Nervous Brickdown
| Developer: Arkedo Studio | Publisher: Eidos |
| Release Date: June 26, 2007 | Also On: None |
When Break Em All came out last year, it was merely the latest in a long line of brick-breaking games that can be traced back through Arkanoid to Breakout. This type of game had seen itself pretty much die out after the NES era except in retro collections, but Break Em All signaled the world that the DS and its stylus might provide a good method of control for a game of this type. Now Eidos has followed D3’s lead and released Nervous Brickdown, a game which takes the brick-breaking genres into yet unseen dimensions. But does that mean that the game is worth playing? Read on to find out.
Graphically, I’m going to be blunt. This game is infinitely more colorful than Break Em All was. Break ‘Em All wasn’t bland by any means, but this game utilizes a much more vibrant range of colors than that game does, and as a result, it looks a whole lot more attractive to watch. Everything is animated well also, although the animation necessary for a game of this type is obviously minimal compared to many games. Still, the graphical style of Nervous Brickdown is excellent for a game of its type, and I have no significant complaints.
In terms of sound, the sound effect set is widely varied due to the impressive range of environments and objects being destroyed. True, most of the sound effects are probably of a somewhat clichéd lot, but the fact that the ball bouncing off of different things makes different sounds is enough to earn this game points for sound effects. So far as the music is concerned, the music in this game is very well composed, and all of it is upbeat and cheery as you would expect in a game of this type. True, the music tends to reloop often, but much of it is addictive enough that, between its addictiveness and the fact that you’ll be too busy concentrating on the ball to pay much attention to the music, you won’t care. Overall, the sound is done very well also.
The gameplay of this game is simple; you control a paddle to keep a ball from falling off the screen so it can destroy all of the destructible objects on the screen. However, unlike most games of this type, the execution of this concept is not quite so simple. This game is divided into ten modes of ten levels each, each mode having its own unique attributes that add to the formula for a game like this. Naturally, the first mode is normal brick-breaking, but the second mode and onward take the concept to new dimensions.
Lest I spoil anything too late in the game, I’ll use the second mode as an example. In that mode, the objective isn’t to destroy blocks but to eliminate stains on the top screen against the background of a painting studio. There are three new elements in this mode. First, you are not limited to a straight horizontal paddle. For each life you are allowed to draw whatever shape of paddle you want within a small circle on the bottom screen. Second, you are not limited to horizontal movement, but can move your paddle anywhere on the bottom screen. Third, the stains expand in size slowly, causing you to have to hit them more times to destroy them. Even worse is the fact that some stains will drip, and if that drip reaches a dashed line at the bottom of the bottom screen, you lose even if you haven’t lost your ball.
The other modes beyond that mode also have their own unique properties, and these modes all play out the Breakout-style game in different creative ways. This is in comparison to Break Em All, which took the normal Breakout formula and strayed from it only in increasing the diversity of types of bricks you had to break. This added creativity in this version makes it not get old fast at all, as, if you start to get bored with one mode, you can move to another, although you have to unlock most of them by beating earlier ones. And this is all just for the arcade mode.
But there are other modes as well. When you get a significant distance into the game, you will unlock a mode that will give you five random levels from those you’ve already beaten in a row. This game also contains a multiplayer mode for two players which can be played with a single card, a fact which is always a plus since with many games you never know how long it’d take to find somebody else who actually owned the game to play with. Online multiplayer might have been nice, but is hardly necessary for a game like this.
As if you needed any reason to play the game any more, you can also earn a medal in each level of the game by fulfilling a certain condition, so there’s replay value in trying to go back to levels you’ve already beaten to accumulate those medals. There are bonuses that unlock as you beat the bosses at the end of each level as well, but I won’t spoil for you exactly what they are. Overall, for the fan of brick-breaking games, there is a lot to do here.
I do, however, have one significant complaint against the game. It forces you to use the stylus. You must drag your paddle around with the stylus, meaning that you have to pretty much keep your stylus locked to the paddle at all times since, more often than not, the ball could suddenly come flying down at any time. This stands in contrast to Break Em All in two ways.
First of all, Break Em All allowed you to use the L and R buttons to control the paddle if you so desired. Granted, in the levels where you can take the paddle anywhere on the touch screen, L and R buttons wouldn’t work, but still, a non-stylus control scheme might have made for a nice alternative for when your hand got tired of holding the stylus nonetheless.
Secondly, Break Em All allowed, when you used the stylus, for instantaneous transport of the paddle, meaning that you didn’t have to drag it, but could just touch a spot along the paddle’s horizontal path and the paddle would instantaneously transport there. This saved the trouble for those players who used the stylus of having to constantly hold the stylus on the paddle, and was a very nice touch on D3’s part. That ability is not available here in Nervous Brickdown.
Still, you’ll get used to using the stylus to drag the paddle around after you’ve played for a while, just as I did, so this complaint isn’t the end of the world for the game by any means. What then is my conclusion? This game is leaps and bounds ahead of Break ‘Em All in terms of vibrancy of appearance as well as creativity of game modes. On the basis of those facts, I would recommend that, if you are a fan of brick-breaking games, you strongly consider picking up Nervous Brickdown.
| Graphics: | 7.5 |
| Sound: | 8 |
| Gameplay: | 8 |
| Creativity: | 8.5 |
| Replay Value/Game Length: | 8 |
| Final: | 8.1 |
| Written by Martin | Review Guide |
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