Nano Breaker
released on Jan 27, 2005
In Nano Breaker's futuristic world, nanomachines, which were originally developed to enrich humankind, suddenly went awry. The machines began to harvest the blood of humans and the iron of buildings in an effort to construct an army of monster machines. In order to combat this threat, you must slash your way through hordes of enemy units to save the world from apocalypse. Equipped with a powerful shape-shifting Plasma Blade, you assume the role of the lone hero, who must defend humankind from the deadly nanomachines.
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Why is there Nanobreaker twice?!
Custo Combo looks neat though.
Custo Combo looks neat though.
On a good day i'd probably rate this a 3 star or maybe even a 3.5 if i was really generous. However, the last few hours of this game are agonizing and really ruins all the fun and goofy camp this game had going for it
У игры много интересных идей, да и ощущается, что Коджимбо спиздил идею отсюда, однако, здесь очень скучный и бичёвский бэктрекинг, который очень рушит темп игры. По хорошему, стоило сделать линейный экшен, но увы, сил не хватает добить такое
* For some reason, the version of this game I reviewed on Backloggd was deleted, so I’m reposting this review under this version*
So close, yet so far
When I popped Nano Breaker into my PS2, I didn’t know what to expect. I had heard it’s one of the goriest games ever made and that I got meddling scores upon release in 2005.
The opening of Nano Breaker was impressive. I was met with an interesting combo system that require chips to expand upon with different strings with specific applications such as crowd control, dizzying enemies, and launches. I was awestruck by the bright red blood flying everywhere; sticking to walls and never disappearing. I found it hilariously charming that the game has rewards based off how many gallons of blood you spill, and the absurd total is always kept on screen just like Deadrising’s “Killed” counter.
Slashing through the enemies in Nano Breaker was great. The sound effects, impact, and spectacle of the combat was all awesome, but it wears off.
The enemies hardly attack you. It’s far too easy to mash through Nano Breaker. A robust combat system with all sorts of mechanics and strings is all but useless when you learn mashing scythe strings will complete this game. Video games don’t need to necessarily be difficult, but they NEED to push players into their systems. There needs to be application behind moves besides it looking cool. There needs to be a reason to play dynamically with all the tools the game provides. Nano Breaker has attacks that stun, launching moves, horizontal and vertical moves, thrust moves, etc. Early on, I was using these tools to adapt to them for when the game gets hard.
But it never does, at least not with standard enemies. Just learn a horizontal string and mash it. It’s not like the new moves you unlock are useless or don’t do anything differently, they’re just completely unnecessary. Nano Breaker’s crowd control options are just far too strong. Enemies stand around like idiots waiting for you to kill them. Some of the later enemies attack sometimes, but even if they hit you they hardly leave a scratch.
As if there wasn’t enough problems, Nano Breaker’s camera is terrible. It’s constantly getting caught on walls and you can’t use the camera reset button next to walls because of this. It’s usually fine, but I makes lining up thrust combos really hard while your back is against the wall. They should have went with a fixed camera.
Boss fights are easy (until the end), just like the rest of the game. You’ll die here and there, but if you start the fight with full health, you can activate the “no-stun” booster and win by mashing. There are a few “puzzle” type bosses that try to keep things fresh, but I’m never a fan of these types of bosses. Once you learn the gimmick, you win. There’s a sharp difficulty curve with a three boss gauntlet at the end of the game. It’s tough, as it doesn’t refill your life bar. I’m not a fan of easy games that have a really sharp difficulty curve at the end. It feels disingenuous. The rest of the game didn’t prepare me for this and now you expect me to actually try? Rygar on the PS2 also has this problem. It feels cheap.
