For my first review of the year, I was given a game that used to be one of my favorite genres in video games as a kid; the “beat’em up arcade brawler.” This brawler, Breakneck City, was developed by Renegade Sector Games and released on PC back in May 2020, and is finally now available on consoles. Coincidentally, over the holidays, I picked up Streets of Rage 4 and was playing a lot of it. I only bring that up because it really feels there was a lot of influence from it in Breakneck City. While it succeeds it a lot of ways, it faulters in many that really matter, such as replayability.
You play as one of the two characters to choose from, Sidney Flintlock or Justine Jacobs. These ladies have the desire to protect their city. In this specific case, they wish to protect their local video rental shop from being taken over by an evil corporation. That’s pretty much all there is to know really, there is some word boxes of text in-between stages and boss fights, but the story overall is really an afterthought. The game has a total of only six stages, which have a decent variety with change of scenery. Fighting in places like a nightclub, a cool mansion, or even the streets of your city; all of them designed with a really cool 80’s/90’s aesthetic. Really harkening in on the era when these brawlers were the most successful was a cool and nostalgic touch.
The biggest let down, by far, would be the overall playtime. The entire game can be completed in a little over an hour depending on your skill level. Not only that, the two characters you play as are exactly the same. It really doesn’t matter who you play as, so thinking you could play the game twice with each character, well, you really don’t need to. You could however play the game with a friend via co-op, which is probably the best way to experience Breakneck City. Another big issue is the controls could be a lot smoother. Moving around and attacking enemies can be a little bit of a struggle. Maneuvering to face your enemies requires almost precision face to face, in order to properly attack them. A control like that should be something you don’t even think about, and it’s a real drag that it’s something that can be really sluggish and distracting.
Aside from those issues, the game itself can be quite fun. The low-poly graphics really takes me back to the Playstation 1/Nintendo 64 era of games and there are a lot of other things well done such as usable items to attack with (including parts of the environment). But I can’t still shake off how short this game is and it really doesn’t do much to have you come back for seconds. Although with a ten-dollar price tag, this could be a fun time… Preferably with a friend.
6/10
For more information, visit: https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/breakneck-city-switch/
Gaming since I was given an original Nintendo as a kid. I love great storytelling and unique ingenuity. When both collide in a single game, I'm a happy gamer. Twitter/IG @NickNavarro87
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