Breakdown

A 2004 Xbox exclusive first person melee action game. Also 360 compatible. I've known about this for a bit but don't know much, I'd like to know about the combat, looks pretty dope.

I have this but never finished. Will post what I remember when I get home.

It looks super neat and innovative with its melee combat, stuff like mirrors edge, xenoclash and condemned 2 would later try 1st person brawling. I can't tell if the game is a tad jank with its controls and combat or if it's the player, one of those games. I'll have to look at a guide/tutorial, see if it's got some hidden tech to it.

Found a movelist:https://www.gamefaqs.com/xbox/583052-breakdown/faqs/30601.

I didn't get into it too much. I know the dodging is weird because the guy does a full backflip for a backward dodge, and also to the left or right for side dodges. It actually spins the camera and can be disorientating. I remember rarely using them, opting to just move to the side instead. Some guy came at me with a flying kick and I just simply moved off his centerline.

Yeh the dodges look odd, i think it would be better if you had a sidestep instead, so you can see what's happening and it'd be faster, maybe a slipping move like god hand. Seems odd they wouldn't just have that instead of a cumbersome roll or backflip.

Can you cancel moves? It seems to have a lot of animation priority, but not in a way that seems balanced for group encounters, I'd add cancels.

Any crowd control moves? It's been noted to lack these by I've not seen enough to know.

A guide: https://www.gamefaqs.com/xbox/583052-breakdown/faqs/30015

I'll have to find some high level play, I'd love to see a sick Kung fu vid with all those moves. No vid I've found yet showing off the move set, the game has the massive mistake of not detailing your whole movelist in the skills menu.

Expert mode walkthroughs:




This ones from 2017, glad there's love for Breakdown.

I remember reading about this in GameQuest magazine at the time and being really interested, for me it felt like the first game that would really 'bring us to the future' where we become the game, fully immersed. Obviously I never heard about it again, the xbox wasn't that popular in Europe until the 360 hit. I'll look into getting it one day, looks interesting that's for sure!

I'm noticing from the bottom playlist I posted that the game is really out of focus with its genres. It's an unbroken first person perspective game with a sweet of melee moves, janky poopy shooting and dodgey platforming. It seems to juggle all of these game types with lacking emphasis on any one of them, and not the set of mechanics that are actually unique and fairly well designed, that being the melee combat.

It's got way too much awful auto aim dependant shooting that's clearly made by a Japanese team with no experience and little understanding of fps design. From what I know Japanese gamers at the time(likely still now to a degree) didn't seem to be acclimated to manual aiming as they weren't used to controlling the camera in games since most of them had little to no need for camera control. So I think that's why the aiming is so lock on centric, to help Japanese players, that and just poor design.

Level design looks garbage, lots of bland identical hallways or needlessly open spaces. The core melee mechanics are where the game shines but it's very reluctant to focus on it, as so many sections force you into shootouts, which are awful, or platforming, which is similarly awful to the shooting. It should have focused on and refined the melee than the mediocre shooting/platforming/immersion sim aspects.

It's an early example of what Mirrors edge, Condemned 2, Chronicles of Riddick and Xenoclash would do in terms of first person melee combat with a physical character model(like your controlling a character in 1st person that moves like it's 3rd person, if ya know what I mean?) to control rather than the usual floating hands with guns that first person games go for.

That said I look forward to playing this, I've seen a copy for cheap. My 360 can't play Xbox games for some reason so I'll have to play it on my dads.

I know you get an ability that lets you block bullets and I think you can run, or at least move while blocking.

It seems you can't target an enemy's head at all. I'm not sure if this is incompetence on the devs part, or an actual design choice to stop you from killing them quickly. That said I'm not 100% that you can't, just that I couldn't figure it out at the time.

You can block bullets as well as move and block, don't know if you can run. The aiming looks like you can't manually aim like any other fps so you're forced to use the dopey lock on, it's inaccurate too, would be better if it had a soft lock on like timesplitters and metroid prime whilst also having a manual aim like them also.

The more I watch the more I see how rough this game is, it's trying to be too many things. It's should remove all the shooting and focus on melee, I wouldn't mind the shooting if it was good or even serviceable but it's abysmal and it seems to have more shooting than anything else. That and running through endless grey hallways. Early walking sim add that to the genre mash up this game is.

