The in-game visuals of Nano Breaker aren’t anything special. There isn’t really anything in the levels or characters that stand out as being something to ogle over. But I guess when you consider the fact that this game ultimately boils down to a mindless hack-n-slash, that isn’t really a big issue.

However, the in-game graphics do have two things going for them. The first is the long and pretty tail that follows your plasma blade as you constantly slash your way through enemies. The color of the blade, as well as the length of the trail, is dependent on its shape (yes, that’s right, the blade changes shape, but more on that later). The second aspect that keeps these graphics from becoming a total wash is the blood. When you mow down enemies, they spill gallons of harvested blood (you can see exactly how much by the counter in the corner of the screen). As red (green, purple, blue, or whatever other color you want to set it as) liquid gushes from your enemies, it also splashes and sticks to the walls, floors, and ceilings of the level. Though this is done in a very stylized manner, this is also the chief reason for the game’s mature rating.

The cinematic cut-scenes are as good as the in-game graphics are bad. Each movie is filled with almost photo-realistic characters and environments that do a good job of progressing the story along (what story it has, that is). And thankfully, these scenes come fairly frequently to break up the mindless bloodbath that is Nano Breaker.

Sound? Well, for the most part I could mute the game and get as good (or better) an experience. The audio aspect of Nano Breaker doesn’t add anything. While battling my way through the areas, there was plenty of sloshing sounds when I decapitated, sliced, or otherwise mutilated the hordes of enemies swarming on my position. As for the music, it never really left an impression on me. Even if I enjoyed it while playing the game, it was quickly forgotten when I walked away from my TV. Yet once again, as bad as the in-game sound was, the voice acting in the pre-rendered movies was outstanding. But if I wanted a game where I worked my way through the levels just to see the pretty movies, I would go play a Xenosaga game.

Okay, so the in-game aspects of Nano Breaker aren’t spectacular. Did they forego the graphics and sound for a solid story? Well, here is the situation leading into the game. It has been several years since The Great War. In this war, cyborgs were used as weapons against the enemy. One such brigade of man-machine hybrids was lead by Jake Warren. By the end of the conflict, he was acclaimed as the fiercest weapon on the battle field. But there were also reports of civilian casualties wherever he and his troops went. He was deemed a weapon of mass destruction and was left to rot in a dump.

Fast forward to the present time of this game. Since the war, nano technology has advanced incredibly. In order to properly study this new science in isolation, humans have created Nano Island, a place where the microscopic machines permeate every aspect of daily life. But something has gone wrong. Suddenly the machines have started taking over – and not just the other machines in the area. The “Nanomachines” have taken over humans and harvested their blood in order to increase their numbers. Now it is up to the re-activated (and slightly outdated) Warren to find a missing scientist on Nano Island and stop the attack before it spreads to the rest of the world.

Not far into the game, you encounter an old friend of Warren’s named Keith Spencer – a member of the top-cyborg team from the war. But Spencer isn’t a friend anymore. He has made it his personal goal to take down his former commander, and unlike Warren, Spencer has been alive and upgrading for the past. You will end up fighting your rival several times in the game, and each time he will have some new tricks up his robotic sleeve.

Though the story might seem interesting on paper, the story seems to be little more than a reason to bring you to a new area (new as in slightly different from the last, but still very similar) and hack your way through another group of mindless drones. The characters never seemed real to me. I don’t think they were developed enough for me to really care whether or not they stopped the nano invasion.

So how do you face your opponents (both Spencer and the nanomachines)? You only have one weapon at your disposal (a plasma blade), but it is a strong weapon. With various combo chips (gained by killing some enemies), you can transform it into other weapons by pressing the face buttons in combos – they can be as short as two or three buttons or as complex as five or six. The larger the combo, the more chips you need and the more powerful the resulting attack.

Difficult? Um... maybe if you define difficult as being able to mindlessly attack everything in your path without any real effort. Though Nano Breaker offers a system that lets you build large and powerful combos (which can be tricky to pull off), there is hardly a need for it except when going up against the occasional boss.

So for the most part, Nano Breaker isn’t hard. Long? Yes. But challenging? No.

Nano Breaker has a control scheme that can be either really simple (if you don’t want to get into the massive combos) or complex (if you do). With only one weapon to wield, most of the face buttons are used to manipulate that weapon in different ways. The Triangle button executes a vertical slash, the Square button performs a horizontal attack, and the Circle grabs and pulls enemies close to you (and sometimes dazes them). If you use your combo chips wisely, stringing together various button presses allows your plasma blade to change shape and deal out even more damage.

Do I recommend Nano Breaker? Not to everybody. I’m sure it has its market and that there are people out there who will tout it as the greatest action game to ever grace this world. I’m not one of those people, and I can’t see the typical gamer really enjoying it. Not long into the game, it becomes a repetitive series of mindless slashing. If you are thinking about getting Nano Breaker, rent it first. That will either change your mind or make you want to get it even more.