Break'em All

Back in the 70s, one stand-alone product made waves as the first real video game: Pong. Two joysticks, two on-screen paddles, and one bouncing ball is all it took to open people up to the idea of using their TVs for something other than sitcoms.

Pong's idea and popularity led to the creation of nearly every type of game we have today. But only one title was made that took the Pong concept and merged it with a puzzler: Arkanoid. Just one paddle was necessary for this single-player game, so the developers took the rectangular platform and moved it to the bottom of the screen. Several bricks were placed on the top of the screen, forming basic shapes and patterns for you to destroy. Bounce the ball back and forth between the bricks to make them disappear. The game ends when the ball falls below your paddle.

Arkanoid was followed by numerous clones, none of which left a lasting impression. Though almost all of them were the same, the D-pad and analog controls could not compare to the track ball and swivel joystick setups used by Arkanoid arcade cabinets. Playing the game at home was an exercise in frustration, causing gamers to lose interest as fast as it was gained.

Decades later the Nintendo DS has given developers a solution to imprecise control mechanics. D3Publisher is the first to hop on board with an Arkanoid-killer, using the touch screen to create reliable, instantaneous controls that never fail.

All Control

Break 'em All's basics don't need much of an explanation. Dozens of bricks have been clustered together on the top of the bottom screen (where all gameplay takes place). You have a paddle, one ball, and six different power-ups and/or point-boosters that can be used to enhance your performance or your score. The stylus works perfectly. Touch the screen at any point and the paddle jumps to that location. Push down on the screen and drag to move the paddle back and forth. This is nothing new in the world of gameplay, but as far as controls are concerned, no other Arkanoid-style game – not even the arcade version of Arkanoid – can compare.

Boss battles are an interesting touch. They come at the end of each mission in the Quest mode, where you'll battle through roughly 36 stages and face off against 12 robotic enemies. Tokoton mode uses a level system like Tetris, where eliminating blocks increases your level but does not change the stage.

Bosses cannot simply be destroyed by flipping your ball at them. Every boss has a weak point, and all but the final boss reveal that point on the top screen (where all statistics and non-gameplay elements are displayed). The animated diagrams don't take long to decipher. Bosses are usually equipped with armor, move along the screen to dodge balls, and include various defense mechanisms.

Helping gamers in their quest are power-ups like Catch (the ball sticks to your platform instead of bouncing off), Safe (adds a protective barrier underneath your paddle to keep your ball from falling through), and Laser (cuts through all bricks regardless of their strength). Bomb eliminates three bricks on contact. Wide doubles the size of your paddle. There are also power-ups designed to reduce the size of your paddle and increase the speed of the ball. Why would you want to do that? By making the game harder to play, it rewards you with more points.

All Too Short

Break 'em All's Quest mode can be finished in less than 90 minutes. With a lot of luck I could probably beat it in under 50 minutes. When the price of movie tickets rises to $20 (you know that day will come), this isn't a bad bargain. But as long as games cost more than movies, I expect the experience to last at least as long as the average summer blockbuster. Fifty minutes isn't even close to being long enough, especially when half the boss battles repeat themselves (in a slightly more challenging form). The game starts recycling level patterns by the sixth mission. There are four stages within each mission, meaning you'll have to endure a lot of repetition very early on – and continue to endure before the game ends.

Two new boss battles appear, both of which live up to the rest of the bosses the first time you face them. Remember: you'll face some of them twice, and they aren't very exciting or very challenging the second time through. Their weak spot stays the same, eliminating the need for experimentation. Death is a possibility, but not guaranteed. Does this sound like a boss fight to you?

All Dizzy

I'm used to an outlandish amount of colors, polygons, and characters flying across my TV screen and handheld platforms. But when I started playing the Quest mode, I had to wonder: could the space-like backgrounds (which are always moving down, while the ball is usually moving up) have a negative impact on casual gamers? It's subtle, though your eyes can get lost in it. Boss battles have a stationary background, but many of the other levels do not.

To test my theory, I told my sister – a casual gamer and long-time Arkanoid fan – to check out this new DS title. I did not tell her anything about it except that it had great touch screen controls.

She quit five minutes after playing. Why? This was the first DS title she had played and was not yet used to its control scheme. But it wasn't the touch screen that turned her off the most – it was the non-interactive background that wouldn't sit still. Technically the background has no influence on the gameplay. But by making the player feel dizzy (as my sister told me), she had no interest in continuing.

All Aboard?

Break ‘em All’s shortcomings keep it from being a mainstream hit. But if you aren’t bothered by dizzying backgrounds, repetitive gameplay, and its short length, chances are you’ll get just as much out of this game as I did.  

Gameplay: 7.8
I give this game a 7.8 with two conditions: it's short and repetitive. You'll conquer the Quest mode in less than 90 minutes. The Tokoton mode is longer by default, as every new level increases the amount of blocks needed to go up a level point by one. Break 'em All is not a perfect game, nor is it for everyone who thinks they're an Arkanoid fan.

However, Break 'em All does have a perfect control scheme. The level designs and block types are cool (before they repeat themselves). And because of the game's short length, you don't have to commit yourself to it for very long. To that end, Break 'em All is best consumed in small amounts. I wouldn't suggest playing the Tokoton mode right after finishing another. Save it for the brief, bored moments of the day when you need a quick handheld fix.

Graphics: 3.0
Not much more advanced than the visuals of an NES game, Break 'em All is the most graphically-dated DS title available. The gameplay executed with only a handful of colors. Three-dimensional elements could've spruced things up, but 2D reigns supreme in this homage to Arkanoid.

Sound: 3.0
If your speakers are off (as mine were when I started playing), keep it that way. I turned the sound on toward the half-way point (stage 5), and turned it off at stage 7. In addition to cheesy sound effects, the music is about as repetitive as possible. It doesn't matter what stage you're at, the game never changes tracks. Likewise, the Tokoton mode has its own theme that plays repeatedly until the game ends.

Difficulty: Easy/Medium
I can't think of a single game that became easier with better controls...until now. Break 'em All puts an end to the myth that Arkanoid and its clones are some of the most challenging games ever made. They are, in fact, fairly easy games with unreliable controls. I can say this with certainty because this game has perfect touch screen mechanics. Limitations are based on the player's ability to drag the stylus, not on a clunky control system. Break 'em All's levels are more complex than Arkanoid and still turned out to be pretty easy. Therefore if Arkanoid had comparable controls, it wouldn't be that hard to finish.

Concept: 7.0
A well-crafted clone of a really old game, Break ‘em All revitalizes an old formula with the best controls and new boss challenges.

Multiplayer: 6.0

Overall: 7.0
This is the best of its kind, but understand that the game uses a very repetitive formula. There was no way around that, not with a paddle, balls, and multi-colored blocks being your only gameplay pieces. I know there are some gamers out there who will really love it, but it's not necessarily for those seeking nostalgic fun. And with backgrounds that are constantly moving, it's not for those who suffer from motion sickness either.