I think this game took the immersion factor too seriously.

Eh, it is pretty cool that it exists. I'd rather they went over the top like this (I mean dodging in first person is really badass). Makes it unique to say the least!

I get the sense that since it's an Xbox game it was trying to appeal to the western market with the whole gritty military fps against doodbro aliens(who look suspiciously like the locust from gears of war mashed with the strogg from quake 4) and also appease Japanese players with lock on aiming for shooting/melee. Just having to pick every item up and wait for the the guy to stop fiddling, munching and gawking at it would get needlessly tedious, immersion over gameplay i guess, gets a free pass from me since it was novel.

The melee is super novel, especially such an early example of 1st person melee combat, clearly experimenting before such things where figured out. i mean its the reason i put it into the action section, i'm gonna have fun seeing all the moves. I've watched 2 or so full playthroughs and I haven't even seen half the movelist! like I've read it has counters from blocking and shit! dragon kicks, KUNG FU SON!! KUNG FU!!

Funny as those 1st person melee/platforming games are usually western made. Reminds me of how Operation Winback(N64, 1997) was a very early cover shooter made by a Japanese team(Cavia), a genre mass produced ad nauseam by western devs.

I have always wanted to play this game: it looks weird and experimental and completely up my alley. I don't usually hook up my old Xbox, but my 360 has a permanent spot on the shelf: how well does it run through backwards compatibility? On Wikipedia it says that save files corrupt often: does anybody have any personal experience with problems like that?

I tried to check some data for you, but this is the rare instance in which the game's name doesn't help. Found a lot of "Breakdowns on what games work backwards yay or nay", which I found to be funny. 

Maybe Gabriel or Birdman can help you out, I believe both own the game (by now anyway).

Titles like these are always of interest though, as they really try new stuff that generally seems to get picked up on one way or another and turned popular in a bigger title with more budget.

I've received my copy but my 360(likely the hard drive) can't read og Xbox games, so I'll have to play it at my dads, I'll see if I encounter those bugs.

I've not even seen the whole melee move list, I've not encountered a single move list guide/tutorial vid, someone needs to make one. Also I have to note that Solus(white haired half naked bad guy) is voiced by Crispin Freeman(Alucard from Hellsing, Sundowner from MGR:R) which just cracks me up.

So I played about 4hrs of this, got some thoughts and tips.

Tips n stuff:

You play as our lord and savior...Derrick.

You can cancel reload animations by blocking, no other animation can be canceled.

T'lan enemies have a chance to dissolve into a blue(T'lan energy meter) or red orb(life) you can pick up.

You only have one dedicated crowd control move that costs about half your energy meter, its a horizontal shockwave that knocks foes back and dies decent damage.

Use guns against soldiers and melee against t'lan.

Soldiers are a pain due to your shit tier hard lock aiming with no accuracy at all, whereas soldiers have perfect accuracy, also they deal high damage with fucken "oops all hitscan" guns, damn modern shooters with their hitscan. You get an upgrade early on that lets you block bullets but only from the direction your facing.

T'lan are the pale skinned half naked men(and 1 lady type) with black techno-organic armor, these guys can only be hurt via melee, special meter moves and one anti t'lan gun you get later on(which kinda sucks, does little damage so it's not worth it outside of ranged t'lan maybe). A ranged variant exists, they fire projectiles that can dodged, but i dont think you can block their shots and avoid damage like soldiers shots.

This games melee combat is very clearly designed around 1v1 encounters, since pretty much all your moves are designed for single enemies with only 1 crowd control move. Problem is seldom any encounter is just 1 mob, its at least 2 melee goons at once and likely gun guys supporting them, it feels really awkward and cheap when your trying to have a fair tussle with one guy and their buddy starts swinging while your occupied with the other, its hard to keep track when its 1st person. i think they doubled up enemy encounters because lone mobs are a joke, you can stun lock them with all your moves, some moves knock them down so you can combo them indefinitely. 1 move is a barrage of Bruce Lee backfists which is fun.

Side flip seems useless so far, too slow, no range and no iframes on anything anyway. Enemies track and come in groups so its best to just block and strafe, you can block pretty much all melee attacks but i think you take minor chip damage.

