Hey look, another Breakout clone. Did we really need one of those? I didn’t think so either, but it turns out maybe I was wrong. Normally I struggle through a few levels so I can say that I’ve played enough to write my review… BUT

3D Brick Breaker Revolution 2 ($1.99; FREE)

In the case of 3D Brick Breaker Revolution 2 I’ve already played 20+ levels in Classic mode (some more than once) and 3 level sets in Revolution mode, and I’m actually not bored yet. I’m still not eager to run out and buy every Breakout clone that I can get my hands on, but if developers do decide they need to continue making such games, I hope they take a serious look at this one as a good example of what to do right.

Presentation

This game looks slick. While for the most part it serves no functional purpose, the 3D board is nice. I also really dig the neon colors. It’s kind of what I’d imagine a breakout game looking like if it existed in the world of Tron. The board is continually in motion, expanding, contracting and rotating slightly. The background tiles also flex from time to time, creating a cool wave effect. The special effects created by the different power ups are also really neat. Quite frankly this is one of the most impressive breakout games I think I’ve seen on a mobile device.

My standard line lately in the sound effects department has been “the sound is pretty standard fare”, and that may not be entirely untrue here. I actually kind of like the sound effects in this game, though, especially when you start combining some of the power ups like the big ball and an explosion. The voice of the “bad guy” also sounds pretty neat, although there seem to be some hiccups every once in a while, especially when it comes to saying the number of the level you’re advancing to in Revolution mode. The music is very well orchestrated, and there seem to be several different tracks that get rotated among the levels, so that’s a nice change of pace from most games like this.

Controls

You can control the paddle either by dragging it left and right via a slide bar beneath the paddle or by using left and right arrows on the sides of the screen. Personally I found the drag method to be a lot more reliable than the arrows. To launch the ball you tap on the paddle, and to use power ups that aren’t automatically activated you simply click on the appropriate icon on screen. It’s all relatively straightforward and works pretty well.

Game Play

3D Brick Breaker Revolution 2 is another in a long line of Breakout / Arkanoid clones. The basic premise is that at the bottom of the screen you have a paddle, and at the top of the screen there is a bunch of bricks. Using the paddle you must continually hit a ball towards the bricks until you’ve destroyed them all. Then you move on to the next level and do the same thing all over again. This process repeats until you miss the ball too many times and lose all your lives or you beat all the levels. Typically these games annoy me because the levels are too long or there’s that one little brick that you can’t ever seem to hit. Thankfully, this particular clone takes care of that issue. It’s also actually quite fun, especially if you play in Revolution mode.

Classic mode contains 99 levels of brick breaking mayhem. From a game play standpoint this is pretty much standard breakout, so I’ll take a moment to talk about power ups here. First of all, there are two types of power ups. Some get activated right when you collect them (either good or bad), while others can be used at your whim. In Classic mode you lose any unused power ups between rounds, however, so don’t be afraid to use them. I think this game has one of the biggest collection of power ups I’ve seen in a Breakout clone. Most of the standards are there, like a larger paddle and multiple balls.

There are some fun new ones as well, like a giant ball that can crush any brick with one hit, or the detonator that you can activate and will destroy several bricks in the immediate vicinity of the target ball (denoted by swirling blue lines around the ball). One really interesting one is the double paddle, which puts a second paddle at the top of the screen, giving you some control over you ball both coming and going. One thing I appreciated was that when you are down to just a couple of bricks you’ll get a random power up thrown at you every once in a while even without destroying anything, which helps eliminate the problem of not being able to destroy that last annoying brick.

As much fun as Classic mode actually is, I prefer Revolution mode. In this mode you play levels in five block increments, with a boss at the end of each set of levels. To advance to the next level in each set you must destroy the block containing a key, and this will also permit you to fall back a level as long as you’re not on level 1. You can also reach bonus levels by destroying blocks with stars in them. You don’t lose anything for failing at a bonus level, but if you can destroy all the blocks in a bonus level without missing the ball you earn an extra life. Power ups advance with you as you move between levels within a set, though you still lose them once the set is complete or you lose a life. The levels in Revolution are actually different than Classic mode as well (or at least in a different order to make you think they are different).

Suggestions

This is one of those rare instances where I really don’t have much to offer in the way of features to fix or add. If anything it might be cool to see a mode where the levels are randomly generated, but that would just be icing on an already delicious cake.

Conclusion

I never thought I’d see the day, but I’m actually going to recommend a breakout clone. 3D Brick Breaker Revolution 2 has everything this type of game needs – slick visuals, great audio, tons of power ups, and a way to keep individual levels from taking half an hour to complete. Even if you’re not a fan of the genre you might actually enjoy this one.

James “Superbad” Isabel
www.TheAPPera.com

Personal Mail: james@theappera.com
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