Breed

"Breed - really a Halo rip-off??"

Well, what can I say about Breed?

Many people will say that the game is a ‘rip-off’ of Halo….and in some respects many aspects of the game ARE remarkable similar to Halo. The weapons (for the most part) look the same, the vehicles look the same, the soldiers look the same and the aliens themselves bear a very similar resemblance to those from Halo. So if this is all true, why would you want this game?

Well, I would like to think of this game as Halo Plus. It has many aspects in the game that I wished Halo had.

Troops.
You can issue basic, yet affective, orders to your troops –whom, unlike Halo, follow you wherever you go. These orders include telling your troops to stay put (whilst you do some scouting, etc). You can order you troops to spread out or close in. A handy order is requesting ammo or medikits from your troops if you run low. These are all the good points. You can also switch between controlling the various team members. So if you fancied playing the level as a sniper, then you can do.

The one problem with the troops is their poor AI. They will shoot at enemies, but only if they are close enough. If an enemy sniper shoots at your sniper guy – he will not attempt to snipe back at them. Also, your troops have a nasty habit of running towards the enemy ‘gun-ho’ regardless of the wait command and end up getting themselves killed.

Compared to Halo, you are completely outnumbered by aliens, at one point in the early levels, you have around 20 aliens running towards you shooting away – this is where the other members of your squat come in handy.

Weapons.
The human weapons for the most part are very similar to those in Halo. You have your assault rifle (with a secondary fire mode of grenade launcher), a shotgun, a rocket launcher and a sniper rifle. However, you also have access to a heavy machine gun and flamethrower. The alien weapons (other than being plasma based) are very different to Halo’s alien weapons.

Additionally, the sniper rifle HAS to be my favourite weapon. The zoom mode is remarkable. I’ve taken out a whole battalion of aliens out who were about 1 mile away (in game terms). You can also pick off the aliens controlling the various stationary guns (very important if you want to survive). There is also binoculars which have incredible zoom, these are incredible useful for scouting the areas ahead.

Vehicles.
The first out of my two favourite bits from the game. Yes, the vehicles are VERY similar to Halo. There is the equivalent of the Warthog – a buggy with a mounted gun, a tank and a dropship. However, in addition to these there is a one-man humvee jeep, an APC, a fighter plane and a scout plane (called a stealth infiltration vehicle). All of these vehicles can be driven/flown by yourself. The fighter in particular can take off and land wherever you choose. Each vehicle had various weapons attached; these can be cycled through using the mouse wheel (if you have one). You can also switch such weapons as the guided rockets from Ground-Ground to Ground-Air, allowing you to take out enemy fighter planes with a tank’s missiles. You can also gain control of the alien’s vehicles, which include a tank, stationary Ground-Air missile battery and minigun platform

My main concern with the vehicles is their handling. For the tank you have control of the turret (with the mouse) as well as the direction of the tank (with the forward, backwards, left and right keys). This can lead to some confusing driving at first, but you’ll soon get the hang of it. Flying at first is difficult, as you use the mouse to fly around. However, like with the other vehicles you’ll soon get the hang of it as long as you realise that you must move smoothly and take your time. You may alternatively be able to configure a joystick or joypad for use with the vehicles; however I am unsure about this fact.

Levels.
The second of my favourite bits of the game. The levels are bright, colourful and BIG – they are huge! They are also destructible. If a tower is ‘annoying’ you, take it out with a rocket launcher. Unfortunately, it’s not as destructible an environment at Red Faction (i.e. you cannot blow chunks out of main buildings, make holes in walls or blow bits of the countryside apart, but this doesn’t affect the playability of the game). The first level you are put on is huge; however, it is split up into various sections which make up the first few missions of the game. For example, you touch down in the dropship, get out and are immediately confronted with aliens. You then have to fight your way to the radar tower. When you get here, this takes a good half an hour. That mission ends and mission 2 immediately begins, where you have to go from this radar tower to another base to activate a switch. This section again takes around half an hour. The missions continue on like this until you fly off that level/land.

The missions themselves also have various tasks which occur at certain points. For example on the second mission, a dropship which comes to save you is downed. You are then requested to go and search for survivors.

The missions/levels never feel overwhelming and thanks to the way point system (which is shown on your HUD as an arrow, and on your map as green points), you’re never left feeling like you don’t know where to go next.

Overall.
Graphics – 9/10 – very beautiful effects. The sun can get in your eyes, the water effects are gorgeous. The only floor is the poor explosion effects you get when shooting explosive barrels/canisters.

Gameplay – 9/10 – very playable and addictive.

Sound – 8/10 – sound effects are very good, but the music is pretty bad (I turned my down to only 10%). Also, the speech effects of the troops are awful, I’m sick of hearing “close-in” in an awful squeaky voice. The game also loves to use the word “ass” – in the mission narratives, the number of times you commanding officer says he’ll ''kick your ass” or “stick his boot up your ass”! But aside from this, the environment and weapons sounds are very good.

Story – 10/10 – an engaging story that makes you feel like part of the action.

Final Recommendation – if you love first person shooters (especially Halo) I would recommend this. However try to refrain from thinking that it is a Halo clone, as although there are similarities, there are also many differences. Like I said earlier, this game is a Halo Plus – it’s not quite as good as Halo, however it offers many things that I wished Halo had.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 04/04/04