Some moves and combos can knock down foes and/or push them across the room. You get more moves as you upgrade automatically at set story points, you have counters you can perform while blocking but it costs a ton of meter so it's not worth it. You get a projectile orb you can throw to stun foes, this costs more energy the more you charge.

I've played more today, I got all the way past the first real bout with Solus. After that part you lose your hud so you can't see your life/meter or lock on target which is great!...double immersive! Luckily you can check your life/meter in the inventory/skills menu, you can check ammo in that menu also, only place to check it.

Also protip: mash X to pick stuff up faster, 1 press readies our savior Derrick's hand, the next press picks it up and the last puts the item away/uses it if it's a life item(can of fizz, ration bar or red/blue orbs)you can press B to throw the item away which removes the item from existence, so don't pick shit up if you don't want it, cuz das plain wasteful m8.

The rest of the game is mostly retread of site zero, which is an underground base that leads to the nexus tower. Level design just sort of shits itself for these areas, so you traverse a wide sunny grassy area(underground mind you) with enemies placed about but are optional outside of the ones you need to kill to open the green magic gates(which are orange if they are locked).

You then realize this area is so wide since you get a jeep to drive around a bit, while your partner Alex backseat drives you, who for some reason has a bunch of lines for that. One awful area has a jeep placed just to use it to make a super jank trial on error jump across a broken bridge, the part you drive across is angled to the right but the part you need to reach is angled to your left, then when you jump you have to be close enough to mantle the ledge. It's the type of awkward BS that has nothing to do with the core gameplay but it's manageable in a few tries, just back up and make sure you have enough speed to land the jump.

The tower is an awkward downward platforming section, its really long and each room is identical to the next, then you have to go ALLLL the WAAAAAY back up said tower, which is even more awkward. Mirrors edge this is not, even with our savior Derrick, who isn't cut out for platfroming(forgive me Derrick).

I've noticed that you spend disproportionately more time in jank shoot outs, running around empty hallways, solving simple environmental puzzles and platforming than the melee stuff. That said it's an odd mix and I enjoy that sort of stuff here, it has a bunch of neat moments like one where you have to avoid trip mines placed high and low in a sewer maze area to turn 3 valves to open a door whilst being chased by Solus. Another area soon after where you have to avoid trip mines again, some sneaky placements kept that section interesting, a section where you have a few seconds to jump down between a bunch of turned off fans, and not 1 but 2 lame mine cart rides, RADICAL. Oh and the RE4 laser hallway shows up early on....TWICE. That's something I can't fault the RE1 movie for, capcom just can't let it go, was even in Umbrella Chronicles, DMC4 and P.N.03 is pretty much Laser Hallway:The Game.

EDIT: About 360 compatibility, it runs fine the only graphical bug is that you can faintly see lights through walls, which is barely noticeable and actually useful for spotting an enemy type that can only be described as a swarm of explosive bio-light bulbs, as they glow through walls. I've made 10 saves and have played it for 2 separated sessions and none of them have corrupted, not sure if I'm lucky or that bug isn't much of an issue in actuality.

http://www.denofgeek.com/games/breakdown/26640/underappreciated-games-breakdown

That reminds me...since Breakdown is Namco...and Derrick is our Kung fu savior...WHERE DA FUHK IZ DERRICK IN TEKKEN 7?!?!?!?!??!?!?!!?

You can't stop the Derrick love: https://www.gameskinny.com/oiwum/breakdown-the-obscure-gem-everyone-should-play

I've yet to beat this, though I'm close to the end, I've beaten Solus in the rematch so not much left. I stopped at an infamous multi wave gauntlet that's pretty BS due to how many enemies at once and how your move set isn't designed for anything more than 1v2 at most.

You get the final upgrade soon after you fight Solus for the 1st time, you get a ridiculous super jump which is as stiff as DMC jumps, and slo-mo power which lasts for a limited time.

The super jump helps make the retread of site zero faster, since you can cross more distance and avoid foes that way, and they where nice enough to add a few safe paths accessible is with super jumps. Slomo helps you lay the beat down on goons with some impunity due to how slow everything is, costs a lot of meter but it's invaluable for the gauntlet since it makes group encounters more fair.

So, beat Breakdown, what a jank trip this was.

