User Reviews (1 - 11 of 24)

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Gonna hate it

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 20
Date: April 01, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Dis game is uuuuuuurting. fin you go play and its over like dat. No funnies and no hottie gurls. would rather spent my money on other stuff.

Banging my head against the wall is as much fun

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 17
Date: November 26, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This game is too long. Just when you think that you've beat it, another 10 to 20 hrs of play is added. Fighting umpteen monsters in first person is rather tiresome and when you are able to defeat them all, you know that it is luck. I must say this is about the worst game i've ever played

How counterintuitive can you get?

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 2 / 7
Date: May 27, 2004
Author: Amazon User

The first moment i realized i wasn't going to like this game was the first time i tried to pick up an extra clip of ammo. While i am being shot at, my character calmly picks up the clip and proceeds to stare at it and examine it in his hand, WHILE I AM BEING SHOT AT. Its the general counterintuitive nature of things like that in this game that really bothered me, moreso than anything else. Why would they institute an overly complicated mess of auto targeting with weaponry instead of having your normal point and fire crosshairs? Why why why?!? Yes this game has a few 'immersive' moments, and yes it COULD have been something great, but quite frankly i couldnt get beyond the rank stupidity of the way shooting is done, and the frustration caused when you die because your character seems to be oh so much more interested in looking at an extra clip of ammo than the fact that he is getting shot.

I died

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: August 24, 2004
Author: Amazon User

It was too hard on easy mode. It's a first-person shooter with the combat engine geared towards martial arts... but in such a way that guns are still the most lethal, and most logical, option.

The concept is interesting, but the playability is close to nil, and winds up having an "overdone" feeling. Objects are hard to use... you have to stand *just right*, and you have to press once to pick up, once again to accept, and once more to use any object. I'm sure there's a compelling conspiracy story in there somewhere... there almost always is with the Archetypal Amnesiac Adventure Hero made popular in the early 90's by "Total Recall," but the white-on-white text makes it very difficult to read what it is.

I really wouldn't recommend this game to anyone, but enough people seem to like it that it may be worth a shot.

Calling all masochists- Your game has arrived

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 16 / 18
Date: August 30, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I must be losing my touch; This is the second game in a just a few weeks that I'm accusing of being "too hard" on normal difficulty. To be fair, most of the game is good. It might seem like a first person shooter at first, but it's really more of an action/adventure game. It has far more exploration and environment interaction than most FPSs. Also, in the final analysis the combat system is more geared towards hand to hand combat than shooting.

While the first person immersion is one of the highlights of this game, sometimes it's taken too far, to the point where it inhibits the fun factor. Simply interacting with an object involves up to THREE seperate commands: 1) Extend your arm 2) Pick up object 3) Examine/keep/discard object. That becomes tedious very early on. Furthermore, during combat you're often knocked down. While they did a good job of simulating the first person view of someone being punched hard enough to be sent reeling to the ground, the process of falling down and then getting back up takes far too long. Again, realism at the expense of fun. Adrenaline rush subsides into pure aggravation.

Much of the problem solving in this game is completely counter-intuitive. There are too many occasions when there are simply -no- hints or clues as to what you must do in order to progress and you're left to twist in the wind until you somehow figure it out on your own. Example: You're being chased through a maze by an unstoppable foe who will kill you outright if he catches you. Your only hope is to escape the maze before he catches up to you and snuffs you out. When you finally reach the end of the maze, the exit door won't open. Why? Figure it out, stupid. Want a clue? Too bad. Just figure it out somehow. Eventually I got fed up and had to check a FAQ. Once I knew the solution, my one thought was "Now just how in the hell did they expect me to figure that out?" Maybe I've been spoiled by games like Metal Gear Solid that hold your hand through every obstacle in the game, but I think there should have been at least some little hint to point me in the right direction so I could have figured out how to get the door open. Aside from this sort of situation, there are some occasions toward the end of the game where you're expected to fight groups of enemies that just beat the living tar out of you time and time again until you get lucky. I spent over three hours trying to fight my way through the last few sections before I finally succeeded. I had stopped having fun long before I finished the game. To add insult to injury, towards the end of the game there is something you can interact with that will dispense arguably the most important plot information and exposition in the game. This is something I would say 90% of people playing the game will miss. I myself would have missed out on it, if not for a friend telling me to look for it. This is not good game design, Namco.

