In typical Breakout fashion, and as you all should know, the aim of the game is to move the "paddle" along the bottom of the screen (using the D-Pad) in order to hit the ball and break all the boxes. The formula is well known and unchanged from classic Breakout games. Another thing that remains unchanged is that, every once in a while (actually probably a little too often, a broken block with spawn a power up, which will either help or hinder you, the player, in breaking the blocks you see on the screen. The power ups are mostly pretty much as you would expect, with multiple balls, extra lives, and increasing the size of your paddle. However, the are also power-ups (if that is the correct term) that make the ball much smaller than normal, making it harder to hit it, and power ups that make the paddle smaller (even getting ridiculously small if you get too many of these). My favourite of the selection of power ups though, is one that turns your paddle into a turret, adding a gun onto it, allowing you to shoot the boxes (using circle) as well as using the ball. All of these power ups run only until you drop the ball.
As any breakout game should have, Brick Breaker has a nicely wide variety of levels on offer that will keep you entertained for quite a while considering the fact that this game is a Mini. This is probably one of the most "pick up and play" of any of the Minis that i have ever played, and this is a great thing. You can start it on the commute in the morning, put it down for a few hours, and pick it right back up where you left off, on the way back home again at night.
There are downsides though. The Mini is fun, yes but it just doesn't feel fresh. Maybe this is because of years of different Breakout clones, but this just doesn't seem to do anything new, but rather does old things very well. Which is by no means a bad thing. If you are a lover of this sort of game, you will definitely like Brick Breaker; however, the feeling of de ja vu is inescapable. Although the fact that this is one of the cheapest Minis available right now is a good enough reason to push the de ja vu to the back of your brain and enjoy a brilliant little Breakout clone.
As said, this does not do anything new at all, aside from a couple of different power ups...However this does not mean to say that it isn't fun, because it is, and what it does do is done very well indeed. The controls are responsive and the paddle never feels too slow as it often does in this type of game, and the amount of different levels is bound to keep you satisified for quite some time. Even when you have finished playing the main mode, there is an added "dual paddle" mode, whereby there is a paddle both at the top and bottom of the screen, and you have to stop the ball falling off both ends. This again, however, feels very samey, and doesn't really do anything new.
In the end, Brick Breaker is a very well done Breakout clone, which does everything well without bringing any innovation to the idea; not that that was to be expected, from a Mini.
Check out the gallery below. Also, as a first, check out the video (it's bad quality i know, i'm sorry. I'll try harder next time!)
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| Brick Breaker |
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