Breakdown (video game)

Infobox VG
title = Breakdown


developer = Namco
publisher = Namco, Electronic Arts
distributor =
designer = Masataka Shimono
engine =
version =
released =
genre = First person
Action-adventure
modes = Single player
ratings = vgratings|ESRB=M
platforms = Xbox
media = DVD-ROM
requirements =
input = Gamepad

"Breakdown" (working title: "Project Breakdown") is a first-person shooting/fighting game released by Namco in 2004 for the Microsoft Xbox console. Views on the game are mixed, as it sold unspectacularly, and was criticized for the flawed gameplay mechanics. Despite the shortcomings, it received critical acclaim for using the first-person perspective to achieve a higher level of emergence and a deeper method of storytelling than most games.

Gameplay

Breakdown is unique in that it’s technically categorized as a first-person shooter, but integrates the experiences of a fighting game into the experience as well as using auto-lock-on for shooting at enemies. The viewpoint never leaves the perspective of the player, and interaction with objects, reloading of guns, and the impact of hitting the floor are all seen through this first-person perspective. Unlike other first-person shooters, interaction with objects is also all done in a realistic manner in Breakdown; ammunition is picked up by actually looking down and grabbing it with the arm, instead of automatically collecting it by walking over it, similarly doors are opened by grabbing the handle, key cards used by wiping them over a scanner, ladders by using the arms for climbing and so on. Even health packs are in the forms of energy bars, sodas and hamburgers, which the player must eat, all in first person.

Plot

Humanity has discovered an underground complex built by aliens and controlled by the T’lan army, which is commanded by a being called Nexus. The humans name the complex Site Zero, and set up a research facility to study the complex. There are skirmishes between the humans and T’lan, but nothing serious until the game begins.

Derrick Cole, the protagonist, has had his memory erased by an injection of T’langen, a fluid recovered from dead T’lan forces intended to create supersoldiers. He finds himself in a training facility near Site Zero when a battle breaks out between the humans and the T’lan in Site Zero and spills into the training facility. He is rescued by a woman named Alex Hendrickson, who seems to know Derrick well. As they escape, Derrick develops incredible strength to fight the T’lan. They escape to the research facility, where they learn that Nexus is launching a full scale attack on humanity, using crystal rockets in Site Zero to move their troops, and that Derrick and Alex must stop them.

Once inside Site Zero, Alex is captured by a powerful T’lan named Solus. As Derrick makes his way through Site Zero alone, he finds a scientist with access to the elevator to the crystal rocket silos. She is killed moments later, forcing Derrick to take the stairs to the silos. He arrives to find the human Marines fighting to stop the launching of the rockets, but is too late to help them; the rockets are launched, sending T’lan all over the world. Derrick is then challenged by Solus. During the fight, Solus kills Alex, and Derrick is almost killed when a nuclear strike sends him fifteen years into the future.

Derrick finds himself in a future controlled by the T’lan. A group of human scientists explain that Derrick will experience a Pendulum Effect, throwing him back into the present. This will allow him to change the future, preventing the launching of the rockets. Alex, who is from the future, accompanies Derrick to the present, where she saves him in the training facility.

This time, Derrick saves the scientist and helps the military destroy the rockets, and when Solus challenges him, he defeats Solus. He then goes on to defeat Nexus, ending the T’lan threat once and for all. Derrick and Alex escape from Site Zero as it collapses. Alex is then thrown back into the future, and the player is given the choice of having Derrick stay in his own time, or follow Alex to the future.

Main characters

*Derrick Cole: He awakens in a strange research facility with no memories of his past and learns his name from a researcher working at the lab. It appears that he volunteered to the experiments and is likely an ex-marine. Derrick has super-human abilities that enable him to break through the T'lan Warriors' shields.

*Alex Hendrickson: A mysterious woman who seems to know Derrick. She has amazing physical capabilities and can fight with guns and knives, one knife which allows her to break through the T'lan's shields. A very strong willed woman, she never gives up easily.

*Glen Ogawa: 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.

*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 recent project was cancelled, apparently titled 'Project Breakdown'.

*First Lieutenant Gianni de Luca: An Italian-American United States Marine. He leads an elite unit of soldiers that specialize in top secret missions. Gianni has a foul mouth, but is a good person with a passionate personality that keeps his cool at critical moments.

External links

*moby game|id=/breakdown|name="Breakdown"