When I first saw Namco's Breakdown, it reminded me of that first person fighting game for the Sega CD that will go unnamed. It looks a lot prettier and it's got a better publisher behind it, but punching someone from a first person perspective seems awkward, especially after that weird-looking boot in Return to Castle Wolfenstein. However, Breakdown looks very promising, and with Namco behind the wheel, the Xbox may be the host to a quality exclusive.

In Breakdown you're Derek Cole, who wakes up alone on a table. Desperate for nourishment, you scarf a burger and chase it with some soda but realize the food's been laced with tranquilizers. Suddenly, armed guards bust through the room and attempt to kill you, but a mysterious woman named Alex charges in, kills them, and forces you to vomit everything into the toilet. From there the game evolves into an action tour de force, throwing tons of bad guys in your way to keep you from solving the mystery of your identity, and better still, why the veins on your hands glow.

Thus far, Breakdown's graphics are gorgeous. The character models as well as the environments are highly detailed and have a remarkable polish to them. How you move about is also interesting. Movement is mapped to the left analog stick, unfortunate seeing as how I'm a huge fan of the dual stick setup that most Xbox shooters employ, but it's still early so Namco may change or provide different settings.

Unlike other first person shooters, the camera in the game is very unique. It's set up so it feels like you're looking out the eyes of the main character, so when you move, it mimics the actions of someone's head, something that's never been done in a game of this type.

In addition to bludgeoning people with your fists you can also shoot them but the game limits the amount of weapons you can carry. Still, it's a welcome feature since I'm accustomed to using a gun in these types of games. However, if Namco succeeds with the hand-to-hand combat portion of the game, I may holster the gun to lay the smack down.

Thus far, Breakdown looks like it's coming along nicely. If anything, the game's graphics look great and the action level's at a fevered pace. However, whether Namco will be able to pull off a first person fighter remains to be seen. I'd hate to discover that punching someone is monotonous and elect to shoot them all because I'd be missing out on a large portion of the game and Namco's vision of the way Breakdown was intended to be experienced. It's also up against some stiff competition in the fps genre (namely Halo 2), so it remains to be seen if American audiences will care about Namco's latest. Still, I know I'm going to check it out when it releases next year.