Frustrations aside, I have to admit that a lot of Breakdown was fun and I don't necessarily regret playing it. As someone else mentioned earlier, it's obvious that the creators of this game were influenced by Half Life and The Matrix. And perhaps 12 Monkeys.

Trespasser Revisited

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 2
Date: June 04, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This is a reivew i'm going to have my spline ripped out for, but BREAKDOWN is NOT That original or impressive. What it does get credit for, is reintroducing Trespasser.

Four years ago a game was released for the PC called Jurassic Park Trespasser. It was hailed as one of the worst games of all times because instead of the run and gun FPS that we were all used to, it offered a clunky and slow going First person experiance game. And it is also no secret that most people's rigs could no where NEAR handle the wattage this baby was pumping. Trespasser though, was a very good game. It was deep, immersive, and has more SQ Milage than EQ did at that time. Plus the usage of dinosaurs with the JP license was brilliant.

So we now have BREAKDOWN. Tespasser mixed with HalfLife and FF The movie. Is it good? Graphically, yes. It's immersive and makes you feel as though you are in the action. The generic Soda for health being one thing. But if these years since TR have come out have taught us ANYTHING, is that adventure gameplay is best in 3rd person views due to being able to see your hole body. Also, the game does not really leave the main complex unless you're headed towards Nexus. So over all, rent this first to see if you'll like it. Then by all means buy it.

Breaking Down "Breakdown". . .

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: May 19, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Give "Breakdown" the credit it deserves. It's a genre-defying first person action game with shooter elements, but an emphasis on hand-to-hand combat. That sounds strange, and it IS strange, but it actually works, if you can believe that! Add to the mix the most immersive 3D game mechanics I've yet seen, and you've got yourself a game that comes recommended despite its disappointments.

The setup is strikingly similar to "Half-Life," with a few twists here and there. You're Derrick Cole, and you come to in a glossy research facility that is being overrun by genetic freaks from another dimension. In fact, you're a bit of a genetic freak yourself, which makes you the only one capable of saving the day. It also means that you'll have to keep an eye out for armed soldiers who would like nothing more than to put a bullet in you. In all truth, the story doesn't make a lot of sense, but the game is so good at inserting you into its nonsensical setting that it becomes sufficiently compelling.

Initially, "Breakdown" feels like a first-person shooter. You must escape the facility, and firearms are in good supply to help you do just that. Things change, though, when you come face-to-face with your first mutant, as they are completely immune to gunfire. Avoidance is the only policy at first (and the game lays on the tension nice and thick), until at last you begin to morph into a being that is physically capable of taking on mutants in hand-to-hand combat. Because the shooter elements are so basic (you have a severely limited arsenal and targeting can be a chore), things start to get really interesting at this point, because, to my continuing disbelief, this form of combat works so well - provided you're not juggling several opponents at once. Sometimes the game forces you to take on a handful of powerful opponents, and it just becomes frustrating. Fortunately, in most cases it's a simple matter to lure your stupid enemies from their positions and beat them to death one-by-one. Later in the game this is less of an option, since you're hurled into rooms you can't escape until you've pummeled all the mutants it throws your way. Getting hit in the back and watching a ten second animation of you dropping to the ground is less than amusing.

The early stages of the game are immensely well done, and are complete with some staggeringly cool set pieces. One, which introduces you to the game's appropriately scary villain, a half-man called Solus, is better than just about any scripted moment I've ever seen in a game of this type. There are several moments early on that are worth playing repeatedly, and take cinematic gaming to a whole new level. In particular, Derrick's hallucinations as he mutates are imaginative and eerie. Unfortunately, all of these moments are frontloaded, and there are few such bits as you near the finale.

Speaking of the finale, here's where a great games settles with just being good. It's as though the designers got tired of all the work it must have taken to make the first half of the game so brilliant, and just cobbled together the remaining portion. What's more, you have to go through one large area twice! Nothing changes, it's essentially just the same as it was the first time you experienced it. It's every bit as disappointing as it sounds, and will probably threaten to break the will of many players. It doesn't help that it's the worst part of the game in the first place, as the alien dimension stages are visually unappealing, repetitive, and downright frustrating. The game tries to transform itself into a first-person platformer here, and it's ill-advised.

