The Walking Dead has been a huge success as both a comic book and then a TV series, can the same lightning strike a third time with the video game?

The Walking Dead is an episodic title by the same team who brought us the Sam & Max, Monkey Island and Back to the Future games, it’s played in a point and click format and in this case the control system gives a feeling of using the Heavy Rain interface, this is done very well with the game and it allows for the game to flow.

The aesthetics of the game take on the look of the comic book with a nice cell shaded effect and the voice acting is very good in most cases but more on that later.

The game of The Walking Dead is set as a prequel story to the comic books; you play as Lee Everett, a man who starts out his story in the back of a police car on his way to prison, after a brief chat with his chauffeur, there is an incident in the form of a roamer that causes the car to crash, Lee wakes up in the back of the police car, still cuffed and with zombies all around and The Walking Dead starts.

As with Heavy Rain, it’s very difficult to review this game without giving away spoilers, so don’t be surprised if I don’t go into a lot of details, the characters are animated and interact with each other very well, there will be some familiar faces to those who’ve read the comics, before you all start to wonder, as said before this is a prequel, so remember at the start of this game, Rick is still in the hospital sleeping off a dose of bullet to the head.

Now although Rick doesn’t put in an appearance, this game does give an insight into some of the characters that haven’t been fleshed out quite so much in the comics and would make this game a must play for anyone who is a fan of the series.

The Walking Dead is billing as a point and click puzzle adventure game, here’s the thing, either I’ve been playing these games for so long that I can just see the answers almost immediately, or the puzzles in the first episode really aren’t that tricky (I’m going with the latter), this coupled with a few quick time events; makes the game itself feel less like a game and more like an interactive comic book, but here’s the interesting thing. . . it works! I can’t think of any other series that could pull this off as well as The Walking Dead, but for some reason in this instance it works.

You start to empathise with the characters, you really do get drawn in and you want to know what happens next moreso with this than with Ethan and JASON in a certain other game. The choices that you make in the game will have an effect on the following chapters, this means replaying is also an option. The control system works well for this style of game and even the occasional QTE is forgivable.

It’s not a perfect game, there are a couple of small issues, your character will sometimes clip into furniture and then slowly slide back into an open space, some characters will give the same responses over and over again and from a personal point of view, the voice of the little girl character was akin to nails down a chalkboard, but for 3 hours of gameplay for part one, those are my only complaints. I finished part one and immediately wanted to play part two, I want to know what happens next. It’s rare that a game will hook me like that (especially after only 3 hours) so this in itself is a sign of a good game in my eyes.

Trophy-wise for those that want to know, The Walking Dead does have a platinum trophy, it’s also going to be very easy to obtain if chapter one is anything to go by as you are simply required to play through the each chapter from start to finish.

For the price of this game, it’s perfect for fans of the series and for those of you that aren’t, it’s a good introduction.

(4.5/5)

Warp is a new platformer published by EA, you play as a small, orange  (rather cute looking) alien, you’ve crash landed on Earth and wake up in an underwater government testing facility in the middle of some rather nasty experiment.

In your weakened state, you are subjected to further tests, such as basic movement tests, memory tests and problem solving, this actually takes the place of the tutorial for the game as each test also shows you how to move around the levels and so on.

It’s during one of these tests that the alien reclaims a part of himself that was removed during the surgery from the intro, the alien’s ability to teleport is returned and the game starts proper.

Your goal is to escape the facility by any means necessary, you do this via the various powers that are available as you progress through the labs, these include the teleportation ability and later, the ability to create a ghost of yourself (useful for getting past gun-toting guards), swapping yourself with objects of equal size and more.

The alien can also go on the offensive, warp into a nearby human and you can make him explode from the inside, later you can learn to warp objects into the humans instead, or if the mood takes you, even other humans, this causes the expected explosion and can send guards running in fear.

As to the game itself, the control system is simple and for the most part responsive, with only a couple of instances of frustration due to a misplaced or slow warp.

The sound effects are also pretty much what you would expect, the guns sound like guns, the human explosions are sufficiently squishy sounding and the sound given off when warping into a human target can be downright hilarious. On the downside there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of backing music, or at least nothing that particularly stands out, this could add to the atmosphere but from a personal preference some form of backing track would have been better.

The story itself seems a little bit lacking, there are events that take place in the game that don’t really get explained very well but this doesn’t detract from the experience to any great degree.

