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Arkanoid
(My brother used to tape the sound of the Spectrum loading
screen....)
//introduction
Many readers will have played, or at least know about 'Breakout' - the 1-player development of Pong (, which caused the starting-up of one of the most famous 'fuit companies' - Apple Computer).
It was a storm at the time, and a few clones were made, including Arkanoid.
This game has been released on many consoles and computers including Atari ST, Amiga and Spectrum. Here's the review of the Snes game.
//rules and toys
Basically, the game involves moving a paddle at the bottom of the screen left and right, trying to make a bouncing ball hit some blocks at the top of the screen, which will then explode.
When you have exploded all the blocks, you will move onto the next stage and do it all again.
To add a bit of variation, you get power-ups, silver and gold blocks, enemies and bosses. Silver blocks take several hits to destroy. Gold blocks cannot be destroyed and simply serve as an obstacle. Power ups do a variety of services ranging from equipping you with a gun to making your bat longer.
The enemies mainly waddle about, waiting to be destroyed, but 3 affect the game by either teleporting the ball to a random location, turning into a new block which must be destroyed or turning into 3 balls which assist you until they are destroyed.
Bosses appear every 11 levels and you'll see 3 different massive enemies which stand in your way and threaten to stop your progress.
//WARNING - SECRETS REVEALED - DANGER RATING 1 (VERY SLIGHT)
//a wee bit about the bosses and level structure.
Although there are only 3 bosses (1 of which appears every 11 levels), after you see the ending following level 33, you simply carry on. The levels will be different but the bosses remain the same. You get play through the 3 bosses 3 times, and after completing level 99, you see the true ending. There is no 100th level.
//END WARNING - DANGER EXTINCT
//power-ups
In case you're wondering what those aforementioned power-ups all do, here is a list of their effects.
'S capsule' (orange) - returns your paddle
to normal and is the only power-up with no advantages.
'T capsule' (dark green) - creates a force-field which will reflect 1 missed
ball.
'M capsule' (pink) - makes the ball pass through blocks and destroy them instantly
rather than bouncing off of them.
'L capsule' (red) - equips your ship with lasers which can be fired to destroy
blocks.
'G capsule' (green) - instead of a ball bouncing straight off of your paddle,
it will stick until you press the A or X button, or a certain period of time
has passed.
'E capsule' (blue) - the length of your paddle is extended.
'D capsule' (white) - turns your ball into 8 balls. You only need to keep
1 in play, but they all assist you in breaking the blocks.
'B capsule' (light pink) - opens a warp gate which will send you to the next
level.
'P capsule' (grey) - gives you an extra life.
Some power ups get rid of previous effects.
//2-player modes
As well as the standard 1-player game, you also get the option to play 3 different 2-player games. These involve either taking turns to play the 1-player game, playing the 1-player game co-operatively or playing a versus mode.
The takey-turney mode basically works like Super Mario Bros. on the NES. When a player loses a life, the other player starts playing from where he would have started in a 1-player game.
The co-operative mode places one player above the other on the screen, giving this player the 1st chance to bounce back the ball. The player at the bottom changes every round, giving both players an equal opportunity to prove themselves. When blocks are destroyed, points are given to the person who hit the ball last, or fired that laser.
The versus mode involves both players simultaneously playing a level which is half the screen's width. If someone misses the ball, they lose. If someone destroys all the blocks, they win. So, it becomes a straight race whilst taking care not to let the ball fall. Neither player can affect the other's screen.
//other options
There are 3 difficulty levels to choose from (although there is no real difference between them that I can discern). You may also select the starting number of lives, the sound setup and the speed at which you move left and right. There is also a sound-test, and if you have a Snes mouse, you may use it as a controller for this game.
Lastly, you have the ability to edit your own levels to play. You can choose where to place blocks, silver blocks and gold blocks, what the background is, which blocks contain capsules and what type of enemy comes out of the gates, if any enemy comes out at all.
Obviously, you can then play your level.
You can't select which power ups exist in a block, or get a password for your level. So, when you switch off your machine, it is lost for ever.
//music
During the boss stages and the intro and ending, the music is a standard, unexceptional affair. During the boss stages, the loop is only a few seconds long, and this is rather obvious.
During the normal stages (where blocks must be destroyed), the music is non-existent and all you hear are the noises of the ball hitting off the wall, paddle and blocks as well as a few other sound effects. Since the normal, silver and gold blocks cause different tones to sound when struck (and the wall and the paddle give yet more tones), sometimes a strange melody is formed.
//graphics
The graphics are rather unexceptional, but are clear enough to see and interpret. They don't push the Snes very far, but they don't need to. They serve their purpose.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
how far I got: completed
the 1-player mode on Normal, tested the other difficulty
levels and
played the 2-player modes with a few friends.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
rating : 2
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
I feel that this game has a rather poor 1-player mode, but a couple of rather enjoyable 2-player modes. However, they don't save the game as a whole.
The infinite continues definitely detract from the 1-player game. In normal levels, where you must destroy blocks, destroyed blocks remain destroyed when you lose a life, and it can become a bit of a joke when you restart a stage with only 1 block on-screen. The bosses remain a challenge simply because they regain their health when you restart the stage. However, towards the end of the game, it becomes apparent that these levels ask for a lot of luck - something which can be exceedingly annoying.
Whether your paddle is 1 pixel further to the left or not can make the difference between the ball coming down at the same time as the boss' laser and death being unavoidable and the ball staying happily above the boss for a few minutes until the monster is defeated.
If levels re-generated when you retried them, then the 1-player mode might be a bit more rewarding, but as it is, it remains a hollow experience.
With regards to the level design, I consider the fact that most of them are simply pictures an admission that they couldn't think of many genuinely interesting levels to play. Only a few fall into this category, and whilst it would obviously change the game a lot, maybe Shigsy was onto something when he decided that Alleyway on the Gameboy should have scrolling blocks. Such ideas just add more variety to the game, whilst keeping reasonably true to the original vision.
Also, the lettering for the password system is horrible. Not only is it difficult to tell between Ss and 5s, but 6s and Bs also look very similar indeed.
The takey-turney 2-player mode feels a bit pointless, but I'm not going to argue with the fact that they put it in.
The co-operative mode adds a few new strategies. For example, one player can keep the ball in play whilst the other collects a laser to get rid of a few blocks. It's enjoyable, but obviously both players need to be kept interested at the same time - something which doesn't happen for very long in my experience.
The 2-player versus mode can be a good laugh. It is a bit annoying that you don't affect the other player's screen, but it can still be enjoyable when you play against a player of equal skill.
Maybe they should have added a 4th 2-player mode where your actions affected the other players screen... maybe the blocks could just keep on coming down and when you break a silver block, a row of a few normal blocks and 2 silver blocks could be added to your opponent's screen... ah well.
The editing of levels is a nice idea, but it really annoys me that you don't get passwords and can't say exactly which power-ups reside in a block. It would be nice if you could tailor the levels to your hearts content and then pass around the password when (if) you feel that it's great.
Instead, this section of the game, like the 1-player mode, feels a bit devoid of any real incentive to go on.
Overall, it's a nice game with a couple of enjoyable 2-player modes. But ultimately, the whole package feels hollow, maily due to the problem of infinite continues.
It's a big shame, but had the developers either chosen to have limited continues (possibly 0) or made the levels regenerate when you restarted them the game would have felt so much more meaningful and much more rewarding.
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends