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Breakdown
Score: 8.3 / 10
Namco has done the impossible with
Breakdown. When I first heard of Breakdown, I completely wrote it off. A
first-person fighter? Who is Namco kidding? Then I completely forget
about it. Now, after actually playing it, Namco has made me a believer,
even a fan of the concept.
You find yourself behind the eyeballs (and in control of) Derrick as he
wakes up. It becomes quickly apparent that he’s part of some kind of
secret government experiment that has either gone awry or has been
compromised. Soldiers are slaughtering people left, right and center and
Derrick is saved only in the nick of time by Alex, a female operative
who knows him but whom Derrick can’t
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remember. It’s in this saving act that made
me a believer.
After the tutorial/training, your handlers supply you with a drugged
hamburger (leaving your vision blurred and open to the aforementioned
attack). After saving you, Alex helps you over to the toilet and jams a
finger down your throat! It was on the second heave and even before I’d
fought any live targets that I was sold on the style and |
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execution of a real first-person game.
The story unfolds completely from Derrick’s perspective – behind his
eyeballs for the duration. This means masks can obscure his vision and
when he gets knocked down he’s momentarily dazed – shaking his head to
clear the cobwebs. (This also provides some cool “cutscenes” that are
framed directly from Derrick’s point of view.) You can also become
completely disoriented by some of your acrobatic moves, specifically the
back flip and evasive roll. The punches and kicks (performed with a
combination of the right and left triggers and left stick) develop their
own rhythm but throw in a roll and you can become completely lost as to
where enemies are.
Fortunately, the roll and back flip are so hard to execute with any
regularity that you can avoid accidentally performing them. The other
moves are much easier to pull of and deliciously executed combos can
send opponents flying. Derrick can also use an assortment of guns and
grenades to take out opponents but more often than not, particularly
after you gain the ability to block bullets, you’ll march up to everyone
for the personal touch. (Of course, it’s not always the easiest approach
when taking on two or more bulletproof T’Lan warriors at once. Just jab
and run!)
Keeping your ammo stocked turns out to be a chore. Every time you pick
up an item you’re subjected to Derrick scooping it up then giving it a
once over before adding it to his inventory (or eating it to restore his
life energy). This is cool at the start because it really does help
immerse you in the experience, but after the fiftieth you’ll wish you
could just walk over the ammo and have it magically enter your
inventory.
The story actually manages to be interesting and mysterious enough to
compel you forward. To maintain the illusion of being Derrick, story
elements play out before you through cleverly framed sections (such as
when you watch an attack chopper appear and blow away a helicopter you
were trying to get to) and through clipboards scattered throughout the
facility. As Derrick undergoes his metamorphosis and develops the Mother
of All Skin Rashes along with more powerful moves, he is subjected to a
melting perception that kicks in at spots to give the story another
layer of mystery. Maybe the most enigmatic is a cat that appears and
disappears, but there are more puzzling images, like an office hallway
that suddenly ends in a desert wasteland where you fight off small
exploding bugs and find bodies somehow cocooned. Is any of this real?
Mere hallucinations or more clues as to what happened to Derrick and how
he became part of government project? (It can all be compared somewhat
with Half-Life and its complete avoidance of real cutscenes.)
The puzzles are mostly straightforward, every day problems, like
climbing rubble to find a way out. (There is a minimal amount of “key”
hunting.) This lends to a believability of what Derrick’s doing.
What doesn’t help the believability are environments with zippo
interactivity. Having masonry crumble with body impacts or even chairs
you could knock over would have gone a long way to creating an even more
intense game experience (and decrease the annoyance when chairs “snag”
you if you walk too close to them).
In terms of graphics and sound, Breakdown is good on both counts. The
graphics are sharp and the animation very good, although Alex runs very
stiffly. The audio falters on occasion when bad guys seem to shout the
same thing, creating an unintentional echo, but there’s not much else I
can complain about.
I’d recommend Breakdown as a rental before you plunk down $50US to buy
it. Although I really liked Breakdown for its story and first-person
implementation and grew to love the combat, some will think it’s a
“niche” title with too many idiosyncrasies for a wider audience. But you
know what they say, “One man’s idiosyncrasies are another man’s
innovation.”
- Omni
(March 24, 2004)
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