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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.

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-

Simply Astounding

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: April 01, 2004
Author: Amazon User

There is only a little in here that we haven't seen before. But it's all the Good Stuff with none of the drek.

The story will remind of Half-Life crossed with the Matrix, with shades of Bio Forge. But it's all presented in a fresh, smart way that makes it all very compelling.

The 1st person view point is also not what you're used to. It's not just the barrell of a big honkin gun sticking up from bottom of the screen. You engage in hand to hand combat with an array of puches, kicks, strikes and latter special attacks and powers (I won't spoil anything here!) and your hands and feet flying into the view frame and upside the enemies' heads puts you firmly in the action.

I am not even a little interested in yet another FPS, but this isn't one. It's a totally new spin on 1st person gaming which I predict will be copied from now on. NAMCO has blended the 3rd person acrobatics of titles like Tomb Raider and Splinter Cell with the shooting action of Quake and the fighting of Soul Caliber (almost). To rip off a phrase first used to describe Battlezone's new type of gameplay, "I weep at the birth of a new genre."

Go buy 2 and give one to someone you love. This is worth buying an XBOX for. No need to wait for Halo 2!

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

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

One of the best!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: July 06, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Anybody who gave this game a bad review simply didn't take the time to learn how to play it. This is one of the best games I've ever played. The deeper you get into the game the more intense it gets. And the end will blow you away! I hope they make a sequel! But you can't pay any attention to these reviews! You need to try it yourself! And stick with it until the end! It's worth it!

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.

Fun, Unique, and Too Hard

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: February 22, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Here I am, at a large, circular room full of creepy T'lan out to kill me. I have already killed four waves of them, but now all of them come out at once: the large Alphas, the fast Warriors, the cloaked Stealths, and the laser-shooting Assaults. I kill the Warrior first, but wait! Another one spawned in its place! I kill this one as well. I do this for five times, but yet another one spawns once I kill the previous one. I simply run away, but, when I do, I run straight into a Stealth that finishes me off. I am still stuck on this part today. I am on easy, but it seems more like medium-hard to me.

You are Derrick Cole - a former elite soldier who has forgotten his past when an odd substance is injected into his body. Later on in the game, you get super powers that let you kill the superhuman T'lan before Nexus transports them all over the world! The frustration starts when you meet the T'lan before you have the powers. You alone have to find out how to avoid them. How was I supposed to know that I had to jump through the elevator's open access panel to avoid those T'lan? The game does not even offer a single hint. What is more? You lose your heads-up display in the late portions of the game, so you do not know what items that you can use or anything. Wait; there is more! You go through a time warp, and, unbelievably, you have to do an entire portion of the game all over again!

Even with all of its flaws, it has a unique experience and a great gimmick; you are always in first-person, even during cut-scenes! This makes you, the player, feel like you are truly Derrick. His super powers feel like you have them as well. His gulping sounds when he has a beverage feel like you gulping sounds. Even his vomit ... uh ... you get the idea.

It is still a great game. The story, in particular, is guaranteed to captivate you, so, when you need to take a break from the typical "kill this guy, shotgun-blast this guy's head off, and slowly bleed this other guy" game, play this one instead.

Best Game I've Played

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: April 23, 2004
Author: Amazon User

There is only a little in here that we haven't seen before. But it's all the Good Stuff with none of the drek.

The story will remind of Half-Life crossed with the Matrix, with shades of Bio Forge. But it's all presented in a fresh, smart way that makes it all very compelling.

The 1st person view point is also not what you're used to. It's not just the barrell of a big honkin gun sticking up from bottom of the screen. You engage in hand to hand combat with an array of puches, kicks, strikes and latter special attacks and powers (I won't spoil anything here!) and your hands and feet flying into the view frame and upside the enemies' heads puts you firmly in the action.

I am not even a little interested in yet another FPS, but this isn't one. It's a totally new spin on 1st person gaming which I predict will be copied from now on. NAMCO has blended the 3rd person acrobatics of titles like Tomb Raider and Splinter Cell with the shooting action of Quake and the fighting of Soul Caliber (almost). To rip off a phrase first used to describe Battlezone's new type of gameplay, "I weep at the birth of a new genre."

Go buy 2 and give one to someone you love. This is worth buying an XBOX for. No need to wait for Halo 2! (...)

Awsome......simply awesome

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: June 30, 2004
Author: Amazon User

When I saw someone playing this at a friends house I knew this was gonna be awesome. This is a game with some pretty cool original aspects. I mean I have never played a game that is completly first person the WHOLE time. Even cinematic type scenes. I think its cool how Derrick picks up items and examines them. I will admit that it does get a little annoying during a firefight, but if you use your fists alot you don't have to worry about ammo. The fighting action was the best, never played anything like it. I mean how many people here have played shooting games and thought it was more fun to run around swinging your fists instead of shooting? That was a blast. The graphics were great, and the motions. The combos were fun, my favorite was when you powered up and everything was in slow motion. It was cool how you would come to a room and think about what to do next. You had to look around and explore. You had to consider your options. Now sometimes it took me a while,like when you were supposed to run from Solus when he snuck up behind you, lol and I died alot tryin to fight him, but its all in good fun. But my all-time favorite part of the game though was the story. It really got me hooked. I'm into those deep storylines you have to think about for a while to understand. But what was really interesting was that Derrick had hallucinations, and sometimes you had to figure out how to continue and wake up, like the one where you were a scientist and you kept seeing yourself and Dr. Ogawa. Lol I was a bit slow on that one. I will admit that some parts of the story were hard to follow, and some I still don't completly understand, but it was VERY good. A MUST have. I'd say its better than Halo, which is REALLY good. I'd even say this is one of my favorite games, if not THE favorite. Up there with FFX. Play and see.

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