Breaking out has never been this much fun before
Breaking out has never been this much fun before!
For those of us who remember the original Breakout, trust me when I say that
this version of Breakout by Hasbro blows the other one away. Breakout will take
you through castle walls, pyramids and even barnyards all in beautiful
Technicolor 3D! Once you start the game, you know you are in for hours and hours
of challenge and fun.
You are first introduced to our green lined hero
named Bouncer and friends. While minding their own business, Bouncer hears a cry
for help! Someone is drowning and it is Bouncer to the rescue. Bouncer dives in
and saves the day, but when he returns to the island, horror of horrors, his
friends have disappeared and his archenemy Batnix is holding his best girl
hostage. The next scene shows Batnix dragging Daisy to prison and the game of
rescue is on!
You begin the game with a sample-training course,
taught by Coach Steele. He will give you tips and you'll practice your moves,
which you will need to complete the rescue. He is vocal in his help and you can
practice for as long as you want until you feel confident enough to tackle the
real challenge. He will rank you on your performance and at the end of the
training, he will either recommend you go on with the mission or stay for awhile
and practice a little longer. Batnix has left behind a partially complete map
showing where Bouncer's friends are being held prisoner. Each play is divided
into chapters and you must completely finish one before going on to the next. To
help you with your mission, you can view Game Stats. This gives you ratings on
how well you are doing and also lets you in on how well your enemy Batnix views
you. In addition, Chapter Stats, which will show you your average ranking for
the chapter completed.
The first thing you encounter is a hallway. At
the end of the hallway is your first wall to be broken down. Bouncing a ball
against it and destroying brick by brick can conquer the wall. Once you have
broken down this first wall, you come into a room of crates. How do you conquer
this challenge? First you have to get the crates out of the way by smashing them
and then knocking a hole in the fence behind. Here you are introduced for the
first time to some helpmates. These are in the form of cubes, which roll toward
you. Be sure and catch as many as you can as each one helps you power-up, giving
you extra strength and lives.
Coach Steele will pop up after you finish each
level and give you your current rating on how you performed -- almost a pep
talk. If you find yourself stumped on any level, never fear as you can return to
Coach Steel's training tips at any time. After you have completed all levels,
you can now return to the prison map where you will find new chapters to
conquer, bringing you closer to your friends and Daisy. To complete the game,
you must rescue your friends, save Daisy and foil Batnix. Although you have
finished the game and saved the day, Coach Steel will appear one final time to
grade your performance and believe me, he is a critical judge to say the least.
Installation: Easy - Includes installing
one CD. You must have the CD in the drive to play.
Gameplay: 8.0 - Each level has its own
twists and turns making the gameplay challenging and unique each time. Fast
moving and you really do feel an accomplishment when leaving each chapter.
Graphics: 9.0 - Graphics are bold in
color, and the 3D gives the mazes and game itself more of a feeling of being
involved instead of just playing the game.
Sound: 9.0 - The game is very interactive
and I like the storytelling portion. The narrative lends a great deal to the
game.
Difficulty: 8.5 - Difficult is challenging
enough, but not so challenging that you have to focus so much you lose the fun
portion.
Concept: 9.0 - The concept is one of good
versus evil and you have to plan your strategy to win. The training part of the
game really helps with not only winning, but also giving you a team feeling.
Although it was derived from a previous version, this version is completely
different in what the goal is and it is unique in itself.
Multiplayer - This game can be played
alone or with up to four players at a time
Overall: 9.0