So after the rematch with Solus, who's a decent boss, he has a few moves which can all be blocked, can throw energy balls like you and also during phase 2 he can enter slomo like you also.

You enter a short platfroming section, then an infamous gauntlet of about 5 waves of different goons, 1st wave is the worst as it's maybe 5 or more elite doods, who can spam moves that force you into block stun so you can't do anything until they stop. I used the AoE shockwave move to knock them all down, 2 shockwaves will kill them, but they can block it so you sort of have to get lucky.

Rest of the waves are 3 fat doods, not much of a threat, then a mix of tubbies, ranged guys, invisible ladies and an elite or 2. Didn't have much trouble with these waves it's mostly the 1st one that's pretty BS since combat is designed for at MOST 1v3 when really it's designed for 1v2 or ideally 1v1.

Then you enter a warped version of the tutorial area from the very beginning, you have to do most of the tutorial courses(platforming, shooting) before you inject yourself to regain your powers since you loose them when starting this section. Which sucks because you have to fight a few soldiers without your bullet blocking power, not much of an issue at least on normal.

Final boss is a small floating orb which is the Nexus, it floats behind you throughout this section, try to face it and it'll fly behind you, only during the boss when you regain your powers can you hit it, to do this enter slomo so it's slow enough to hit, do this maybe 3 or so times will kill it. It infinitely spawns 3 basic t'lan goons to pester you but don't fight them, just hit Nexus and the goons will die, leaving life/meter pickups in their place, pick up the blue orb to refill your meter so yo can go into slomo again.

Finale is a jeep ride out of site zero, nothing of note here just a passable escape sequence. You escape via helicopter, the ending is a cliff hanger since you warp with Alex to the parallel future where the world is in ruin still, thus the adventure of Derrick our saviour continues.

Well...that's Breakdown, it's not great but it's worth playing for such a unique experience and its historical value, a genuinely innovative game. It tries a bit of everything and is a master of none, the shooting is some of the worst I've ever seen, so I'd rather play any other FPS, the platforming is awkward at times and a bit tedious later on so I'd rather play Mirrors Edge and it's ilk for that. The whole 1st person picking things up is neat at first but gets tedious after the 50th time, I put up with it but it's just irritating, especially if you die and have to pick stuff up again.

Its melee combat is novel but most of your move set seems redundant other than for variety's sake, most combat encounters aren't designed too well since you face at least 3 goons at once which breaks the combats 1v1 focus, especially since you only have 1 crowd control move. It's less an issue when your partner Alex is around to distract foes. This is an area in which games like Xenoclash1/2, Condemned 1/2(2 especially is pretty much a breakdown sequel in this regard) and Mrrors Edge catalyst improved on.

Stories pretty cheesy 'soldier saves the world from evil alien invasion', voice acting is solid but some of the delivery and writing is real goofy, it has some legit twists also, pretty impressive actually. Wonder what the production history of this was? Seems like it had a sizeable budget. Oh and you unlock an image gallery(which has some cool art), a trailer and a music player.

A presentation about designing 1st person melee combat(a tip is don't do 1st person backflips): http://twvideo01.ubm-us.net/o1/vault/gdc07/slides/S3736i1.pdf

Was playing more of this on hard, not the type of game that's better on the higher modes, it's more tedious this time since hitscan soldiers can kill you stupid fast and you can die in a few hits from t'lan goons. What sucks is that they hit you once and knock you down, forcing you into a lengthy recovery animation with no iframes. OR you get hit once and stumble, both of which are really disorienting and likely to induce motion sickness even in those who are not typically susceptible to it(motion blur/after image effect doesn't help, I'm fine tho but it pisses me off).

Mirrors Edge Catalyst isn't discombobulating even when rolling or stumbling.

https://cultureofgaming.com/hidden-gem-reviews-breakdown/

I've got some staunch words saved up about this game, it's real neat but it lacks polish in all areas, so much tedious jank stuff in this kills me. At least it's not too long, though the retread of site zero and the tower(worst areas) doesn't help. About 1/3rd of this game is just those areas...AGAIN!!

Picked this up digitally on 360, it is pretty cool. It is just like Zeno Clash, down to the sound effects, that game is a personal favorite.
Always wondered what Gabriel's avatar was from and this is it. RIP wherever that guy is.