History VideoGame / Breakdown

* MindRape: [[spoiler: Nexus itself does this as a last resort measure in an attempt to prevent Derrick from destroying it. Throughout the sequence it mentally torments Derrick with pretty much all the failures he saw through the initial timeline before [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong preventing the very same tragedies from occuring again]]. It even [[ShootTheDog forces you to shoot false copies of various close friends ranging from Giani, Stephania, Alex and Glen]], with the last one leaving you with the means to finally break free of Nexus' mental realm of torture.]]

* TiredOfRunning: After three encounters of evading the deadly attack chopper that is nicknamed "Devil-80" (due to having no effective means of ccunter-attacking it) Derrick '''finally''' gets the chance to [[TheHunterBecomesTheHunted bring down the annoying flying asshat]] as he has gained a rocket launcher at this point, with homing rockets to boot, thus making an originally one-sided affair of evading said chopper, to finally hearing the pilots' panic once they realize he's no longer helpless against them. These two lines sum it up oh-so-'''very nicely'''.

* TiredOfRunning: After three encounters of evading the deadly attack chopper that is nicknamed "Devil-80" (due to having no effective means of ccunter-attacking it) Derrick '''finally''' gets the chance to [[TheHunterBecomesTheHunted bring down the annoying flying asshat]] as he has gained a rocket launcher at this point, with homing rockets to boot, thus making an originally one-sided affair of evading said chopper, to finally hearing the pilots panic once they realize he's no longer helpless against them. These two lines sum it up oh-so-'''very nicely'''.

* StealthyMook: The Stealth T'lans is this, complete with [[InvisibilityCloak invisibility traits]], though thankfully they have a slight outline of where the light bends around certain angles of them, not to mention they make a distinct "chink"-like noise whenever they make any footsteps.

* StealthyMook: The Stealth T'lan is this, complete with [[InvisibilityCloak invisibility traits]], though thankfully they have a slight outline of where the light bends around certain angles of them, not to mention they make a distinct "chink"-like noise whenever they make any footsteps.

-->'''Alex:''' Are you doing this on purpose?

* A few are hidden, but there's quite the hilarious one for the pervert in all of us that is slightly obscure, but can be done to [[spoiler:Alex after the elevator they ride to Site Zero shuts down whilst riding it down and that is to poke at Alex's breasts, much to her chagrin.]]

* DeadlyGas: After [[spoiler:attempting to destroy [[TheDreaded Solus]] with a [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill enough explosives to set the entire 15th floor of the research complex on fire]], which [[EpicFail utterly fails]], the area that contains the means to drain the oxygen feeding the flames is filled with deadly Halon Gas, thus forcing Derrick to retrieve a gas mask in order to be properly protected from the gas. There's even a poor woman that acts as a clear indicator of said gas as she's lied down on the ground in a position that also includes covering her mouth with one of her hands, indicating she died from the gas, poor thing...]]

** There's also the Jump Kick that is acquired after [[spoiler: acquiring the first unpurified dose of T'langen given by Glen.]] It can be [[ChargedAttack charged for more power]] but, much like the high kick, it leaves Derrick wide open for an enemy to attack him while it's being charged. It can be [[UpToEleven charged to be even more powerful]] after [[spoiler: acquiring the completely purified T'langen injection in the [[BadFuture future when Derrick wakes up]], making it possible to nearly OneHitKill even the Juggernaut-type T'lan troops, which is '''immensely helpful''' during the last phase of enduring the miniature hell that is the white room when. It consumes T'langen for charging though, so careful use must be taken into consideration. Both can be blocked though, so again, waiting for openings is key.]]

** There's also the Jump Kick that is acquired after [[spoiler: acquiring the first unpurified dose of T'langen given by Glen.]] It can be [[ChargedAttack charged for more power]] but, much like the high kick, it leaves Derrick wide open for an enemy to attack him. It can be [[UpToEleven charged to be even more powerful]] after [[spoiler: acquiring the completely purified T'langen injection in the [[BadFuture future when Derrick wakes up]], making it possible to nearly OneHitKill even the Juggernaut-type T'lan troops, which is '''immensely helpful''' during the last phase of enduring the miniature hell that is the white room when. It consumes T'langen for charging though, so careful use must be taken into consideration.]]

* SdrawkcabSpeech: Unbeknownst to many, the first scene involving [[spoiler: Alex]] is actually [[spoiler: played '''completely backwards'''. Those who are [[GenreSavvy savvy enough to realize this]] can actually record said scene, edit it so that it plays backwards normally and Alex's normally-unintelligible dialog becames crystal clear to the viewer.]]

-->[[spoiler:Alex: This place... Where are we...? Derrick? Derrick!]]

* SdrawkcabSpeech: Unbeknownst to many, the first scene involving [[spoiler: Alex]] is actually [[spoiler: played '''completely backwards'''. Those who are [[GenreSavvy Savvy enough to realize this]] can actually record said scene, edit it so that it plays backwards normally and Alex's normally unintelligible dialog becames crystal clear to the viewer.]]

