Thoughts by Mr Creosote (17 Oct 2017) – C64
Breakout – you really can’t go wrong with this one, can you? The formula is established and solid. Unless you manage to screw up your game’s timing, controls or physics, that is. Good news: Crillion got all that right. But it took the risk of diverging from the standard gameplay. Uh-oh!
The basic goal is still the same: destroy all the bricks with your bouncing ball. Just that you get more control over the ball itself. Even in mid-air, you can directly influence its trajectory towards your desired direction. The only thing you cannot do is stop it. Oh, and you don’t have a paddle at all, but rather the ball just bounces off whatever obstacle; it may even touch the ground without losing a life. Now, I hear you thinking: What is all this? There really isn’t any challenge then, is there? If the standard Breakout rules were observed otherwise, you would be right.
The challenge lies in the colours. The colours of the bricks aren’t just window dressing. They can only be destroyed with a matching ball. Special bricks, when hit, allow the ball colour to change. So you have to plan and hit things in the right order. Which may still not sound like a revolution, but on top, you get other special bricks, including deadly ones, and you’ve got quite an interesting game!
That is because instead of just being a game of pure skill and fast reflexes, Crillion’s levels turn into small puzzles instead. Finding the right way to approach each destruction task while the ball is already in play provides some positive pressure. And still, there are enough situations where a skillful hand is simply essential to steer the ball around a death brick while hitting the one right behind.
So quite a successful variation this one. Try it out!