Breakdown

The greatest experience I have ever had in all my years of gaming. That’s right Xbox owners, in many regards it even surpasses "Halo."

There's so much good going for it, I can't see not recommending it as a purchase for most gamers, although the subject material and weird moments in the storyline might be a bit too off-putting for casual gamers.

Breakdown is the most boring game I [Crispin] have ever played. Its pacing is just off - especially in the first half, when you dart through lame environments for too long, with nary a bulgy-veined monster to muss your hair. [May 2004, p.99]

Weird, sometimes wonderful, and certainly unique.

The learning curve jumps due to the confusion the player feels while trying to get a hold of the camera and the involved combo system turn into a button masher in frenzied fights. Still, the title is worth a look.

Some aspects of the game could have been tightened up such as the storyline and the combat mechanics but I would equate this game with a trip to the country. It's a little laid back but offers you plenty of breathing room.

A fairly awful experience with just a literal handful of inspired moments, and since these moments are so heavily scripted, you are better off just watching videos of it instead. [JPN Import]

The word "innovative" has lost its meaning over the years because quality in games is judged by subjective elements like "graphics," "sound," and "replay value." But Breakdown is a masterpiece for all the right reasons, and in the areas where it needs work, you can't blame it because it's already doing so much at once. For the gamer who doesn't see quality in Breakdown's well-designed and unique enemies, its set-piece moments that radically change level structure and narrative flow, the unique real-time first-person fighting mechanics, the super powers (like the ability to slow time to a crawl, jump incredibly high, and sweep rooms with sonic blasts), or the intricately designed time-travel plot, at least play the game for the subjective reasons reviewers themselves present to you as incentive to play: Breakdown was one of the first of its kind to utilize motion capture, and indeed it was used to great effect with each and every character; the game is also very difficult, even on the ''easiest'' setting (which seems to garner attention these days, since most games are simply too easy, which holds the player back from using everything at his/her disposal); lastly, it actually has a soundtrack that's heart-pounding, eerie, and anticipant at all the right moments. There is no game in existence that is more deserving of a sequel than Breakdown; if it got the recognition it deserves, the result would be a truly fulfilling franchise.

It's a very strange game, but I LOVE it. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sin duda uno de los más grandes del catalogo de la XBOX. El juego tiene una dificultad muy alta, hasta que consigues dominarlo incluso puede llegar a desesperar, pero esto es lo que lo hace especial frente a otros juegos del catalogo. Una vez dominas el juego, puedo asegurar que muy pocos llegan a su nivel, consiguiendo que te sientas como el protagonista de una película de Hollywood. Gráficamente es maravilloso, la banda sonora cañera y muy lograda, y la historia sin duda cargada de acontecimientos y giros inesperados que vuelven al titulo una joya oculta de la primera consola de xbox. Gratamente sorprendido con un titulo que bajo mi punto de vista fue infravalorado, y que le pega un buen repaso a muchos juegos de su generación. Gracias NAMCO.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

I played this game not too long ago, and what can I say? It's the game about everything and nothing at the same time. Is it an immersive sim? Nope, but it tries to be one. Is it a first-person shooter? Nope, but it got some elements of it. Is it a beat-em-up? Nope, but it got some elements in it. As you can see, this game aims to be a unique adventure game, but it falls short of delivering a good experience in all aspects. Sure, the story is intriguing at first, but then you understand at some point that it's a total mess. First, we started as a Half-Life parody. Then it's like some anime, and at the end, a typical time-traveling mess. Like, there were several scriptwriters, and they all worked on different periods of game development. The biggest issue for me, that the game is taking too long and it's stretched out, but brings no new content in game design. But it's got 2 bosses on this entire long game, and one of them is a helicopter ( lol). To be honest, it's not the best Xbox exclusive out there, and I will never gonna touch this game again.