To say that Breach made a disastrous first impression would be an understatement. When I first loaded up Atomic Games' newest first-person shooter, I discovered that it was a broken mess of a game. It was hard to start a match, server problems prevented successful matches and don't even get me started on the lag. It was enough to make me write off the game completely. Now a few weeks later, I've decided to give the game a second chance. I'm glad I did, because there's more to this game than frustrating server issues.
Breach is an online-only first-person shooter for the Xbox Live Arcade, sort of a mini-Call of Duty for lack of a better description. There are three different levels (four if you consider one has a night version), competitive 16-player action and five different classes to level up (rifleman, gunner, sniper, support and recon). At fifteen dollars, Breach isn't a bad deal if you don't want to spend the full $60 on a full-sized first-person shooter.
Beyond lifting the control layout directly from Call of Duty, Breach also does a good job of incorporating a perks systems. Much like other recent shooters, each kill, assist or completed objective is worth points. Earn enough points and the player will rank up, unlocking new guns for each class. Players can also use these points to buy upgrades for their guns and armor. It won't take long before you have a super powered sight, better head protection and the ability to run for long stretches. But beware; there are only so many slots open for these perks, so choose wisely.
Don't let all of these comparisons to Call of Duty give you the wrong impression; Breach does bring a number of original ideas to the table. For starters, this is one of the few online shooters that allows for destructible environments. Want to kill the guy on the second story but don't want to go through the hassle of walking up stairs? You can avoid this problem by blowing up the floor from under his feet. Players are able to destroy bridges, tear down walls and cause irreversible damage to the level. This is one of the few first-person shooters where the level actually gets more interesting as the time runs out.
Breach also employs a somewhat awkward cover system. In theory this is supposed to slow the matches down, allowing for more strategic play as each person does their best not to be noticed. Sadly, that's not how it was executed. For one thing, it's not always clear what you can use for cover. Objects that look right won't work; making it a chore to figure out which areas you can and cannot hug. And even if you figure all this out, you're still left with sluggish controls that seem to fight you every step of the way. Perhaps that's why many of the players online have abandoned the cover mechanic for the traditional run and gun approach.
The game's five modes aren't bad, though there's nothing revolutionary here. There's the standard team death match mode (an eight-on-eight free for all) and a land grab-style game where each time tries to hold on five zones for the longest time. Sole survivor is a variant of team death match, only without the ability to respawn until the round ends. Breach also includes something called Convoy, where players protect slow-moving trucks as they pass through enemy rich ambush sites. Finally there's Retrieval mode, a capture the flag-style game where players collect (and return) canister of bioweapons.
Although the game modes offer a solid variety of fun objectives, it's not always clear what the game wants from you. As I jumped into my first game of retrieval, I was immediately overwhelmed by the task at hand. The game doesn't spend any time instructing the player on where to go or what to do, offering a frustrating experience right from the get-go. I eventually got the hang of these modes, but a brief tutorial would go a long way on your first try.
For much of the game's early life the server problems overshadowed the actual gameplay. The game was plagued by never ending load screens, games that would end abruptly (robbing players of their hard earned points) and rampant cheating. Thankfully many of these issues have been resolved thanks to some server side tweaking and a patch, but connectivity problems still arise from time to time.
Even if I could magically erase the terrible first impression, Breach would still be a middling first-person shooter for the budget conscious. There's nothing absolutely broken about the game, but it never strives to be more than what the competition is doing. The three levels are painfully dull, with each featuring a single location where the action seems to bottleneck. Even though this is a new IP, I felt like I had been to each and every one of these locations. Outside of destructible environments, there's very little here that you couldn't get in any number of better first-person shooters on the Xbox 360.
Gamers who stick with the game will be rewarded with cool upgrades and brand new weapons. They'll also have no problem taking down new players. Because it takes so long to earn the 500 points needed to buy the first upgrade, it can feel like Breach is tilted against brand new players. After you've bought a couple of perks, it's easy to earn the 500 points. But it could take the average player more than a dozen games before even coming close to buying the much-needed grenade attachment.
Much like the gameplay, the visuals are merely adequate. It's cool to see some of the environments blow up, but the rest of the textures look dated when compared to last year's shooters. I also noticed the frame rate dip as more people joined the room. Even with the addition of new weapons and upgrades, there's nothing about the presentation that will wow consumers.
The good news is that Breach is not the unplayable mess I experienced in week one. But even with the patch and additional tweaking, this Xbox Live Arcade game can't compete with the over-saturated online shooter market. That game is far too centered on grinding for upgrades, which is only made worse by the lackluster level designs. There are some good ideas in Breach; I can't wait to see Atomic Games incorporate them into a better game.