* SdrawkcabSpeech: Unbeknownst to many, the first scene involving [[spoiler: Alex]] is actually [[spoiler: played '''completely backwards'''. Those who are [[GenreSavvy Savvy enough to realize this]] can actually record said scene, edit it so that it plays backwards normally and Alex's normally unintellible dialog becames crystal clear to the viewer.]]

* FakeDifficulty: Aside from the waves of tough enemies, the jumping puzzles, especially near the end, get progressively more difficult, not just from the environment, but because of CameraScrew.

* ActionGirl: Alex Hendrickson.

* {{Determinator}}: Solus.

* HiveMind: It is suggested that the T'lan are a collective, with only one being the 'head', for Nexus to act through.

* NintendoHard: The infamous chase sequence stopped a lot of players dead in their tracks.

* ScrewDestiny
* SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong: The second half of the game.

* TheJuggernaut: Solus.
* ThirdPersonPerson: Solus. [[spoiler:Except for his LastWords.]]

* WholeCostumeReference: Stefania.

* TimeTravel: [[spoiler: Not only is Alex from the future, but so is Derrick - the entire first half if not three-fourths of the game is Derrick reliving memories of fifteen years prior in a rather inconsistent mess within his comatose state. The entire story boils down to creating something that can finally beat the T'lan, and then sending Derrick back in time to ScrewDestiny and defeat them before they end the world. The game then ends with Alex being drawn back to the future where presumably the T'lan still persist, and Derrick following her to finish the job now that he's fixed his time.]]

* HopelessBossFight: Solus, particularly notable in that he is the only example in the entire game. All other enemies, including helicopters, can be taken down (or, in one case, can be taken down as soon as you get a certain power-up), but all meetings with Solus end with you either running away or being defeated. [[spoiler:Even the apparent FinalBattle is this, as Solus' victory is a ForegoneConclusion. Only after awakening in the future and going back to the past can you actually face him evenly.]]

* EverythingTryingToKillYou: T'lan aren't the only thing you have to worry about, even human soldiers, who should know better, do everything in their power to harrass you, even as you're fighting T'lan right in front of them. They leave you no choice but to kill them.

* GunsAreUseless: Guns are actually reasonably effective against human opponents, although Derrick has some kind of religious objection to carrying spare clips. The real issue is that T'lan have a natural bioelectric field that repels bullets, [[spoiler:which Derrick can breach with his bare hands thanks to the T'langen injections.]]
** Grenades, building-demolishing C4 explosions, high-speed automobile crashes, and even ''nuclear weapons'' are all apparently completely and equally ineffective against T'lan shields [[spoiler: until after Nexus is destroyed and you can just drive through them like they're made of paper mache]]. Apparently the only weapons of any effectiveness at all are the Anti-T'lan lasers Gianni deLucca's men carry. [[spoiler:Even the laser does almost nothing against Solus.]]

* HopelessBossFight: Solus, particularly notable in that he is the only example in the entire game. All other enemies, including helicopters can be taken down (or, in one case, can be taken down as soon as you get a certain power-up), but all meetings with Solus ends with you either running away, or being defeated. [[spoiler:Even the apparent FinalBattle is this, as Solus' victory is a ForegoneConclusion. Only after awakening in the future and going back to the past can you actually face him evenly.]]
* HiveMind: It is suggested the T'lan are a collective, with only one being the 'head', for Nexus to act through.

* NotQuiteDead: Solus pulls this [[spoiler: both times]] Derrick properly fights him.

* ShoutOut: Like most things that came out of Japan around the turn of the century, many nods to ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' abound. The enemies are monsters with forcefields that came from an alien structure buried underground and the most humanlike one is a creepy white haired guy. Professor Stefania dresses ''exactly'' like Ritsuko Akagi and dies in a similar manner to her mother [[spoiler:at first]]. Oddly her pet cat, Casval, is named after Char's real name from ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam''.

* ThirdPersonPerson: Solus. [[spoiler: Except for his LastWords.]]

* YouNoTakeCandle: During the rare scenes where Solus speaks, it is always in broken english. This is justified by the fact that Solus is the "avatar" of a completely alien existence, and it's a wonder that he can speak at all.

''Breakdown'' is a slightly obscure first-person brawler for the Xbox, released in 2004 by Namco. While it sold poorly and received mixed reviews, it's notable to genre fans and game historians for its high emphasis on using its perspective for storytelling potential. It's also unusual in that it's a first-person shooter made by a Japanese team for the original Xbox, which makes it a complete statistical anomaly. Interestingly, it was included in backward compatibility for both the UsefulNotes/Xbox360 and the UsefulNotes/XboxOne.

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!!Tropes present in ''Breakdown'' include:

''Breakdown'' is a slightly obscure first-person brawler for the Xbox, released in 2004 by Namco. While it sold poorly and received mixed reviews, it's notable to genre fans and game historians for its high emphasis on using its perspective for storytelling potential. It's also unusual in that it's a first-person shooter made by a Japanese team for the original Xbox, which makes it a complete statistical anomaly.