There is another small issue, while the graphics are very good with everything very well presented, the levels themselves are quite bland and uniform, now while this may be the sort of thing you would expect from a government secret underwater facility, this is a video game where the main character can teleport small distances and place chemical drums inside living beings, so I don’t think we were really going for too much realism. Dotted around in some of these levels are various collectibles; they range from film cans containing data about yourself and other test subjects to small alien grubs which are used as upgrade points.

To add length to the game, there are challenge levels, these include racing from one point to another in the shortest possible time or wiping out all humans in a level (again in the shortest time possible), completing these challenges rewards you with grubs to help you  to unlock skills such as silent walking and warping.

My main problem with this game though is the length, if you push just to complete the story without worrying about the collectibles or the challenges, you could most likely finish the game inside of 3 hours (maybe even less) and as good a concept as the game is, the length really detracts from the game overall, you almost feel as though you’re finally getting to grips with how to play the game and then it’s game over.

It’s a fun little game and well worth playing once but I’m not really sure it’s worth the asking price considering the overall length of the game. There is some replay value here, if only to try and improve your score or grab all of the collectibles, but I would say once you’ve gotten a gold medal in each challenge and nabbed your last grub, there will be very little to keep you coming back to the game. Which is a shame, the concept and presentation really do sell the game well and I’d have loved to play around with it more, but that’s the inherent problem, there isn’t enough of the game to really satisfy.

(3.5/5) A nice idea let down by poor length.

Now I should start this review with a piece of personal information, vehicular combat games have completely passed me by, I’ve never played a game of Twisted Metal or any of the various Twisted Metal wannabes out there, this is both a positive and negative thing, on the one hand I won’t be going into this review with any expectations, on the other hand though, I have nothing to compare Wheels of Destruction to, unless you count the battle mode on Mario Kart (which I don’t).

That being said, let’s get the review under way, Wheels of Destruction is – as you may have guessed – a vehicular combat game set in a futuristic dystopia, basically it’s quarter past the future and mankind has decided that the best type of sport is getting behind the wheel of a heavily armed car and trying to blast seven shades of hell out of other drivers, in either a team deathmatch – with teams colour coded red or blue – all out deathmatch or capture the flag. Now that’s the premise sorted out, but how does it play?

It’s an odd game to say the least, there’s a number of different vehicles to choose from ranging from the weak but fast cars, to slow but tough and various shades in-between, the decision of which car to use can make or break your game, it’s best to pick the car that suits your playstyle, pick the wrong one and you’ll find yourself sitting on the waiting to respawn screen way too often. As an added benefit each vehicle is armed with a machine gun and there are various other weapons available to pick up in the arenas, to add to the mayhem, each weapon has a secondary fire, with the machine gun for example you can fire single rounds or a one-off shot that does more damage but takes time to reload, the missile launcher pick-up has a similar option, fire a homing missile at your opponent or call in an airstrike on your target which will launch them into the air.

Death comes with a loss of all vehicle health, this can come quite quickly sending you once more back to the waiting to respawn screen, but fear not! There are solutions to this problem as well in the form of collectible repair or shield items. Your car will take damage during the game and at times you can lose wheels or catch fire, using a repair item will fix this problem allowing you to stay in the game, your shield should help you survive that little bit longer as well, as long as you have one. . .  Miles away from a shield pick up? Don’t worry get yourself some speed, hit a ramp (or jump) and perform a stunt! Every complete forward or backward flip will add to your shield (It must be some form of kinetic battery charging the thing, but hell, it’s the future after all.) this adds a type of risk/reward playstyle, do you stick near a shield pick-up or rely on stunts to keeps your shields up?

The arenas look very well made but on first impression, the lack of a decent map system can mean you’re left looking for a pathway that will lead you to the enemy flag, but numerous shortcuts built into the arenas can also help with navigation, once you’ve spent a bit of time on each map you’ll get to know your way around quite quickly.

The cars themselves look very well designed even if they do seem to borrow a bit heavily from certain films about a slightly unhinged gentleman called Max, but the look of the vehicles changes completely when you get your shield up and running, at that point they look more like they belong in the world of Tron. I should add, neither of these are bad points, the look of the vehicles helps to sell the futuristic setting.

So far this is starting to sound like one of the best games released on the PSN, so let’s talk about the elephant in the room, the controls!

