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Breakdown Review by: Nathan and Nick
Official Site

Introduction
Namco has a very unique game in Breakdown, they tried to simulate first person into the game by actually using real first person view. In Breakdown all you see is your arms, legs and of course your gun. As you progress throughout Breakdown, you will notice this will not change at all. I believe this is one of the best ideas Namco has come up with for awhile. This was a very clean, creative idea and it appears to work fine with a sci-fi game. Although the game is not strictly FPS, it does involve hand-hand combat when it is necessary. At first glance Breakdown looks similar to other FPS’s, but don’t let the appearance fool you, this game is a kind of its own.

Story
You are Derrick Cole, super human special operations solider, with special strength. Derek almost died, but a research project kept him alive. The story begins with Derek struggling with amnesia and awakes to notice him self in some kind of scientific laboratory. Derek hears a lab technician speak to him over an intercom and gives Derrick his current status. After you chat with the technician you then proceed with a series of tests. These tests are just training exercises you will receive to be able to understand how the game is played. You are soon called back to your room for lunch by the technician.

You will notice a cola and a burger that you may enjoy sitting on one of the tables. As you take your first bite out of the burger, Derrick will grow weak and collapse on the bed. The burger was drugged, the technician tells him, it is to help him sleep he adds. As you are sleeping from the drugged burger, you will see some military men come in your room to pay you a visit. They are in no mood to play around; with guns drawn one of the men tells his partner to kill Derrick. Still groggy Derrick notices a female figure come out of the woodwork. Her name is Alex and she quickly kills all enemy soldiers and moves toward Derrick. It seems that this female is highly trained in combat, with killing on her mind. She speaks with Derrick a little and then says you got to lose the lunch. After throwing up his burger, he proceeds and follows Alex out of the room; this is where you get to take matters into your own hands as you leave the giant lab facility.

Gameplay
Derrick can crouch and jump, but there are advanced moves if I may put it that way. He can do an Evasive roll, as well as a Back flip. To do the Evasive roll press the black button twice while moving right or left. To do a Backflip, tap the black button twice while moving backward. He also has more moves/combos he can perform such as; The One-Two Punch, Backfist Strike, High Kick, Right Straight Punch-Right Kick, One-Two Punch-Right Kick to name them all. I was expecting more moves but you are very limited. Derrick has a basic arsenal, which includes; a handgun, a 9mm parabellum gun in which a 12-round clip can be inserted. He also has access to a Sub-Machine gun, which is fully automatic, repetitive fire; it can hold a 30 round clip. What would a game be without a Fragmentation Grenade; the grenade is a light weight anti-personnel weapon, its case shatters on detonation and releases a deadly shower of shrapnel.

This is Derrick’s weaponry; but what about his armor or health? His Health can be restored when eating a hamburger or a soda and even a ration bar dropped by a falling corpse, will restore Derricks T’langen/health. Your probably wondering what T’langen is, it is Derrick’s power, and with this power he can nail an enemy into a heap of trash with 2 punches of his fists. Also, with this power or rather T’langen, he can block bullet fire, this will help him to keep his health in good shape.

The first character you will encounter is Alex Hendrickson (his friend) a mysterious woman who seems to know Derrick. She has amazing physical capabilities and can fight with guns and Knives in a manner no human could do but her, she’s gifted at what she does and is superb at it. She is very strong-willed, and never gives up. Alex isn’t the only one you will meet. Glen Ogawa is a 52 year old male that you will meet toward the beginning or so. He’s a Japanese-American professor of medicine. He was conducting biological research in Australia but was banished from the medical community because he created a human clone. He is now involved in a highly classified project. You will also meet Stefania Wojinski, a visiting professor from Poland who is a specialist in human memory mechanisms. She has not given up on her years of research although her most recent project was canceled. But that’s not all there is also Gianni De Luca and Solus. Solus is a mysterious being that menaces Derrick and Alex. He looks human, but his physical capabilities surpass anything that could possibly be human.

Graphics
Breakdown is only on the Xbox, and this game definitely takes advantage of the Xbox’s power. Another good thing to know is that Breakdown does support HDTV 480p. So you know it will look good on your TV screen. The graphics are quite impressive, nice rendered character models. Although, the games level design is very boring, with endless corridors, but you will find yourself with a very nice experience. When you do some of your special moves such as a back flip it doesn’t seem like you move that much and that was one of my first impressions; but the blur effect will suffice. Overall the graphics are decent, with nice lighting effects in some of the environmental levels.

Sound
Breakdown has an officially licensed soundtrack. 5.1 surround helps the music and sound crisp through your speakers like the bullets fired from your gun. Often many times in Japanese games they lose a great deal of their flair in translation to American titles, but leave it to Namco they did a superb job. You might expect cheesy voiceovers but this title is perfect, in fact you can’t even tell one bit, very nicely done.

Closing thoughts
Breakdown is one of a kind, a game that truly initializes real first person view. You don’t see this kind of game much; Namco truly did have a nice idea. Overall this game is nice graphics wise, but the gameplay does get repetitive. Walking down endless corridors is very boring, and the level design is generally the same throughout. The game does have it’s strong points, like the first person view, but it does have it’s flaws as well. The story will draw you into the game more then the gamplay; you always want to see what will happen next. If you are a big FPS fan this game is definitely for you, you will like the first person view as well as some of the gameplay. If you are a hardcore action fan you will also want to pick this one up because the storyline draws you deep into the game. If you are a FPS fan or an action fan, pick up Breakdown you will really be glad you did.