Breakdown is a great game that any FPS fan should enjoy, so long as you can overlook some difficulty problems.
Breakdown is a great game that any FPS fan should enjoy, so long as you can overlook some difficulty problems.
Breakdown is a game exclusive to the Xbox, developed by Namco. It's a pretty overlooked game, and had lackluster sales. But this is a game that any FPS fan should pick up with it's mix of great first-person action and unique storytelling.
STORY (10/10):
Breakdown's story is one of it's greatest parts. You play as a soldier named Derrick Cole, who wakes up in a mysterious laboratory, unaware of who or where he is, with someone telling him that 'He's their last hope'. After some quick rehab, the center is attacked by the Army. They get ready to kill Cole, but a woman named Alex appears out of thin air and kills them, saving Cole. The best part about the story is the way it's told. Much like Half-Life, it's told completely through a first-person perspective, and use a mixture of in-game cutscenes and scripted events through the first-person view to explain everything. The storyline is a really good one, and it's really hard to put down.
GAMEPLAY (9.5/10):
The central part of any game. Breakdown's gameplay is some of the best in any FPS. Instead of most FPS's, which you're basically just running through the levels, killing everything with your arsenal of weapons, Breakdown utilizes a fighting engine, not typically seen in a FPS. It's sense of realism doesn't just stop there – when an enemy hits you, the screen will move around uncontrolably, and you'll lose your balance and fly to the ground. The fighting is better than the shooting, as most of the non-human enemies are invlurnable to gunfire, and you have to fight them without weapons. Your basic arsenal isn't much – a pistol, a sub-machine gun, a rocket launcher, a specialized launcher, and grenades. But it more than makes up for this in the powers you unlock. Not only can you fight, you can slow down time, send enemies flying backwards, and even block bullets! The problem is the difficulty – it's VERY hard. So much, it might turn the casual player off. Even on easy, it's really hard. But nontheless, it's a really fun 15+ hours.
GRAPHICS (9.5/10):
The look of Breakdown is a really unique one. While the textures and characters aren't revolutionary, they do look really good. The animation is equally great, and realistically, instead of just going over to a dead body, walking over it, and picking everything up, you actually have to hit the 'X' button, and hit it again to grab what you want. Meaning, if you're trying to drink a cola, you actually have to press 'X' twice, and watch Cole pop the lid open and drink the cola. It's a good effect, and adds to the sense of realism. All in all, the graphics do a great job of setting scenes like a research center and another alien world.
SOUND (10/10):
Breakdown's sound is where it's Japanese background really shows. The voice-acting, unlike most Japanese-to-English games, is actually really good, and doesn't suffer from forced or overzealous voice-actors. The soundtrack is excellent, as well – the music is great and fits everything going on perfectly. Sound effects like gunfire, among other FX, is also great. The sound is overall, one of the best aspects of Breakdown.
FUN FACTOR (9.8/10):
Great game, great gameplay, hard difficulty. Apart from the difficulty and some very minor pacing problems, everything about the fun factior shines.
REPLAY VALUE (9.0/10):
The game is fairly long, and there isn't a terrible amount of extra content to unlock, apart from an extremely hard difficulty setting. But an addittional ending, and the things you may have overlooked previously, more than make up for that.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Breakdown is a really great game that should have been looked at better. Maybe then, the sales wouldn't have been so bad. But hey, Namco's got to make a sequel to this game. It's not one to miss!
FINAL SCORE:
9.5/10
PROS:
Great story and gameplay, equally amazing soundtrack, great quality, plenty of fun to be had, pretty much everything.
CONS:
Difficulty needs some adjustments, a few minor pacing problems.
OVERALL:
9.5 (SUPERB)
[Get it - you won't regret it.]