Break 'Em All? We already have.
| Platform | Presentation |
Controls |
Variety |
Audio |
Depth |
Value & Fun | OVERALL |
| Nintendo DS | 4.50 |
7.00 |
5.50 |
4.00 |
6.00 |
5.00 | 5.44 |
| Gameplay Description |
|
Break 'Em All is the age-old game of Breakout. That consists of breaking a series of blocks using a ball while you control a paddle at the bottom of the screen that prevents the ball from falling.
|
| Dedication Meter |
70.00 |
|
The Dedication Meter is too high for Break 'Em All's own good. The game is really about high scores, and getting that high score can take a while. In order to reach the highest score plateau, it took an hour and a half. It's a very simple game to get into and play, and learning everything about the game can take as little as a half hour, but once that is done, in order to get the most out of the game, you have to be willing to play for long sittings -- not ideal for a handheld game.
|
| Presentation |
4.50 |
|
The visuals work for the game, but there is absolutely no flare. Even the power ups are just changed colours. The backgrounds are bland and lifeless and the blocks are all very sterile and simply coloured. It's easy to tell what's going on though, as due to the blandness, the look is very clean.
|
| Controls |
7.00 |
|
If Break 'Em All has one thing going for it, it's the stylus control. I can honestly say that this is the most enjoyable Breakout game I've ever played, and it's due to the stylus control. Where there are issues though, are that your hand can get in the way due to how close to the bottom the paddle is; it really would have been a better idea to have players play vertically by turning the DS on its side ALA Brain Training. For the first time ever, Pausing is also an issue as you must relinquish paddle control to press the start button. And finally there's no way to choose a lesser power up once you have been upgraded from one to another (the power-ups are progressive as you hit more blocks). Using the power-ups, though, is conveniently mapped to UP on the D-pad.
|
| Variety |
5.50 |
There's is honestly more variety in modes than I would have expected from this game. There's the standard game in which you can play through 50 preset levels (and repeat through them if you make it to the end) or a series of "Randomized" levels (they can feel VERY similar to previous ones). Then there's "Quest Mode" in which you hit the ball through a hole at the top of the screen to the next level and repeat until reaching a boss whom you must hit in its red section. The bosses are interesting, though at times frustrating. And the last mode is Battle mode which you are in a screen that you can move around both vertically and horizontally and avoid getting hit the in the weak point. This mode is just too hard to tell where the balls are coming from and it comes down very much to luck.
Power-ups are also available. While a nice addition, the use of some becomes very impractical, such as the ones that make it more difficult in exchange for more points. The best tactic is by far to use Wide (to widen your paddle), Bomb (destroys adjacent blocks to the one you hit) and Safe (protective guard at the bottom of the screen that can survive two hits). While those prove to be the clear best combo, there are also Catch (catch the ball), Mirror (bounces are inverted off the paddle. Pointless), Slow (slows the ball), Fast (speeds up the ball in exchange for more points), Multi (3 balls), 5-ball (5 balls that disintegrate once hitting a block), Laser (ball flies through blocks for a short period of time), one in which I forget the name that creates a duplicate paddle in the spot in which you activate it, and one other that I can't recall.
|
| Audio |
4.00 |
|
It's very much background noise and nothing more. Traditional Breakout sounds for the ball bouncing around and hitting things and extremely generic musical accompaniment with little variety.
|
| Depth |
6.00 |
|
Without power ups, Break 'Em All can prove to be a challenge, though partially out of tedium. The power-ups add some depth, but as I previously stated, there is a clear best strategy with circumvents the concept of strategy once it becomes routine and repetitious.
|
| Value & Fun |
5.00 |
|
For Breakout, the game is pretty fun. The problem I briefly addressed in the Dedication Meter. While it's fun to jump into and play, you get no sense of accomplishment unless you play for hours in order to challenge the highest score you can get. Honestly, with practice, the game could easily go on for days; then what do you have to play for? The budget price is a bit of a saviour for this game, as less is required for satisfaction given there is less investment, but even then Break 'Em All still underdelivers.
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| Overall |
5.44 |
|
There isn't a whole lot of game in Break 'Em All, which very well fits the typical description of a budget title. But for what little it sets out to do, it achieves it pretty well and will be entertaining in that. Break 'Em All is definitely worthwhile for big Breakout fans, but do any still exist?
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Posted by Ellyoda Sat, 30 Sep 2006 00:00:00
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