Breakdown

2004 is still a fairly early entity in the overall growth of 3D gaming, and Breakdown sat just behind Doom 3 and Half-Life 2 in attempting to do more with things with the space, forcing the game's entire perspective in first person, right down to seeing animations for guzzling health drinks and eating food, which played well into the game's main thrust, hand to hand combat. While still far behind Condemned, Zeno Clash and even Mirror's Edge, it works more than it doesn't and feels visceral in a way that stands out even today. The gunplay is unfortunately massively shite.

The game's overall progression is actually very similar to Half-Life 1 with a lot of stale science corridors maintaining an air of constant progression in one science lab, and a few vehicle sections thrown in for good measure, before an alien world with bad platforming dominates the final act. An inspired plot twist can't save the fact you have to play through parts of the final act twice, but I can't deny many parts of Breakdown had me grinning. If you can put up with somewhat schlocky, somewhat clunky adventures that serve as great milestones of past 3D achievements with a little hidden intelligence, Breakdown might be your game.