reakdown is a science-fiction first-person shooter that aims to expand its genre by adding martial-arts-inspired hand-to-hand combat to its arsenal.
In the game, players assume the persona of Derrick Cole as he awakens within a joint U.S./Japanese research base in Japan. He has no idea who he is—his handlers have to supply his name—but quickly discovers that he is part of a secret military program seeking to create super-soldiers. He also learns that something has gone very wrong. Hybrid warriors known as the "T'lan" are running amok, and the military has decided to shut the project down ... by force.
As the military kills any scientist it can find and tries in vain to slay the hybrids, Cole slowly realizes that he has the ability to stop the monsters with his own super-powered fists. He is guided to this realization by a mysterious woman named Alex, who knows more about Cole and the base than she is willing to share, as well as by lost memories that come surging back to him at random intervals.
Breakdown shares the first-person perspective of other shooter games, such as Unreal Tournament and Half-Life, but enhances those games by providing its main character with close-combat skills. At his most basic, Cole can throw simple punches and kicks, but with practice is able to land one-two punches, uppercuts, backfist strikes and various other combination attacks. As the game progresses, his physical capabilities are further enhanced, allowing him to block bullets, launch a devastating charge at his enemies and even lob energetic balls of force. Supplementing his deadly hands are a few of the standard FPS weapons, namely pistols, submachine guns and grenades.
Unlike many of its competitors, Breakdown is a strictly single-person game, with no multiplayer or online gaming capabilities. It offers four difficulty settings—easy, normal, hard and expert. Beating any of the levels unlocks special features, including image galleries, a music player, a game trailer and a new "extreme difficulty" mode.
Unsettling innovation
The designers of Breakdown wanted their players to feel fully immersed within the character of Derrick Cole. Everything Cole does—from drinking soda to looting bodies to throwing up in a toilet—is shown entirely from his perspective. If Cole does a backflip, players see the floor spin past his eyes. If he takes a hit from one of the hybrid warriors, they see the ceiling go flying by as Cole is sent reeling. Combined with the Cole's extensive martial-arts capabilities, the perspective makes Breakdown unlike any first-person shooter on the market.
The game's hand-to-hand fighting is a welcome change from the normal "shoot first, loot later" approach of most FPS games, but it works best when Cole has to deal with only one or two opponents. Players faced with more than that will find themselves helplessly confused by the enemy pummels, each of which knocks Cole's perspective out of whack. That occasionally muddled perspective can be nauseating, and it takes a while for players to grow accustomed to the effect. Those prone to motion sickness may find the game unplayable.
Breakdown's storyline combines Half-Life's alien invasion with The Matrix's self-discovery, with a bit of Total Recall mixed in. It's not particularly compelling, but it's serviceable. The single best storytelling technique the game boasts is Cole's flashbacks. These memory surges hit him unexpectedly as he turns into a corridor or opens a door, suddenly confronting him with alien vistas, a broken room filled with faces that dissolve after they speak, or even a "time loop" in which he finds himself carrying out the same actions again and again. It's a disconcerting effect, and one that helps players relate to Cole's ongoing confusion.
While the game has its innovations, it also has its flaws. The enemy AI is extremely dumb, with shooters standing in the middle of rooms or melee monsters charging directly toward their victims; there's very little subtlety to their actions. Thankfully, the game makes very little use of keys, but the level design is monotonous and predictable. Despite a huge number of doors scattered around the various levels, there's generally only one way to leave, and players rarely need to explore a level to find that exit.
Visually, the levels are as boring as their layouts. They consist primarily of endless office spaces, laboratory corridors and concrete bunkers, all of them looking like something out of a two- or three-year-old FPS. The creatures and special effects look good, and there are occasional rooms that are breathtaking, but they can't make up for hours spent trudging through sterile office buildings. Fortunately, the game's framerate is good, and there's very little in the way of
clipping or other graphical artifacts.
Overall, Breakdown does succeed at expanding the first-person shooter genre, but the leap forward isn't nearly as great as it could have been.
Breakdown's "nausea factor" should not be underestimated—at one point I thought I was going to have to break out the Dramamine in order to complete this review. I strongly recommend that people rent the game first to see if their stomachs can handle Derrick's bobbing and weaving.
— Ken
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