Nano Breaker

Overview

Nano Breaker is a hack-and-slash action game developed and published by Konami and released in 2005 for the PlayStation 2. It is notable as being one of the relatively few games unrelated to the Castlevania franchise directed by Koji Igarashi since he took over the shepherding of the series with Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. The game is known for the copious amount of blood sprayed by enemies; an element that is worked into the gameplay.

Plot

Nano Breaker takes place on Nanomachine Island in the year 2021, where the United States has started to research nanotechnology for use within everyday life. Twenty years since the original project's launch, the results have brought nothing but chaos, with nanomachines creating beasts referred to as "Orgamechs." It's up to Jake, the game's protagonist, to destroy the main computer of the island to halt the nanomachines' control.

Gameplay

Nano Breaker is a standard hack-and-slash, action/adventure game. Jake wields a plasma sword, the game's main weapon, which can be upgraded through a basic skill tree, allowing for bigger combos or other alterations to Jake's performance in combat.

A distinctive feature of Nano Breaker is the game's copious amount of blood. Enemies gush gallons of blood as Jake slashes them, splattering all over the stage in the process. This, however, works into the actual gameplay with a "Gallon Meter" on the bottom of the screen, counting exactly how much blood has been spilled. Collecting certain threshold amounts will net Jake with additional health or energy, as well as the ability to trigger a short 'super mode.'