Atari’s Breakout is back. The new version of the simple hit from 1976 rotates the playing field by 90 degrees and adds autoscrolling, neon effects, bonuses, and local co-op. In other words, Breakout Beyond is a formula of the Tetris effect applied to the classic arcade game from the Led Zeppelin era.
The original Breakout was a product of the much more limited hardware of the 1970s, but its simplicity was part of its magic. Rows of bricks were arranged at the top, a player-controlled paddle lived at the bottom, and a “ball” (actually a square, thanks to the 70s graphics) bounced between them. Move the paddle, hit the ball, break the bricks, hit the arcade men wearing pants to the waist.
The basic formula of the game – move the paddle to bounce projectiles off the bricks – has remained unchanged in Breakout Beyond. But the game’s landscape perspective, while better suited to modern TVs and monitors, can be difficult for old-school gamers to get used to. The same goes for the autoscrolling, as in this version the ball scrolls from left to right to the goal, rather than just requiring you to break all the bricks on a stationary screen.
Visually, the ball in the new version looks more like a comet, with a long neon tail stretching behind a round head. There are many effects that cause seizures. And you have to fight multiple balls, not just one. (However, Super Breakout, a direct sequel to the original game, had two modes with additional balls).
Like Tetris Effect, Breakout Beyond introduces combos, rewarding you with enhanced visuals and sound effects for stringing together streams of broken bricks. You can also break special blocks that unlock power-ups: bombs that clear everything in a given radius, a force field to protect the ball, and an amazing laser cannon that lets you blast bricks out of your way, a la Space Invaders.
The game supports local co-op for two players, so you can break bricks with a friend on the couch. It has 72 levels and an additional focus mode that slows down the time (at the expense of higher scores).
