Breakdown

Namco?s Breakdown: intriguing narrative, diverse action, sharp visuals, and one clumsy interface.

Save a few innovative offerings, first-person titles rarely venture outside the safe boundaries of a straight weapon-based shooter. Breakdown is an interesting attempt to add depth to the first-person perspective with weapons, fighting, platform hopping, magic, and a lengthy narrative, but it?s frequently undone by clunky interface issues and other nagging details.

Which Way Is Up?
Breakdown?s narrative is like The Matrix crossed with Total Recall and Memento: Nothing is as it seems; trust no one; and pay close attention to every lengthy memo, file, and conversation along the way or the convoluted, multitiered plot will quickly become confusing. Most of the game plays out in real time, and it builds an excellent level of tension that?s wisely uninterrupted by checkpoints or flashy high-end GC cinema sequences. You play as Derrick Cole, the amnesiac main character, whose skills include using firearms, performing martial arts, driving vehicles, crawling through air vents, dangling from ledges, and wielding magic forces that gradually strengthen as things progress.

Breakdown delivers a healthy dosage of first-person shooting, but hand-to-hand fighting becomes equally?if not more?important as you dive deeper into the game as you?ll learn a variety of punches, kicks, and even combo attacks. Sturdy controls keep the complex repertoire of actions under your command, although it?s easy to lose your perspective when combating multiple enemies that advance from different directions. A fair amount of brainpower is also required, and getting stuck in a single location for an extended time as you try to puzzle your way out and get to the next section isn?t uncommon. The steep difficulty should also make one adhere to the mantra ?save early and often.?

Mind Melt
Breakdown is a visual and aural stunner with smooth, colorful, and detailed surroundings and aesthetic sound effects. The frame rate never falters, even when you venture from narrow spaces to wide, open areas, and the clean audio effects are a perfect match for the onscreen activity. As bold as the sights and sounds are, the interface is barely up to snuff and misses the mark in important ways. Obtaining even the simplest item is a tiresome multistep process (stop, see item, pick up item, look at item, put item in inventory) and a true irritation when you?re under fire or in the heat of battle. Other clumsy interface problems abound, especially the fact that you can?t collect health items and retain them for later use.

Breakdown is an interesting attempt to expand the limits of a tried-and-true genre?just anticipate some frustration for the awkward interface and time-consuming stretches of trial-and-error.

Comments [0]

post a comment

Post a Comment