"Is there going to be a NanoBreakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo?"

A remote island, dubbed Nano Island, has been a center for nanomachine research and development. The main computer regulating the tiny creatures has gone out of control. Now they are orgamechs, large killer robots, and you should kill them. You play as Jake Warren, a cyborg warrior reawakened from a frozen state. The game is setup in linear fashion with some parts of action adventure style exploration. You begin in the front of the whole island and travel all across it.

Jake is given a Plasma Blade before the game is started. The Plasma Blade is a transforming weapon that could destroy things down to a molecular level. This is where the combat lies. You are given four branches of combo sequences, that are based on your four basic attacks (Horizontal, Vertical, Thrust, and Juggle), that lead into different weapon transformations and attacks. The four attacks are done by two attack buttons and a shift button. The method in which the game uses the shift button is quick and easy. It is all logically sound and well developed. From the array of a scythe, hammer, spear, and axe, you could probably guess which attacks lead to which transformations. Horizontal has the scythe, Vertical has the axe, Thrust has the spear, and Juggle has the hammer. Each enemy has their own weaknesses and a certain way to "instant kill" them. If they don't die, they will lose limbs and body parts limiting their abilities. This makes the game interesting and fun in combat. In the combat, you also spill large amount of "blood oil" from these creatures. This is just glorified EXP, you'll gain upgrades from it. Watching the blood oil fly is also enjoyable and the option of changing its color is a heavily welcomed one by me. Each boss creature also has a premade pattern of attack which brings nostalgia back into my heart. The bosses are all fun to fight, although frustrating. Boosters give you a small advantage too. They are temporary powerups or attacks.

The island has many areas that have some small puzzles, large platforming areas, and loads of orgamech dwelled areas. Jake travels this land to find out more of the situation and eventually put a stop to this outbreak. By gaining powerups like Double Jump, he is able to reach new areas.

Visually the game is very nice although its color scheme is not so great. The game animates at 60FPS and moves very flowingly. There's occasional slowdown when you kill around seven orgamechs at one time but this provides a neat effect of "Kicked YOUR BUTT!" The sounds are okay and the music is great. The music fits the dark mood of the game and the mystery that hides on the island.

Now all games have flaws. The difficulty of this title is quite high compared to recent games. The game starts you off with minimals and doesn't provide much healing options. This might become frustrating at first, but it's not incredibly easy to beat. It wouldn't be fun if it was no challenge. The story is a little cheesy but I enjoyed it. I love the combat engine with it's long chains of attacks and how you could just keep going. The camera is a bit weird but it just spins around Jake (if manually controlled) until it hits a wall, where it will tilt and zoom on Jake because it's pinned up. But the fact that the camera is controllable is good and the angles are decent enough, especially for a fast paced action game such as this one. The platforming parts tend to have autocamera so that's not an issue there. There are also new modes and characters after completing the game, so I'm still playing it. I thoroughly enjoyed this game and I still am. I hope more people experience this fun I'm having.

Gameplay- 9/10
Controls are spot on and the combat is fun with the variable enemies. The challenge makes the game heart pounding.

Variety- 7/10
All the levels are very distinct. But the enemies are small in number of differences. The number of attacks and boosters are fun to use differently though.

Replay- 7/10
New Characters, Splatter, and Hard Mode are great. But the characters are just skins over Jake's story. This makes it really weird.

Graphics-8/10
Smooth Animation, Great design... But, someone hit desaturate.

Sound- 8/10
Basic Combat sounds but great dark music.

Story- 8/10
Enjoyable but filled with questions and a bit cheesy.

Overall- 8/10

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 02/22/05, Updated 02/23/05