Super Breakout

I’m pretty sure you’ve seen all the block-busting games out there so you’ll probably have an idea about what to expect in Super Breakout.

Well you’d be right if you thought it would involve a paddle, a ball and a whole load of pretty coloured bricks placed around the screen. As with all other ‘Breakout’s you’ll be smashing your way throughout the levels by blasting all those pretty bricks to kingdom come using the ball.

By sliding your paddle from left to right you can adjust the angle that the ball bounces from your paddle which with a bit of luck will result in clearing the level. You start with the standard three lives and these are lost by failing to return the ball.

To make this game more interesting and even more challenging there’s been a few nice touches added. Yes you can play the basic, classic version, which will give all those old enough to recall the original Atari version shivers down their spine. Arguably more interesting though is the great sleek ‘Super’ version. Of course this is full of the usual things but it’s got some superb graphics, fantastic layouts and to cap it off, the inclusion of power-ups. So, what started out as a pretty straight forward block-busting game, soon becomes a highly addictive and entertaining little number.

Power-ups include the triple-ball (where your one ball splits into three more), shield (where your base line’s covered should you fail to return the ball – saving your life for one go), magnetic paddle (the ball sticks to the paddle, and displays the angle it will launch in when ready), heavy ball (smashes through all bricks), bigger paddle (err.. makes your paddle bigger), slower ball (gives you more time to get into position), lasers (which zap bricks from your paddle), boom ball (allows you to detonate your ball to destroy the blocks its near) and rockets (which eliminate all blocks in your way. Other useful additions to the game include detonator blocks, which when struck blow up and take out surrounding blocks. There are other bricks which aren’t able to be destroyed using the ball alone and either will need the use of the ‘heavy ball’ or by hitting the invisible brick, which changes these impenetrable blocks into transparent ones, which allow the ball to travel safely through to clear the bricks that were previously protected.

Of course the game does have its tricky spots too, namely in the shape of power-downs. These collectable objects include ‘smaller paddle’, fast ball and invisible paddle amongst quite a few others. As you can probably guess, these all provide quite a novel twist and as these collectables all gravitate towards your paddle, you have to be quite quick and cunning to avoid gathering them.

The best part of this game is that not all of these power-ups replace the others you may already have, indeed quite a few complement the other – meaning you can rapidly clear the level if you’re lucky!

Overall then, this is just about the best thing to happen to the ‘breakout’ style game and definitely one that should be in your collection.

Rating 93%

Positives

Breathtaking graphics

Both classic and super breakout modes

Plenty of levels to conquer

Addictive and quite satisfying making the pesky blocks disappear

Different difficulty levels

Negatives

Quite repetitive

There’s always one block which proves impossible to get rid of and can be very frustrating

Some levels are quite difficult even on easy setting