As for the level design, it’s passable. The player mostly walks forward and fights enemies, but sometimes there will be some light platforming and puzzle solving. Towards the end, the platforming and puzzles get really good. I was surprised, but it was a very welcome addition. Honestly, if the environment design was better, the bland level design wouldn’t be a problem. Too bad it’s a very drab ugly brown game. They should have made a more futuristic aesthetic like they have for the game’s final area instead of this generic muddy world. There’s so much you can do with a game with laser swords and nano machines. Missed opportunity artistically.
Nano Breaker can be quite fun in short bursts. It’s not at all frustrating (excluding the final bosses), the spectacle of the combat is awesome as the gore and blood effects are top notch, and it is an short experience. I have a positive opinion on this game but it’s just so average. I’d still recommend it. I can’t bring myself to hate this.
6/10
So close, yet so far
When I popped Nano Breaker into my PS2, I didn’t know what to expect. I had heard it’s one of the goriest games ever made and that I got meddling scores upon release in 2005.
The opening of Nano Breaker was impressive. I was met with an interesting combo system that require chips to expand upon with different strings with specific applications such as crowd control, dizzying enemies, and launches. I was awestruck by the bright red blood flying everywhere; sticking to walls and never disappearing. I found it hilariously charming that the game has rewards based off how many gallons of blood you spill, and the absurd total is always kept on screen just like Deadrising’s “Killed” counter.
Slashing through the enemies in Nano Breaker was great. The sound effects, impact, and spectacle of the combat was all awesome, but it wears off.
The enemies hardly attack you. It’s far too easy to mash through Nano Breaker. A robust combat system with all sorts of mechanics and strings is all but useless when you learn mashing scythe strings will complete this game. Video games don’t need to necessarily be difficult, but they NEED to push players into their systems. There needs to be application behind moves besides it looking cool. There needs to be a reason to play dynamically with all the tools the game provides. Nano Breaker has attacks that stun, launching moves, horizontal and vertical moves, thrust moves, etc. Early on, I was using these tools to adapt to them for when the game gets hard.
But it never does, at least not with standard enemies. Just learn a horizontal string and mash it. It’s not like the new moves you unlock are useless or don’t do anything differently, they’re just completely unnecessary. Nano Breaker’s crowd control options are just far too strong. Enemies stand around like idiots waiting for you to kill them. Some of the later enemies attack sometimes, but even if they hit you they hardly leave a scratch.
As if there wasn’t enough problems, Nano Breaker’s camera is terrible. It’s constantly getting caught on walls and you can’t use the camera reset button next to walls because of this. It’s usually fine, but I makes lining up thrust combos really hard while your back is against the wall. They should have went with a fixed camera.
Boss fights are easy (until the end), just like the rest of the game. You’ll die here and there, but if you start the fight with full health, you can activate the “no-stun” booster and win by mashing. There are a few “puzzle” type bosses that try to keep things fresh, but I’m never a fan of these types of bosses. Once you learn the gimmick, you win. There’s a sharp difficulty curve with a three boss gauntlet at the end of the game. It’s tough, as it doesn’t refill your life bar. I’m not a fan of easy games that have a really sharp difficulty curve at the end. It feels disingenuous. The rest of the game didn’t prepare me for this and now you expect me to actually try? Rygar on the PS2 also has this problem. It feels cheap.
As for the level design, it’s passable. The player mostly walks forward and fights enemies, but sometimes there will be some light platforming and puzzle solving. Towards the end, the platforming and puzzles get really good. I was surprised, but it was a very welcome addition. Honestly, if the environment design was better, the bland level design wouldn’t be a problem. Too bad it’s a very drab ugly brown game. They should have made a more futuristic aesthetic like they have for the game’s final area instead of this generic muddy world. There’s so much you can do with a game with laser swords and nano machines. Missed opportunity artistically.
Nano Breaker can be quite fun in short bursts. It’s not at all frustrating (excluding the final bosses), the spectacle of the combat is awesome as the gore and blood effects are top notch, and it is an short experience. I have a positive opinion on this game but it’s just so average. I’d still recommend it. I can’t bring myself to hate this.
6/10