Kirby's Block Ball

"It's Breakout with Kirby's face plastered on it. Not that that's a bad thing."

There are a lot of games that are released which are simply clones of another game. Many of these clones suck. However, some games prove that clones can actually be good-for example, Silent Hill, Einhander, and Kirby's Blockball.

Kirby's Blockball is simply a version of Breakout/Arkanine with a Kirby theme slapped onto it. Or at least, that's the way it seems at first. But as you start to play, you realize that the game is far deeper than Breakout ever was.

The first thing you notice while playing the game is just how similar it is to Breakout. You play for a little while, and then you start noticing the intricate little details that make it unique. One not-so-little detail is that in some levels, you have paddles on the top and sides of the room, rather than just the bottom. Press the A button when the ball is about to hit the paddle, and if your timing is right, the ball transforms into Kirby, who can take out the gray blocks in one hit (normally they require two) and take out some blocks that are otherwise unbreakable; Kirby can also take a hit from the spikes. Later in the game, you start getting powerups, which let you be invincible for a certain amount of time. When you activate the powerups, you can hit the spikes, but you also lose the powerup.

Then there are the bosses. The bosses are a different difficulty altogether. The spikes are on all four sides; this is the first time you experience that. Also, in the last stage of the levels before the bosses, there are little star blocks, and the idea is to take all of them out before you get to the boss; this is not always the case. For each one of the blocks that you hit, you get a block covering the spikes in the boss. Get all the star blocks, and you get an extra life and blocks completely covering all of the spikes. Now, in the boss, if you hit a block, it disappears, but it does give you an extra chance. The bosses in themselves are unspectacular, but each one of them does play differently.

The quality of the level design is surprising. No two levels can really be called similar, and the levels really require strategy. The bonus games in particular are surprising; there are at least four of them, and the basic idea for each of them is different (one of them has you hitting blocks to have four with the same design on them, another has you catching stars that come flying out of something in the center, etc.)

The graphics are unspectacular. On the other hand, nobody really expects this game to have great graphics; it is a Breakout clone, after all. The graphics are by no means bad, though; they look pretty much like Kirby graphics (and Kirby graphics aren't necessarily great).

The whole Kirby aspect of it is pointless; it's just there to get the game to sell. The same goes to one Super NES Kirby game, the name of which escapes me right now.

Overall, it's a great game. If you were a fan of Breakout, you should love it. If, on the other hand, you thought Breakout was stupid and pointless, steer clear.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/01/99, Updated 11/01/99