Will you brickdown with excitement or will your DS be meeting the bricks itself?
Ah. Nervous Brickdown. I'm pretty sure you probably haven't heard of it. But you probably should have, considering it was published by Eidos (where's the Kane & Lynch-esque hype!?). Developed by Arkedo Studio for the DS, Nervous Brickdown is a fresh take on the brick-busting money-grabbing game we've all come to know and love as Arkanoid.
So you must be thinking, "surely the gameplay is pretty simple - move the paddle and hit the bricks!" Well, you'd be right to a certain extent, but all's not as it seems with Nervous Brickdown.
The premise is easy - using the touch screen to d-pad to move the paddle (situated on the touch screen), The game features 10 different modes, but 99% of these require to be unlocked by playing the Arcade mode. Each level in the Arcade mode is made up of 9 different stages and a boss stage (yes, believe it or not, it's possible to have bosses in Arkanoid!), but the best bit is that each level has a theme - this ranges from 'pow' (the classic Arkanoid - basic brick-busting) to 'ghost' (blow into the microphone to blow away the ghosts trying to steal your ball) all the way 'speed' (clear the level as fast as possible by bouncing a laser instead of a ball).
The different themes add a great twist to your usual Arkanoid clone, and make the game unique for the DS by utilising the touch screen. The touch screen features are usually very obvious, but some are unique, for example using the stylus to draw your own paddle which is used in-game. Depending on the shape of the paddle you draw affects how the ball moves when it hits your paddle. They also utilise the microphone on the 'ghost' levels - by blowing into the microphone, you 'blow' the ghosts away, but this isn't very effective due to the DS' poor microphone; you have to blow hard and it's hard to concentrate on bouncing the ball when you're blowing away ghosts with your breath. *HUFF* (what a sentance!)
There are 135 levels in total, and the amount of effort that has gone into the level design is obviously high, but sometimes it just doesn't work very well. Arkedo try to keep you engaged for a long time by 'spicing' up the general idea of Arkanoid. Sometimes, you won't be required to hit blocks at all - rather, clean up the ink splodges on a letter. Whilst this is imaginative and does keep you wondering what you'll be up against next, it's not nearly as challenging as some of the later levels in the original Arkanoid. Except the rather charming 'Retro' stages which are definitely one of the games biggest highlights - the bottom screen acts as a mini Arkanoid game, and the top is a platformer. You have to play the platform game whilst bouncing the ball on the bottom screen! I loved this, and it really makes up for the lack of challenge that's present in some of the previous levels.
Overall, the presentation of game is very nice, the menus are easy to navigate and are well laid-out. The level design can range from quite good-looking to rather boring, but most of the time this is intentional and it suits the theme of the level nicely. The sound compliments the levels but isn't anything to rave (excuse the pun) about, and most of the time you'll find yourself turning it down, but it doesn't matter. Nervous Brickdown is a great game, easily passed off as shovelware from the people who only care about the next Final Fantasy. This is a fantastic attempt from the 3-man indie development team Arkedo, and can be bought for a steal of £10 from your local Asda so get out there and spread the love, and make sure you keep an eye out for their future titles!
All in all, Nervous Brickdown is one of the best Arkanoid clones in years. Inventive, stylish, and just damn right good fun, it's the perfect game for casual gamers. A warning though, you might turn hardcore if you keep playing it - it's highly addictive!
Gameplay Video
-ShadowXP
I was gonna say that. lol