Both aiming and turning are done with the left stick, the cars themselves turn in quite lazy circles requiring the player to get used to the idea of jumping and spinning on the spot in order to get a decent shot off, this takes some real getting used to and some players will give up on the game before they manage to master it.

Another thing that may hurt the game is the lack of any real single player mode, this could have worked well in allowing the player to unlock vehicle customisation (also missing from the game) as it is, single player mode is essentially the same as the online multiplayer but with AI taking the place of flesh and blood players, this is a real shame as a robust single player experience could have boosted this title from an average vehicular shooter to something pretty special.

Now don’t go away from this thinking that I don’t like the game, get a group of friends together online all blasting the hell out of each other while trying to get the enemy flag back to their base is awesome, this is a perfect game for the online battle, it’s not just mindless running and gunning, there’s a hidden level of strategy that really makes you want to play better, even if only to hear the announcer yelling out how many kills you’ve gotten in a row (My record is 12 at the moment) The controls are a bit of a pain until you adapt, but once you get used to them, you’ll be blowing up cars left and right – and in some cases above and below too – with your chosen weapons.

It hasn’t sold me on the idea of the vehicular combat genre in that I don’t see myself getting Twisted Metal any time soon, but that being said you could do a lot worse for the price, in fact get this instead of Twisted Metal and put the money saved towards some other games.

(3.5/5)

But don’t just take my word for it, Local has also passed on his opinion, read on IF YOU DARE!

Putting big guns on cars and letting you blow other cars up, nothing new to see here maybe, especially as this game is released straight after Twisted Metal. So in short why choose to buy Wheels of Destruction instead?

What you got here is a decent enough looking PSN game that can be regarded as a “value” version of Twisted Metal, a game that will cost you a AAA price for just as much fun, it’s as simple as that, the satisfaction from blowing up another player in Wheels of Destruction is just as fun and gratifying. Seeking revenge of other players feels so satisfying that I found myself doing an evil laugh on a number of occassions, but I spent more time cursing them when you get killed with a one shot kill.

It took me a little while to get the hang of steering and assisted aiming with the left stick of the controller but once you do it all handles very well. I would have liked to have seen more weapons in the game and car customisation. The game also lacks a progressive ranking system which could have unlocked customisation options.

If you gave Twisted Metal a miss because of the price then look to getting this game instead, you get plenty of BOOM for your money.

(4/5)

Rather than write separate reviews for each title I’ve decided to write a round up of the titles that I’ve bought on the Vita since Launch, however, I won’t be covering Modnation Racers Road Trip or Motorstorm RC as they have been covered elsewhere on the site.

Within this text you’ll find reviews for; Escape Plan, Frobisher Says, Hustle Kings, Top Darts, Plants Vs Zombies and Super Stardust Delta.

So we’ll start with Escape Plan

Escape Plan

This is an interesting puzzle title, you play as both L’il and Laarg, they are held captive by an unnamed antagonist who sends his minions out in an attempt to kill off the 2 main characters, aside from controlling your own characters, you are also tasked with removing the minions and in some cases manipulating sheep in your efforts to escape.

The game itself is controlled entirely by touch, with the camera being moved with the right stick, if you want L’il or Laarg to move, simply swipe the direction you want them to walk in, to stop them, tap the screen. The puzzles themselves are engaging and at points can involve the use of the built in sixaxis.

There are no lives to worry about during the game, the only reference to it being that the number on the main characters goes up with each death, this would only be a concern for those trophy lovers out there where there are trophies available for less than 20 deaths per character from start to finish.

Both L’il and Laarg have their own traits to bring to the party, L’il can move faster and can inflate himself with air vents, this allows him to fly and at this stage his movements are controlled by the sixaxis, he can also get a caffeine buzz which allows him to move forward at high speeds.

Laarg on the other hand is slower but is the muscle of the pair, he can be used to smash wooden doorways or floors to allow access to other parts of a level.

During the levels there are occasional cutscenes, this are in some cases story related and in others just a small intermission designed to put a smile on your face.

While it may not sound like much, Escape Plan is a charming game that like Portal, OMG-Z or Machinarium before it, should be played at least once just for the experience of it.

(4.5/5)

Frobisher Says

As you may gather from the title, Frobisher Says is a simple, digital version of the game Simon Says, there’s not really a lot you can say about it apart from that, it’s a collection of mini-games that use every feature of the Vita, this includes all forms of touch, the sixaxis, the buttons, the camera and even the microphone.

