"Breakdown" demo in OXM...
 

Has anyone tried it? This looks like it's gonna be an innovative twist on the FPS genre or a complete miss...

My friend tried the near-final build of the finished product and he said the graphics looked like shit. I hope he's wrong - it's kinda clear that the videos were created using a PC rather than an xbox. I have high hopes for this game, so I can't wait to play the demo. Thanks for the heads up anyway. It'll be another 2 weeks before I get my hands on it. :/

The XBN review said the graphics weren't all that impressive for an Xbox game, so you may be right Trigger. Still, they said the gameplay and storyline are what makes the game.

Jeremy

Trigger, you graphics whore. :lol:

I have the demo right here
 

Well Im nto sure how to feel about it because it's kind of a mixed bag for me.

For one it is not a typical FPS. You know how you walk over an item to pick it up in a traditional FPS? Well this game (Breakdown) requires you to use the access button to pick up your items. And forget targeting normally, you have to hold down A to hit the target you are trying to fire upon. When you lose health (and you will, a lot...especially in a gun fight) you can search the bodies of dead gaurds to get rations. Now here is where I have to complain. When you eat a ration you take one bite and some (not all) but some of your health comes back, and he throws it (the ration) away...I was like WTF!?!?! Dude! theres more to eat save it!!!

Now heres what I liked. For an X-Box game it does look a little jaggy but otherwise it is very clean. A lot of the detail went into the lighting and backgrounds. There are some small load times before an event occurs. An example of this is in the first mission of the demo where you enter a hall and before you can proceed the game loads the gaurds in.....(load time done) enter and begin to fire. You also get to make use of platform jumping, and melee combat. I must say while the shooting aspect is not impressive the fighting aspect works better. You start off with simple punches and kicks, and later on youll learn new abilities as your powers grow. What those powers are I have no clue, and how you learn new moves..again no clue. The demo gives nothing away in terms of story.

I give the developers a lot of credit for trying something new but I would love to play the final product before I get too judgemental, and ignore it all together. Some sound bites on a flyer at work have said the game is a blend of Half-Life, and Tekken...right. But hey like I said Im gonna give the final game a fair chance, but I dont recommend buying as a blind buy based on what I played in the demo.

-zero

edit: Rent it at least before you buy. Also a draw initially (for me) one of my favorite bands (Trust*Company) licensed out one of their songs as the theme for the game, and sadly that isnt in the demo :(.

Im looking forward to this title but its just gonna have to wait for now. This month is kinda hectic with game purchases for me. Ive already bought Ninja Gaiden and Lifeline plus i have Splinter Cell:PT, Onimusha Blade Warriors and Resident Evil: Outbreak on reserve, wait a second, i just realized something....i gotta chill!

It got some pretty miserable reviews from Gamespot & IGN. This is actually the first time I've seen Gamespot give a higher score than IGN..

IGN 6.7 : http://xbox.ign.com/articles/499/499289p1.html

Gamespot 7.6 : http://www.gamespot.com/xbox/action/...wn/review.html

Overall those reviews might not be that bad, but there are so many *Great* games out on the market, who needs to settle for an average game?

they both liked the game - how is that a miserable review? come back when you find some 2s or 3s. With those scores, this game is at least worth a rental.

I anticipated the levels to be boring and the textures to all be the same and drab grey... I also kinda expected the AI to just be of the "all come straight at you" variety. It's a Japanese developer, so in this type of game that's almost a given from my experience. I'm glad to hear that the story is solid. Finding out that it can be finished in under 8 hours kinda sucks though. I guess I'll have to just buy it used sometime down the road. There should be quite a few of them up for grabs.

It's quite a bummer really... hopefully someone takes the potential of the innovations here to a new level. I'd hate to see it all go to waste here in one 8 hour game with just above average reviews. Perhaps they'll tackle a sequel and hire on some better level designers and texture artists and license a decent AI script.

Xbox Nation magazine gave it a 9 out of 10. Their three page article closes with this.

Breakdown has - not surprisingly - been the subject of considerable contention, in no small part due to it's Japanese roots; a culture thats had a difficult time contending with the first person perspective. But its existence reflects a significant sea change for video games: While certain standards for seemingly similar games aren't met, other aspects of its ingenious approach to a thus-far creatively stymied genre are nothing short of evolutionary.
In spite of any inconsistencies, disparities, or short comings, Breakdown is an enormously compelling, satisfying game - one imparting a joy of discovery sorely lacking in far too many of today's biggest titles. And when breakdown is at it's best, it lets loose with a far more tactile one-two punch than the standard shotguns-and-sniper-rifles fare could ever hope to convey.

Sounds interesting too me.

Maybe miserable was a strong word. They still aren't what I would consider to be good, compared to the many games that get higher reviews every month, or even every week. I would also expect more from a company like Namco.

Not to mention that for IGN & Gamespot, 6-7's are very low scores. They consistently rate 'decent' games at high 8's or even 9's sometime. Their average is closer to a 7.5 at IGN and maybe a 7.0 at Gamespot.

After playing the demo, I have to say it's a rental at best.

Yeah - this is the review I read too, and it made me want to get the game. Now that I know IGN and GameSpot didn't like it, I think this is a "YMMV" type of game depending what you like in a game.

Jeremy

I just bought this. I only played up to the end of the "training" level, but it seems to be pretty cool.

Ok just tried the demo. First off, the demo is split in 4 parts; you choose which scenario you want to try. And I don't know why they did this but each scenario has a timer... You'll be talking to someone or shooting and....fade out heh.

I had a bit of a problem with the targetting while handling weapons, but it was fun to punch and kick the crap out of ennemies instead. I'll probably by it used.

I might be one of the odd men out on this one, because I really really like this game. Sure there are some odd gameplay mechanics here and there (like when the T'al warriors (uber-bad-guys) hit you, they pretty much kill you immediately), but overall, I'm really enjoying it. The levels are absolutely HUGE, the graphics are good, and the sound is perfect. The storyline is equally cool, which keeps me playing it to find out what's coming up next.

As far as the demo, I don't know how that is, but from what I'm reading here, it's nothing like the actual game that's shipped since there are no timers or anything like that in the retail build.

Overall, it's a hard game, but not ridiculously so, and I'm a sucker for a good story. And hey, you get to watch a guy puke for the first time ever in a game.

You could watch a guy puke in Max Payne 2. In the police station level when you go downstairs to talk to Mona, there is a bum in another cell that will puke when you walk up to him.