I've been an avid gamer for over ten years, and I've never seen a game with such potential fall short of greatness by a mere hand's breadth, but that's exactly what "Breakdown" does. The initial game is brilliantly executed, and promises an experience that is not delivered when it's all said and done. Even so, there's nothing out there quite like "Breakdown," and I recommend it highly despite its shortcomings. After all, those shortcomings are only as disappointing as they are because the game is otherwise such a joy to experience. Don't overlook this one.

Final Score: A-

Damn COOL!!!!!!!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: May 01, 2004
Author: Amazon User

this is cool with shooting and some kick-ass moves I just got the game and I'm on easy and I'm stuck on Solus (if you beat Solus where he goes " Object:Human" tell me how to beat him do you punch him to death) anyway is cool. It has shooting/fighting/frekeness that is cool/ and a good story even topping Halo

worth the money, good game...but

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: July 14, 2004
Author: Amazon User

closer to 4 1/2 stars. this is a unique game in the view point and is also close to being a survival horror game. This is also the first game i ever seen use Hallucination sequences that you actually control (like walking in a dream) what has kept me from giving this game a 5 so far (and im still playing it)is the fact that ive play a good chunk of this game and it has mainly been all indoors. It would be nice to get some scenery here and there. Walking the endless buildings and halls can get old after awhile. Other than this, this game is awsome, and at the price you can not go wrong.

One of the most underrated Xbox titles you can get...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: March 28, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I remember a lil' game that hit stores a few months ago called "Breakdown". The game was suppose to be revolutionary and all that stuff but I see this game didn't get very "great" scores if you know what I mean, and seeing this is from Namco(the same people who braught us the awesome SOUL CALIBUR)I decided to finally buy this game 4 days ago(and man was this a good 14 bucks)and I must say, anyone who didn't like Breakdown for its story or visuals are just plain STUPID!

Lets get to it..

Breakdown plays in FPS mode through out the whole game with no visual cutscenes or nothing like that, it's all in Real time. I'm not going to get into the story but you can just read that for yourself from gamesites or gamemagazines. Besides the fact that Breakdown acctually has a great Story, the visuals were suppose to be like the way they are. I don't understand why it's getting all this bickering over the visuals, what!? Were you expecting Doom3 visuals???..Jeez, other then the superb story and great visuals the gameplay is both awesome......and very frustraiting..

The gameplay is what got this game mixed reviews for most, I must start off by saying you ONLY get 3 weapons, 2 of them are pretty useful(which is the rocket launcher and the pistol)but the most usless and somewhat frustraiting weapon is the SMG, my god...this gun WILL NOT kill the person your aiming for unless you're like 5 feet away from him!!! And maybe it's just me but I want to kill those idiots at Namco for making such terrible controls for the hand to hand combat, you will die so manytimes from the frustraiting learning curve that it's not even funny...There were times(such as the first time I met 3 T lans)were I'd throw my control on the floor in anger, this game can get very, very frustraiting EVEN ON EASY MODE.. And why is everyone complaining about the lengh, the lengh is pretty decent, not great...but decent...same lengh as Halo 2, if you ask me...Other then that...

Good
-Great Visuals
-Great hand to hand combat engine
-Superb Story that is being bashed on by alot of gamers
-Great sound, very detailed and great characters
-Unique, original and very very wierd...
-Decent length, took me about 9 hours and 50 minutes..

Bad
-Terrible, terrible, frustraiting hand to hand combat learning curve
-60% of the game, or even more, is just mostly opening doors, running to the next linear hallway, open the next to door, ect..
-Most people will get turned off by it's extreamly Linear gameplay levels..
-Frustraiting enemies like fighting 3 or 4 enemies at once might push some gamers to throw there controls on the ground in anger...like myself..and trust me, it ain't pretty

Other then that, if you got 10 bucks to spare, get this game, it's not only an awesome game, but it's pretty original and has great visuals, great story and great action....the only bad thing about it is the frustraiting controls. Alot of people will hate this game and Alot of people will love this game...I personally enjoyed this game(but I mainly got this to get my mind of Doom 3 for xbox) Overall...I give this a

4.1 out of 5 stars

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