Graphically it’s not fantastic but as with Escape Plan, it’s also a charming title in that it obviously has a sense of humour (regardless of how childish it is) and there are some nice touches to it, such as a mini game where you are required to take your friends to a hot-tub, the game itself uses names from your PSN friends list and requires you to hunt them out, the majority of the mini-games can be cleared within seconds and your score is linked to the speed at which you complete tasks.

The control systems being used are very responsive and can really show off what the Vita can do, even down to facial recognition where you are required to smile or frown at images on the screen.

That being said it’s not a very compelling title, when it’s finally made available on the store it could be worth picking up if it’s priced correctly, but I wouldn’t recommend paying more than a fiver.

(2.5/5)

Hustle Kings

Well it’s a pool game, so not really a lot to say there, however if you’ve played and enjoyed the PS3 version you’d be in for a pleasant surprise, not only does the game look just as good as it’s big brother, but the control system has been revamped for the Vita, in a similar situation to Motorstorm RC, hustle Kings is actually more fun to play on the handheld. The other interesting thing is that if you don’t already own it and you buy it on the Vita, you get the PS3 version for free!

As well as the control changes, the career mode itself has had a complete overhaul, it’s now much more engaging and isn’t just a list of a few challenges to beat, now there are multiple clubs to play in with different games and skill levels.

This is also a title that has cross play, this means that you can play against your PS3 playing friends online in real time, having tested this, I can say that the system runs flawlessly, there is very little delay between a player taking a shot on either machine and the results being shown on the other, voice chat works well between the 2 as well with the Vita mic picking up very clearly for chatting or smack talk.

As well as real-time online gaming, there is also message gaming (on the Vita only) this allows 2 people to play against each other when it suits them, without both players needing to be online at the same time, player 1 takes his shot(s) and a message is sent to player 2, that message contains the information of the shot that was taken so player 2 can pick the game up and take his shot(s) at their convenience. This is a nice feature but can make for some very drawn out games, but it’s good to see that some thought has been put in for those of us that didn’t buy the 3g version of the Vita.

(4/5)

Top Darts

It’s difficult to review a standard darts game, you throw darts at a board and try to get out based on the type of game played. There’s not much more you can say. . .

Thankfully then, Top Darts is not a standard darts game, while it does have the above type of game, there are various other modes of play available, these include an alien invasion game where your “ship” is moved around the board depending on where you land a dart, your job is to keep your ship ahead of the alien invader who chases you around the board following the same movement rules. There’s also a few puzzle style games making the player hit certain points on the board to remove blocks etc.

As with Hustle Kings, the control system has been re-worked for the Vita and purchase of one version gets you the other for free, having said that though, the PS3 version is Move only and as a result may not be as big a selling point for those of you who aren’t keen on waggle controls.

Top Darts is a take it or leave it title, if you really like playing darts and feel the compulsion to play it on the move then go for it, otherwise you’re not really missing much and this game won’t set your world on fire.

(2.5/5)

Plants Vs Zombies

Chances are if you own one of any number of systems you’ve tried or at least heard of this game, for those of you who have been living under a rock here’s a brief outline.

Plants Vs Zombies is a tower defence game, in this case you are required to defend your house on the left of the screen, from the hordes of zombies attacking from the right and you do this by. . . planting flowers.

Not just any flowers mind you, you have the gun-like Pea-Shooter, the deadly Chomper or the blocking Wall-Nut.

Plants Vs Zombies is actually one of the better tower defence games out there, it has a great sense of humour with the various types of zombies, plants and messages on offer to the player.

The controls work very well on the Vita, with front-touch being used to place your plants and simply tilting the vita will collect any coins dropped or any Sunlight waiting to be collected (Sunlight being the required currency for putting down new plants).

Gameplay-wise there isn’t much more you can say about this genre that hasn’t been covered elsewhere, however there is also a large collection of mini-games that an be played, these include Wall-Nut bowling, Zombotany (Where the Zombies have Pea-Shooters for heads) and many more, the level of challenge goes up with each stage as new and tougher zombies are introduced or the playing field changes to include swimming pools that don’t allow plants, night levels where your plants are less effective or even fog, making it hard to see.

If you’re a fan of the Tower Defence genre you could do a lot worse than pick up Plants Vs Zombies, although considering its price, you may be better suited to pick it up on a PC or tablet device if you are able to. That being said, the cost of the Vita version really is the only negative I can put on the game, since it’s good fun while being challenging at the same time.

