Breach 2011 pc game download

When I started my time with Breach, I couldn't overlook how stringently it adhered to genre convention. Developed by Atomic Games, Breach is a download-only first-person shooter that runs the gamut of modern-military tropes. To say Breach finds "inspiration" in Battlefield and Call of Duty is a vast understatement, and a direct comparison to those games does not favor Atomic's shooter. For me, however, the greater disappointment is in the comparison to Breach's downloadable peers.

The titles that populate Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Network are colorful and unique. Customers go to these services to find a breath of fresh air — and “fresh air” is the last descriptor I would apply to Breach. In a space where people search for all manner of wild and crazy adventures, Atomic's effort represents a missed opportunity — especially in the overstuffed FPS category. I find the idea that anyone would skip past Raskulls or Super Meat Boy for Breach difficult to imagine.

At cursory glance, the differences between Battlefield, Call of Duty, and Breach are nuanced, which is putting it kindly. In reality, the gulf between these games is about as profound as the deviations between college and professional football. Still, shooters would benefit as a whole if developers added a few more screwballs in the mix.

To say that some of the most exciting titles over the last few years have come from XBLA and PSN isn't a stretch. Pac-Man Championship Edition DX, for example, took a tired, pellet-munching yellow circle and applied a modern download makeover to great success. It focused on quick gameplay, outrageous visuals, and asynchronous multiplayer to provide a new experience that set it apart. Atomic has taken Breach on the exact opposite path by aping its $60 cousins note for note.

Breach isn't an unmitigated disaster. In fact, it's a fine game that I plan on returning to. I enjoy the active-cover system and one or two of the multiplayer modes. But shouldn't we expect a product that's more audacious from the studio that announced Six Days in Fallujah in ? Atomic's previous title (which is now in "controversy limbo") set Marines and dissidents against one another in the biggest and bloodiest battle of the Iraq War.

Atomic's website reads, “Six Days in Fallujah is a documentary-style experience that uses the interactivity, action, and visceral impact of videogames to provide deeper insight into modern war than can be offered through passive forms of media.”  Unfortunately, Fallujah is a bit too recent for some, and then-publisher Konami pulled its funding in a well-publicized and controversial move. Doesn't that sound like it would make an amazing downloadable game? Compared to Six Days in Fallujah, Breach is about as fresh and exciting as the sawdust that lines the bottom of a hamster cage.

A year from now I won't remember Breach, which is probably the harshest thing I can say about it. Atomic has taken all of the familiarity of Bad Company 2's multiplayer, shrunk it down to a bite-size chunk, and slapped $15 on the proverbial box. This simply isn't enough to stand out in a market filled with unique experiences.A developer can push a release onto XBLA and PSN that feels like a cash in on a popular game type, but it shouldn't surprise them to find that the audience is too busy playing Monday Night Combat to even notice.