Arkanoid: Doh It Again

"More fun than laughing at the title"

No really, it's a lame title. Arkanoid? Sounds like some wacko alien species from Star Trek. Doh? Is that supposed to be some sort of pun or something? Is Homer Simpson the official spokesman for this game? With an obviously freaky title like this, you kind of have to wonder what kind of messed up game could be inside. But it's not some bizarre new idea; it's merely a glorified version of the classic Atari hit Breakout. But perhaps ''merely'' isn't the right word. It's the most fun version of this classic game I've ever played.

Ah, but what about the name? This is supposed to be a Breakout clone, what's with the fancy title? I mean, it couldn't come from something like a story, right? Sadly, it does. Yes, apparently Taito felt that Breakout desperately needed a plot. So anyways, a peaceful and friendly group of people are flying through space trying to find a planet to live on. They see three possible choices, and try to land at each. But the evil Doh (yeah, the title’s a “clever” pun) has placed barriers around the planet that will not let your ship get through. So instead, they send out a smaller ship to get rid of the barriers. And this ship does this by bouncing a ball into the barriers. Yes, that paddle you control is supposed to be a ship out in space. In the immortal words of Dave Barry, I am not making this up. There's even cutscenes and everything. Yeesh.

Fortunately, that's pretty much the extent of the bad stuff. Take the presentation for example. Sure, graphics are pretty standard, considering the type of game. Some of the backgrounds can get distracting however, but that's just a minor problem. Things pick up in the sound department. Let's start with the music - there is none. Great idea! Why? Because the sound effects are absolutely fantastic. To sum it up as best as I can, the sound effects are exactly the way 16 bit bleeps should sound. It’s straight out of the Atari, which is perfect for a new version of an Atari game. Each material that you bounce the ball off of, whether it be a block, the wall, or your paddle, has it’s own different blip, so you hear “blip...bleep...bloop blip...bleep bleep bleep...” etc. It adds so much, and any music would have simply gotten in the way of such a fine masterpiece of sound design. The sound simply screams out old school even more than the gameplay does.

And speaking of old school gameplay, this is it. Few games are as memorable as Breakout. To put it simply, you control a paddle that slides back and forth along the bottom of the playing area. Your goal is to keep hitting the tiny ball with the paddle so it does not go past you. You must break all of the small blocks in the area above you in order to progress to the next level. Arkanoid brings this to a whole new level. In addition to this, there are two special blocks. The silver ones take multiple hits to break and the gold ones are indestructible. Also, occasionally when you break the blocks, pills fall down that you can catch. They contain all sorts of cool powerups, like lengthening your paddle, giving your paddle lasers, etc. And then there’s enemies, which can either get in your way or help you out tremendously if you hit them correctly. For instance, one of them will release three other balls that will bounce around and blast blocks for you (at least for a little while) And if that’s not enough, there’s boss battles every 11 levels. You must keep your ball afloat, allowing it to hit the giant worm or head of Doh, all while avoiding numerous attacks.

It may not sound like much on paper (or a computer screen, as the case may be), but it’s incredibly addictive and great fun. It may be simplistic, but who cares? It’s hectic without getting too insane, plenty of different things involved while still remaining simplistic, and fast paced while not too fast. You focus all your energies on just making it through the next level, just hitting that one final block. It seems so simple, so easy to do. But getting some of those angles right can get rather difficult. And so you must practice, must move instinctively to the right place, always watching the ball and the assorted powerups. But don't take too long; the ball will slowly begin to increase speed as you linger on a single level. This adds a ''timer'' of sorts without being a stupid artificial time limit - definitely a good move on Taito's part. Also, you can only hold one powerup at a time, so decide which one is your favorite and try to avoid the rest. It's another couple levels of challenge added to this already challenging (but not too challenging) game. It's the cleanest, best controlled, fastest, and all around greatest version of Breakout there is. And Breakout is a lot of fun.

Fortunately, the game designers went out of their way to insure your enjoyment is not hampered by minor frustrations or lack of options. You can have unlimited continues plus a password system, so you can be sure to see all 99 (yes, 99!) levels no matter how pathetic you are. Of course, it resets your score each time, but that's only natural. There's also plenty of customization, from changing your paddle speed to the number of lives you can have to the difficulty. There's even a level editor if you always wanted to make your own Breakout designs.

That's not to say there aren't faults. Many levels, especially the later ones, are designed so that there are a few blocks surrounded by gold (indestructible) blocks. Thus, there are only a few possible ways of hitting them, and you rely solely on luck. Those levels are boring to play and just don't feel like good Breakout levels. Also, one of the enemies warps away with your ball and appears somewhere else. Not only is this more rotten luck, but it also significantly slows the pace which slows down the game quite a bit. But, besides those points, I completely enjoyed the gaming experience.

Although the experience is so great for me, I am sure many people would be bored with a game where the only goal is to break blocks. But for those who don’t mind such an idea, this is an excellent conversion of the classic Breakout game. So the story might be stupid, but it is not too hard to ignore it. So the graphics aren’t amazing, no one really cares. So the sound effects are simplistic; it actually makes the experience better! The basic Breakout experience has been upgraded to the smooth control of the SNES, with many enhancements added. It’s a challenging and addicting game, and is one that will not disappoint those searching for some old school love. Rent it to try it out if you’re unsure, but definitely try to buy this game if you are a fan of Breakout.

Final Score - 7.8

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 02/03/02, Updated 09/18/03