(4/5)

Super Stardust Delta

So here we have another game that has a big brother on the PS3, but as with the others already mentioned, Delta has been reworked to include various Vita features, both touch panels and sixaxis are used during gameplay for various options.

For those of you that haven’t played the original, this game is very much like a remake of the classic game “Asteroids”, you control a small ship and using your weapons you destroy various rocks and enemies that attack the surface of a planet. In this case your left stick controls the ships movement and the right stick fires your selected weapon, that’s right ladies and gents, Stardust Delta is a Vita Twin-Stick shooter!

The weapons have also have a bit of a touch up, but at the same time they’ve been limited compared to the original. In the original version of Stardust you had 3 guns, one for rocks, one for ice and one for chunks of lava, in Delta you only have the fire and ice guns. This actually makes the game a bit more enjoyable as you’re not constantly flicking between so many different weapon options. You still have your boost attack as well which allows your ship to blast forward tearing through anything in its path.

New to Delta however are the three weapons that are implemented using the Vita features, a tap to the front screen will launch a volley of missiles that destroy everything in a 360 radius, a tap on the back of the machine opens a black hole which sucks in the majority of items on the screen and finally shaking the Vita fires off a pulse mine that destroys all items in your immediate surroundings.

These new weapons add a further level of strategy to the game and can also save your ship in a tight spot and you’ll need them when you go against the new enemy ships and bosses in the game.

Another new feature is the look around option, in this case tilting the Vita will allow the player to see further around the planet and get an idea of what is coming their way.

The Vita features don’t end there either; there are a host of mini-games to play using the unique Vita features, these include Rock crushing (Tap the front and back of the Vita to smash rocks), a touch screen game where you control an enemy ship by dragging your finger across the screen, a tilt option, this allows you to play through the main game using the left stick for one gun, the right stick for the other and tilting the Vita to move and others which are unlocked by playing through the main arcade mode.

Overall, this game feels the most polished of all the PS3 “ports” and will give hours of enjoyment to anyone who loved the original.

(4.5/5)

It’s difficult to know where to start with MNR Road Trip, chances are you’ve either played the original or not and based on that you already have an opinion on what to expect.

But the Vita is here and now we have a new version of Modnation to look at, it’s not the first portable version of MNR as the PSP holds that title already, this version however is not just a port of its PS3 big brother but a new game altogether.
With a new game though brings potential new issues and as much as I loved the PS3 version, Road Trip is not without its faults. We’ll get to the faults later, let’s look at the positives first.

Pros

The racing is as expected, the cars go forward when you need them to and they can even drift and turn! (Whatever next?) The create mode is back and as fleshed out as the previous MNR title, with the added bonus that you can now use the touch screen to draw out your tracks or you can drive them out as before.
The sharing works as well as ever, allowing you to upload and download your favourite creations, each download earns you XP which increases your creator level and unlocks further sharing options.

The career mode has also been changed, it’s a collection of all new tracks, new collectibles and new challenges to keep you busy.
The Soundtrack is as good as ever and finally, the weapons system has been revamped, while you can still power up your weapons by collecting extra weapon bubbles, but they have also been reworked, there are new weapons available that add to the level of strategy that was common with the original release.

Cons

Sadly, for every pro there is almost certainly a con, while the create mode is as full as ever, when creating karts or mods you can only use the touch screen, now this might be fun for some people but for me I find that the control sticks can be more accurate.
There’s no online play! This isn’t exactly the startling revelation that it should be since this has been known for a long time, but no online means there’s no real point to the sharing system, the online races used to be a way to advertise your new mods, karts etc, now the only way to do that is via internet forums, the Vitas’ “Near” function and the creation leaderboards themselves.
The new tracks in career mode are great but in some cases they feel very similar to the original version, but most shockingly there’s no Biff or Gary! So we have a career mode without any story. The cutscenes in the original actually broke up the game with some well made and well voiced videos that gave you a reason to push for the next tour, plus they provided a little commentary at the start and end of every race, not any more, they’re gone and worse, there’s no reason for them to be gone, it cannot be down to storage space since all of the cutscenes fitted onto a UMD and the Vita game cards can hold more information than them.
But one of the most annoying new features in my opinion is the driver assistant, this is potentially ideal for new players, but for those that have played the game before, it’s a hindrance, the driving assist will use your boost for you, fire weapons for you and can also help with drifting, for the seasoned player, this can cause problems ending up with the player being boosted into a wall, off a cliff or wasting weapon pods, it’s truly frustrating and something that could be done without.
So we have the pros and the cons, does one outweigh the other?
Again sadly yes, the game is not as good as it could have been, there have been items removed for no real valid reason, Sony San Diego game director Erich Waas said “While online head-to-head has been a mode used in many games in recent years, we focused on making a game that is crafted for how portable games are most often played – in quicker ‘pick up and play’ sessions multiple times in a day. “ While you can see his point to a small degree, this is still blatant spin to cover up for the fact that it was not included for other reasons, most likely time constraints.
The limitations surrounding the create mode can actually limit creativity and placing props on your tracks, especially ramps, can be a real chore.

