Nano Breaker

It seems like just about every game gets at least one sequel, no matter how lousy it is or how poorly it sells.

It doesn’t even necessarily have to be a direct sequel, hell sometimes it can even be a prequel, just a second game in the series. I am wracking my brain for a single one.  Well, other than this week’s entry, of course.

Nano Breaker is an action game released for the PS2 in the early aughts.  It’s a Konami game, so its not like it came out of a small studio that closed down or anything like that.  It didn’t get the best reviews or anything but again, gaming is such a sequel happy medium that it is a tad surprising the IP was just abandoned.  There were certainly a lot of interesting elements presented here, so why not give it another shot?  

Before we get into that, let’s discuss the gameplay a bit.  One of the first games I reviewed on GOTBP was “Castlevania: Lament of Innocnence,” another Konami title.  It took about two seconds of playing Nano Breaker to realize that they simply took Lament of Innocence’s gameplay engine and just slapped a sci-fi coat of paint on it.  The graphical style is the exact same, the graphics are of similar quality and the sound, while not nearly as memorable as LOI, is also excellent.  

The combat system is nearly identical, with horizontal and vertical slashes that can be strung together.  Throughout the game, you will find upgrade gems that allow you to extend the combos and add more attacks.  You attack with a strange beam sword that can transform into bigger weapons as you attack.  One addition to the LOI formula is that you can hold the L1 button of power attacks and use the circle button to grab enemies and pull them close.  There are some items that give you additional powers, but the excellent orb system from Lament is unfortunately gone.  

We will get back to the gameplay, but I did want to jump into the story, which is...interesting?  You play as Jake (the game makes no mention of whether it’s the same one that works at State Farm), a super soldier put into cryostasis for seven years after a genocidal outburst.  He has been sent on a top secret mission to an island where an experiment gone wrong is transforming people into hideous monsters.  Along the way, you will discover that not everything is as it seems (is it ever when it comes to video games?).  You will also do battle with fellow super soldier and arch nemesis...Keith?  I mean, not every video game name has to be completely out there, especially if its going for a more realistic aesthetic.  But this game isn’t.  The past few weeks, we have had Dash Rendar vs. Dark Prince Xizor, The planeswalkers vs. Yawgmoth and Cloud Strife vs. Sephiroth.  Now we have Jake vs. Keith?  I don’t think I need to point out which of those doesn’t belong.

And that is the biggest problem here.  I am not sure if Nano Breaker is trying to be a serious game and failing, or if its doing a great job at a tongue in cheek, pulpy kind of aesthetic.  Unfortunately, I kind of think its the former.  All of the characters speak in a ridiculous, over the top manner no matter what is happening in the story.  The absolutely horrible voice acting doesn’t help.  The opening cutscene would have been one of the most brutal and intense I ever saw, but the voice acting and melodrama kills it.  I mean, we are talking “child turns into a nan-monster and kills a bunch of soldiers” intense and its so poorly done that I was just “eh.”  

I should also mention, this was widely considered one of the goriest games of all time upon its release.  Every enemy you hit gushes buckets of blood as you hack their limbs off with your blade.  The blood doesn’t fade out either, it completely covers the floors and walls as you work your way through each room.  In fact, the game tracks the amount of plasma you spill (in gallons) and gives you bonuses when you hit certain thresholds.  That is actually kind of cool in theory, but the blood is so poorly animated that it loses any and all of its edge factor.  While I don’t generally like unnecessary gore in video games, it can be used to make scenes more intense set the mood of a gaming universe.  Mortal Kombat just wouldn’t be the same without blood.  I think the Final Fantasy VII remake actually could have used a bit more to make some of its scenes more impactful.  

But Nano Breaker just didn’t seem like it knew why it needed so much blood.  Was it serious or was it trying to be funny?  I mean, you can set the blood to about 7 different colors.  You can also choose “rainbow” if you can’t make up your mind.  I don’t care how edgy you are trying to be, but when you slash an enemy and they start gushing out orange, green and purple you can’t help but laugh.  Personally, I choose that option because the game is already ridiculous enough already.  Why even try to get around it.  Plus, it reminds me of paintball mode from Goldeneye, so yay nostalgia! 

The gameplay has issues as well.  The fun but repetitive combat from LOI returns and it is still fairly interesting. Unfortunately, the enemies lack variety.  It becomes a mash fest as all the enemies function largely the same way.  The bosses are better, they all look great and have recognizable but challenging patterns. The problem is that the game gives you little indication of how you are supposed to approach these fights.  You have to keep trying again and again until you get the pattern down, which would be fine if you started back up with the boss each time. But instead you get sent back to the last save point, which is usually pretty far back.  Health is the most precious resource in this game, pickups are rare and if you go into a boss fight with less than full health, you are done.  At least it has the courtesy to heal you afterwards.

But the biggest problem is without a doubt the camera.  I complained in my LOI review about not being able to rotate the camera.  Now I see why Konami did that.  The fixed camera wasn’t great, but it was worlds better than this.  I spent as much time rolling around trying to get enemies in front of me as I did actually fighting.  I got hit by off screen enemies more in this game than I think I ever have.  It is especially bad when you are dealing with enemies that can shoot.  The game punishes you badly for failing and also gives causes a ton of cheap deaths with its camera.  That is not a good combination.

It’s a bit of a shame because there was some potential here.  If it wasn’t for the lousy voice acting and dialogue, this could have made for a great story.  If it wasn’t for the bland enemies and camera, it might have been a nice action game.  It is punishingly difficult, which would be fine if the difficulty came from level design and challenging combat rather than cheap deaths and limited pickups.  Nano Breaker is unique, but unfortunately its flaws make it not worth a playthrough today.

5.25/10