While Breakdown is primarily a first-personaction game, it incorporates elements of a fighting game and employs an auto-lock system for shooting enemies. The player's perspective is maintained throughout, and interactions with objects are designed to be realistic. For example, ammunition is collected by looking down and picking it up, rather than simply walking over it. Doors are opened by grabbing the handle, key cards are swiped over scanners, and ladders are climbed using the character's arms. Health and energy are restored by consuming items such as energy bars, hamburgers, and sodas.
Plot
A mysterious underground complex, known as Site Zero, is discovered in Japan and linked to increased earthquake activity. Controlled by a powerful being called Nexus, Site Zero is home to an alien race called the T'lan. Humanity has established a research facility near the site, but tensions between the T'lan and humans are escalating into open conflict.
The game follows Derrick Cole, a protagonist suffering from amnesia after being injected with T'langen, a substance intended to create supersoldiers with T'lan-like abilities. At the start of the game, Derrick is rescued by a woman named Alex Hendrickson, who knows him and is distressed by his memory loss. As they escape the facility, Derrick’s new powers manifest, allowing him to fight the T'lan. The two are separated by an earthquake but later reunite, encountering Solus, a powerful human-like T'lan, who easily defeats them.
Derrick and Alex attempt to flee via helicopter, but it is destroyed by the U.S. military, forcing them to escape to the nearby Terminus 4 research facility. There, they encounter children from the Beta Project, who, like Derrick, have been injected with T'langen. Derrick and Alex meet Chief Researcher Glen Ogawa, who reveals Nexus's plan to launch a global attack using T'lan forces. Derrick is given another injection of T'langen, which boosts his abilities.
As Derrick and Alex head toward Site Zero, they learn from U.S. military forces that Nexus plans to scatter T'lan forces worldwide using crystal rockets. While navigating the facility, Derrick encounters Solus, who tries to stop him, but he narrowly escapes. Inside Site Zero, Alex is captured by Solus, and Derrick learns that the military plans to nuke the site. Despite this, the rockets launch, spreading the T'lan across the globe.
During a final confrontation with Solus, Alex is killed, and the nuclear strike sends Derrick 15 years into the future. In this dystopian timeline, Derrick learns from surviving scientists that he can travel back in time using a device designed by Stefania, a neurologist he encountered earlier. Derrick returns to the present with the knowledge to stop the T'lan invasion. With enhanced powers from Ogawa, Derrick relives key moments, ultimately saving Alex, stopping the rocket launch, and defeating Solus.
The game ends with Derrick and Alex escaping Site Zero's collapse. Depending on the player's choice, Derrick either remains in the present or follows Alex into an uncertain future where they must continue the fight against Nexus.
Characters
Derrick Cole: A former combat soldier skilled in firearms and hand-to-hand combat, Derrick is the sole survivor of 10 Alpha Project test subjects who received large intravenous doses of T'langen, which grants him the ability to fight the T'Lan. His disjointed environments, such as deserts, are fragments of older memories used to fill gaps in his recollection of the T'Lan offensive.
Alex Hendrickson: A physically capable and determined woman, Alex is proficient in both firearms and knives. She is a member of the facility's Beta Project, a more successful initiative that seeks gradual improvements instead of immediate effects from a single injection. While traveling through the facility, Derrick recalls seeing a young Alex as a test subject in a room with other children.
Glen Ogawa: A Japanese-American professor of medicine, Glen was banned from the medical community after conducting biological research in Australia that led to the creation of a human clone. Now involved in a classified project, he spearheads experiments in augmenting soldiers into supersoldiers, with military backing, and processes the T'langen administered to Derrick.
Stefania Wojinski: A visiting professor from Poland and a memory specialist whose recent project was canceled. Frustrated by this, she erased and appropriated data from her employers' hard drives.
Gianni de Luca: An Italian-American Marine first lieutenant, Gianni leads an elite unit specializing in top-secret missions. Known for his colorful language, he is a passionate and composed leader under pressure. Although deployed by the military to track down Derrick, Gianni answers to a higher authority and is on a covert mission to reach Nexus and prevent the launch of the T'lan rockets.
Solus: A powerful T'lan leader and the avatar of Nexus. Solus first encounters Derrick and Alex at the Botanical Research Facility, where he incapacitates both. Later, he confronts Derrick underground, forcing Derrick to flee. In Site Zero, Solus kidnaps Alex and interrogates her. Though Derrick rescues her, Solus appears defeated but ultimately kills Alex. After a nuclear explosion, a reaction involving his shield energy sends Derrick into the future.
Backwards Compatibility
While already available through backwards compatibility on the Xbox 360,[1] Microsoft announced on April 10, 2018, that backwards compatibility would be supported for Breakdown on the Xbox One starting April 17, 2018. Physical discs will be playable on the system, and the game will also be available for digital download on the Xbox Live Store.[2]
Breakdown received "mixed or average" reviews from critics, according to the review aggregator website Metacritic.[3] In Japan, Famitsu awarded it a score of three sevens and one six, totaling 27 out of 40.[7]
David Chen, writing for the Xbox gaming magazine Xbox Nation, stated, "Hardcore gamers ... will find Breakdown suffers from a few too many design flaws", but praised the game, adding: "In spite of any ... shortcomings, Breakdown is an enormously compelling, satisfying game".[18]IGN's Hilary Goldstein criticized the game for its boring level design and clunky gameplay mechanics but praised it for its solid voice acting and deep story.[14]
The Times gave the game four stars out of five, stating, "The graphics are strong and shot from a realistic first-person point of view, which adds to the disorientation while simultaneously immersing you in the story".[17]Playboy rated it 75%, remarking, "Even noncombat activities are seen from Cole's view, whether he's eating a cheeseburger or ogling his sexy sidekick. Brilliant."[19] However, The Cincinnati Enquirer gave it three-and-a-half stars out of five, noting, "Fans of run 'n' gun games and arcade-fighting titles likely will find that Breakdown is a uniquely enjoyable – though visually dizzying – single-player tale".[16]
In 2009, GamesRadar+ included it in its list of games "with untapped franchise potential", stating: "Breakdown garnered attention for its originality (first-person fistfights!) and bizarre plot (time-traveling alien super-soldiers!). Official Xbox Magazine even claimed that Breakdown's story was better than Halo."[15][20]
^ abVincent, Alex (July 10, 2004). "Breakdown". The Times. Archived from the original on July 12, 2020. Retrieved July 12, 2020.(subscription required)
^Chen, David (April 2004). "Breakdown". Xbox Nation. No. 13. Ziff Davis. pp. 88–90. Archived from the original on April 26, 2004. Retrieved July 12, 2020.
