a simple lock-on mechanism. The free-aim in Breakdown is extremely touchy, and I wish that developers would just follow Bungie’s example of how a FPS control scheme is done. The looking feels too twitchy, and although you do have the option to turn off the auto-aim, you’ll do much better just leaving it on. As Breakdown is sort of a new marriage between the genres of FPS’s and third-person fighting games, the guns play second fiddle to your deadly dukes and military boots, and the game is all the better and all the worse because of this. Sounds confusing, but play the game for twenty minutes, and you’ll see what I mean. Not having to rely on guns is a fantastic way to play a FPS, and using your fists and feet to take down enemies is a great change of pace. You almost feel more confident, walking around and laying the smack down on military soldiers and the pasty-skinned (and bulletproof) mutants, called the T’lan, with your bare hands. Your perspective moves realistically as you execute one-two combos and uppercuts, and the force-feedback combined with the brutal fist-meeting-face animations combine to create an adrenaline-pumping fighting engine. There are regular old-fashioned punches and kicks, and then moves that use your T’langen meter. Derrick will produce shockwaves and even balls of pure energy that can be tossed from his hands to his enemies.
You feel confident doing all of this, and then you encounter two T’lan at one time. With the exception of one type of warrior, all of the other types of T’lan fight you up close and personal. They approach you and surround you from all sides. Now, this wouldn’t be a problem if the game camera was pulled back into a third-person perspective. However, playing from Derrick’s perspective is the one play mechanic in Breakdown that refuses to conform to the norms of the third-person fighting genre. This is problematic in that, when surrounded by multiple enemies, you can only block (by pressing down on the left joystick) in front of your face. This leaves the rest of you exposed to temple-crushes, shoulder tackles, and kidney jabs galore. Unfortunately, there isn’t any way to block incoming attacks from the sides or back, and the game gives you no warnings of the incoming blows. Now, I realize that part of Breakdown’s hook is its attempt to imitate real-life hand-to-hand combat. But the inability to block unseen attacks is artificial difficulty, and it quickly reduces some fights to games of cat and mouse, running away and turning around in an attempt to fight your foes in a single-file fashion as they chase you down. By the time you get one or two more hits to connect, you’re surrounded, and it’s time to run away again. Breakdown tries to solve this problem by giving you a back flip and side-roll evasive maneuvers, but doing a back flip away from one of the monstrous, charging T’lan brutes means that you’ll just get hit a split second later than if hadn’t done the back flip. The side-roll is too disorienting, and if you’re facing an enemy and perform one, you’ll get up and he’ll be off to your side, resulting in you getting smacked again. The only move you can perform when surrounded that will actually do any damage is the shield break (press the L and R triggers together), and it has a limited use, as it uses your T’langen meter. The only other evasive maneuver worth a crap, which is an extra-high jump, is given to you much later in the game. You’ll use this maneuver a lot, especially during a section in which you fight wave after wave of T’lan warriors. This battle, like many others, will more than likely test your patience. Stick with it, because the game only gets better as you progress.
Speaking of having your patience tested, prepare for a lot of quiet-time in Breakdown. In some sections, you’ll wander for five or more minutes in underground science facilities or huge outdoor areas without seeing a single enemy. Once again, it may have been Namco’s attempt at building tension, and it does work well in certain areas, but for the most part your eyes will just glaze over after you’ve been walking for a few minutes. The plot, which unfolds at sometimes very slow and sometimes very fast pace, is fairly imaginative. It is apparent that Breakdown draws inspiration from several sources; the plot has parts of The Matrix, Half-Life, Halo, and even the old Bill Murray flick Groundhog Day thrown in for good measure. I won’t give away any of the storyline, but although some parts of it are a bit clichéd and under-realized, it manages to weave an involving science-fiction affair.
Before I go into how the game looks and sounds, let me get one thing out of the way. You will have a sidekick for much of the game. Alex, a woman you meet very early on (resembling Trinity from the Matrix movies), is as mysterious as she is useful. She’ll fight right alongside you, and, more importantly, take damage and distract the T’lan. Don’t let her die though, as her death will result in a “Game Over” screen. Although she’s useful most of the time, she’ll probably get on your nerves a bit. She’ll say things like “I’ve got your back,” or “I’ll back you up,” while she just stands there like a manikin, not backing you up. Don’t just stand there, help me!
Aesthetically, Breakdown does some things really well. The hallucinogenic visions you experience in the first half of the game causes your vision to go blurry or switch to black and white, giving some surfaces an almost white-hot glow. It’s in these moments where Breakdown looks really good. However, many of the environments (most of which are drab, gray science labs) do a poor job of showing off what Breakdown is capable of. Some of the textures, such as those on the stealth T’lan warriors, look impressive. Others, like walls and grass, look sub-par. The music and sound effects are good, but nothing really caught my attention or impressed me. The voice acting, while fairly effective, is really good in places and really bad in others. Sometimes, there are awkward pauses in character speeches, causing you to wonder if they forgot you were standing there or suddenly developed a case of ADD. Breakdown is a series of ups and downs in terms of both gameplay and aesthetics, but overall is a unique and engaging experience. For what it does really well, I commend Namco. For what it tries to do really well and falls a bit short, there’s always a next time.
It may be slightly derivative and it may be flawed both technically and cosmetically, but Breakdown manages to be different enough that it sets itself apart from the sea of games out there that take absolutely no chances. Namco deserves a pat on the back for this honest and creative effort, and I hope to see a sequel soon (not TOO soon, though). There is much room for improvement here (multiplayer next time…please?), but gamers who are looking for something new should give this game a try. If you’re unsure about Breakdown, rent it first. However, if you’re a FPS fan and crave something new and different, go pick it up. Report this review >>
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