Summary

What it boils down to is this, Modnation Racers Road Trip is a game that had great potential, the touch screen jiggery pokery looks great, but isn’t as responsive or accurate as it could be, and overall the game failed to live up to the expectations of an MNR fan, it’s possible that an online patch could revive the game, but at this point, as good as the career mode is, it doesn’t feel like it’s enough to carry the game into high sales and longevity, for this reason alone, MNR may be considered DOA.

(2.5/5)

The PS3 doesn’t have many exclusive racers but thankfully the ones we have are pure gold and the MotorStorm series has always presented themselves with plenty of grunt. The big rigs racing against the fast rally cars and maniacs on motorbikes across the most devilish of tracks, MotorStorm has cemented itself as a hardcore racer. So it seems odd that Evolution Studios would drop a casual racer on us in the form of a Micro Machines type racer.

MotorStorm: RC is one of the first titles available on the Vita as well as the PS3, both identical versions and league tables shared across both platforms. This is a download game only and priced in the low budget bracket price range of £4.79 / €5.99, this buys you both the PS3 and Vita version.

The gameplay is your typical top-down racer which is themed on the MotorStorm series with tracks and vehicles styled on the previous games. In total there are 8 styles of vehicles, 4 returning areas from previous MotorStorm games, and has 16 unique tracks built out of them. As it’s an RC car game obviously motor bikes don’t feature in this game, but the selection includes big rigs, buggies, rally cars, sports cars and super minis.

The game includes a number of different modes such as time trials, races, and how quickly you can over take so many cars, but essentially this all comes down to how quickly you achieve to complete these events in order to unlock 3 medals in each event. As you unlock the medals you then also unlock extras in the game, like more tracks, vehicles and new paints for vehicles. If you are to play it all the way through to unlock all 144 medals then you are in no doubt in for a challenge as the game gets progressively tougher as you work through these events.

MotorStorm RC has no online play and only offers upto 4 player local split screen. Don’t let this put you off. What it offers instead is something similar to the now famed autolog style feature where your achievements are published on your Playstation friends ingame events feed where they can see how well you have been doing and if you have beaten their lap times. You can also post your times on Facebook or directly to a friends SEN (PSN) account. Whilst you are in the game you will also receive pop up messages in the corner of the screen every time a friend achieves a new personal best on an event. Each event also has its own leaderboard where you can filter it to see world results and just your buddies times, and this is when the game can get very addictive trying to be the top of your friends leaderboard for all the events.

The graphics in this game don’t need to be as spectacular as they are in the usual MotorStorm game but because they have the MotorStorm theme the graphics look pretty good on the PS3 as I’m sure they would also do on the Vita. The game does feature a 3D mode should you have a 3D TV but having tested it out it doesn’t really add to the game in anyway so I prefer to stick to the 2D mode. The sounds of the cars can get a bit annoying since these are RC cars but the music can be turned up to drown it out. Car handling is spot on and you are offered two types of controls on the PS3, I think you can map the buttons on the Vita but I have also heard the controls feel better on the Vita.

So can a casual RC car game deliver the thrills offered from the usual MotorStorm game? Almost. We’ve been flooded with racing games recently such as Split/Second, Need for Speed: The Run and Blur to name a few, so to have a top down racer that has a strong focus on competitive leaderboards if feels quite refreshing for a change and for the price you can’t go wrong. If it had online racing then it would have been a 5 star game but like I said don’t let this put you off a great little game.

(4/5)

Apologies for the video quality, until such time as I can afford an HD DVR, I’m stuck with using an easycap, it gets the point across but doesn’t give as sharp a picture as I would like.

