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"Still packing its “Obviously late 70’s to early 80’s” charm"

In the late 70’s and early 80’s, videogames were just starting to become popular. The two most memorable games were of course the mighty Pong and Pac-Man. But there were also a bunch of other still well known games in the same simplistic style. One of them was known as Breakout. It became an instant cult classic. After Atari had gotten it for all its worth, someone else wanted a piece of that money. So, Taito remade it a few years later as Arkanoid. With identical gameplay, it’s not hard to tell it was very obviously a Breakout clone. I’m just surprised Atari never sued.

The graphics, being based off a 70’s game, are very simplistic. Everything is either a rectangle representing a block or a rectangle representing your ship. On the upside, being on the NES allowed them to enhance the graphics slightly. So, the blocks actually have decent colors on them. When certain blocks are hit they have a small reflection animation, which is nice, considering when this came out. The backgrounds can be colorful at times, and are pretty decent. Your ship can even be morphed into an interesting looking battleship, displaying probably the finest graphics of the game. Overall, the graphics are not too bad for an NES game that was probably a launch title.

The gameplay remains very deep, yet still simplistic. Basically, it’s a one-player version of Pong. You have a paddle, and knock the ball at the other side. Rather than a horizontal screen, it has become a vertical setup, so you fire in front of you. On the other side are a bunch of blocks. Using the paddle, you are supposed to destroy them. Sounds simple right? It is. But if you think it’s easy you are way off. While the first level may just be slow and steady returning of the ball into the blocks, the later levels get really hard. The ball can return extremely fast, so it quickly becomes a test of reflexes. And, you can’t just hit the ball and it hits a block. You have to aim it at the block by controlling the position of the ball when it is deflected on the paddle. In later levels you must get the position just right and guide it through a series of small nooks and crannies, all of which being very difficult.

There’s the side of you that gets frustrated because the ball misses by a millimeter and returns back only to have you miss it. The other side of you is driven into the gaming Zen that this game creates. Once you start to play it, it is very hard to put down. You want to finish destroying that last stupid block. You want to get that ball guided through that stupid hole and win the level. It requires a great amount of patience, but it has the sort of Tetris effect.

What I just described was the feeling of Breakout. Arkanoid is all of that and a bag of chips. Hitting certain blocks will drop small pills for you to grab. Getting the pills will give your paddle a special ability. Most of them either increase or decrease the size of your paddle. But some have some interesting effects. One makes your paddle made out of Velcro, so when you catch the ball it sticks to the paddle until you fire it again. Another one causes three balls to sprout from the first one, allowing you to do three times the damage, but also putting the risk of losing all three while trying to keep up with them. Another one, one of my personal favorites, turns your paddle into a ship that can fire lasers at the blocks, making the level much easier. But, as I learned, you get distracted with your newfound power and often forget about the ball. The last one lets you skip the entire level!

It’s somewhat hard to express the sound and music, because there virtually isn’t any.

The replay value is also somewhat small. The game is fun to pick up and play every once in awhile, but other than that there isn’t much to it. I would’ve liked a multiplayer or something, maybe just include the original pong, but then again this was the NES days so that would’ve been incredible for the time.

Overall, this still isn’t a bad game. The gameplay itself is still very deep and addictive, but the game just feels dated. The only physical upgrades don’t add a whole lot too it, and in fact somewhat weaken the original Zen-ish feel of it. It’s still worth playing if you’ve never tried Breakout before, but if you have it’s probably not worth it. Really, what it comes down to is this: Would you buy the original Tetris?


Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 12/03/01, Updated 09/07/03