A Classic Game Made Much Too Frustrating
Writing this review really breaks my heart. Brick-breaking games in general are something I truly love, and Super Breakout is no exception. When I found out it was getting a release on the Xbox Live Game Room, I was ecstatic, and immediately went to download it.
Firing it up, though, it was clear that all was not well.
You see, here's the fundamental problem with this as well as many other games that have hit the Game Room: Super Breakout should be played with a knob, dial or spinner, whatever you want to call it. The joystick on the 360 controller, needless to say, is not a spinner.
As a result, the controls for the Game Room version are downright horrible, almost to the point where the game is unplayable unless you have a bit of patience. The movement is incredibly chunky, and the fine precision that you so desperately need to save yourself is oftentimes just not there. You end up moving a good deal more in one direction than you intended, and there's no way you can possibly react in enough time to course-correct.
I still give the game credit because in the end, it's still Breakout, and a hard-to-control version of breakout is still better than many other options. However, anybody who is used to playing this classic with a dial should go in to the Game Room version with the knowledge that at best you'll probably have to relearn the whole game, and at worst you won't want to waste your time.