Remember when games were a relatively simple affair?  Anyone who can remember the days of Pong or Tetris the first time round will know what I’m talking about.  There were no 3D graphics, vast open worlds or plot-lines back then, just simple gaming pleasure.  Of course, if truth be told, retro games of this style have never worked brilliantly when brought onto the main consoles of modern years, leaving the hand-held machines to fit the bill much more appropriately.

Well, Smartphones are now also considered hand-held gaming platforms in their own right, so what better time for Atari to drag that old retro classic Breakout kicking and screaming into the 21st century?  Well, they have and it comes in the form of a tweaked up version known as Breakout Boost.

For the uninitiated, Breakout is a game that features a ball, a paddle and some bricks.  The idea is to keep the ball in play using the paddle to ricochet the ball into the bricks, demolishing the wall in the process.  As the ball bounces back and forth, failing to position your paddle in the correct place to bounce the ball will result in a lost life.

As the title suggests, this isn’t just the old retro Breakout with a new skin.  This comes with new features such as the ‘boost’ meter that will increase the speed of the game on the fly.  The faster the game goes more points you will get in return.  There are also power up bricks that will transform your standard ball into hefty balls of destruction such as the acid ball which will demolish any brick in its path and will just keep on going!

It’s worth mentioning at this point that the game is a ‘freemium’ app.  This usually sends a shudder through my body, conjuring up thoughts of having to purchase in game ‘coins’ whilst the developer uses this fake currency to hide behind the fact that they are ripping you off for very little content.  It’s nice to see then, that Atari have kept it simple.  The initial download gives you the first five levels for free but after that you will need to purchase any of the three booster packs to continue playing for a reasonable length of time.  Each booster pack comes with two different games modes (multiball mode for example – a personal favourite of mine), and featuring different levels.  Each booster pack is reasonably priced at 69p, it’s all very clear and nothing shady about it in the least.

Upon first loading the game you will find that it supports both Apple’s own Game Center and Openfeint.  Pleasantly, it allowed me to omit Openfeint completely.  This is a godsend because I truly hate the way Openfeint forces the logon screen onto the player every time they boot regardless of if they  use it or not, even if the player has already started the game.  It’s invasive and annoying!  The inclusion of both these leaderboards will keep you coming back in an attempt to gain those few extra places by upping the boost meter “just one more click”.

Things are looking good then, it controls well with the paddle following your right thumb, with the left thumb controlling the speed of play.  In fact, a special mention should be made to the paddle control.  Unlike many of the Breakout clones on the App Store, your thumb is placed on the red dot below the paddle, meaning the paddle and game itself isn’t obscured by your fat digits!  A nice touch.  The game is also smooth and the ball physics always ensure that you know the angle of the bounce before it has even happened.  The levels can also be quite fiendish, for example, some will feature invulnerable bricks with a power up nestled in the middle.  You can’t complete the level until you get the power up so a very accurate aim of the ball is necessary to complete the level.

Of course, as with any review there’s always a negative and this game has a couple of things to mention.  Firstly, graphically it’s bland.  It’s not ugly by any means, but note the background on every screenshot in this review, it’s identical every time.  Maybe this is an attempt to keep the retro feel of old or an attempt by the developers to ensure that the flight of the ball doesn’t get lost amidst the over the top background colours, who knows?  It feels that level after level feels the same and has no real pizazz.  Okay, it’s a retro game so how about having a retro option with old school graphics for those firmly in the nostalgia camp, and an arse kicking modern option complete with different background themes and big over the top sound effects and music?

This leads beautifully into my second issue with the game -  the sound.  It’s really quite bland, in fact it’s more than a little bland, it’s almost non-existent.  Some blips, some blops, some pops.  That’s really it.  Very retro yes, but these days most of us expect a little more from our audio, especially if you’re the sort of person who likes to plug into the headphone jack whilst playing.

Overall the game is very good and certainly has that “one more go” feel to it, especially with the leaderboard integration.  It may not reinvent the wheel but it’s an extremely solid game of Breakout that is worth the asking price.  An update to include some kind of showmanship or flair would certainly be welcome, or at the very least some beefier audio to enjoy.  As it is, Breakout Boost is an enjoyable nod back to the retro game of yesteryear and still has plenty of enjoyment to be found from it.

Score: 7.5 / 10