Arkanoid DS

An alien race invades the planet of Arkanoid and attacks their 8 satellites. One of the inhabitants named Ananke leaves to liberate his other 7 friends that were kidnapped from them. -summary

When most gamers think of puzzle games it's usually Tetris that springs to their minds. And why not? Although a very simple puzzle game, it's charm came from the fact that anyone was able to pick it up and have a lot of fun. However, there was another puzzler to debut some time after Tetris back in 1986, and it was a tough one by the name of Arkanoid. Unlike Tetris, this game wasn't so easy to pick up and play, and amongst casual gamers the difficulty was a bit of a put off. At least that's how I remember it back in the days of the arcade; but those whom managed to power through respected it for its challenge, and loved it for its addictive game play. The game has enjoyed quite a run over the years making it to various systems. In 2008 it found a home on the Nintendo DS, and although its still addictive, I can't help notice that this game is far less fun than its predecessor. I normally come into all games from a neutral standpoint but when it comes down to game developer Taito, and their re-imagining of classics; I have found myself on the fence quite often. And seriously, after playing their re-imagined classics Bubble Bobble Evolution and Rainbow Islands Evolution can you really blame me for it?

Game Play:

Arkanoid is a single and multi-player puzzle game that takes the premise of earlier titles Pong and Breakout and expands on them. In fact, many old school gamers consider it a straight up Breakout clone. For those whom have never played this. The deal is to bounce a ball off of your paddle called a Vaus, located at the bottom of the screen, and use the ball to break down numerous blocks in order to clear the level. To help out with your progress, power-ups are unlocked when you destroy some of the blocks; some of these power-ups are a twin laser blaster, a more powerful ball that crashes through all blocks in its path, and even one that adds length to the Vaus. There are several more to include a level skip. You lose when your ball shoots to the bottom of the screen and passes your Vaus. The game actually does have a story but there's very little development, and the truth is most players are not going to care about this anyway, because it's all about the game play.

The player's goal is to make it through 35 stages 7 times to save all 7 friends, plus unlock another 35 stages after that leading towards a boss battle. The levels are set in an upside down triangle beginning with the letter A; each letter has 5 stages and as you complete the levels, they branch off into different paths up to the last letters of the alphabet. You will only be able to choose one path after completing each level, which means you're going to miss the other levels on every single play through. Thankfully, once you play again each of the completed letters turn yellow, so you don't always return to already beaten paths.

The game is quite easy at first when compared to the original; you actually have a barrier that prevents the ball from passing off the bottom portion of the screen, and it bounces back into play. You can choose to play without the barrier or you can increase its strength to five hits. Old school fans of the game are going to hate this because it's going to feel like death is impossible. I didn't mind this much at all, because sometimes you will need to use the barrier in a planned strategy, because you won't always land the bounce you need to complete a stage.

The additional power ups add to the fun on some occasions, on the other hand they can actually hurt you. Later in the game, golden unbreakable blocks appear and are sometimes mixed with the regulars to enhance the challenge. I will admit that some of these stage designs are very creative.

The game has several moments of fun. Unfortunately, the developers do get out of hand with the stage design, and some of these stages will actually feel more like work instead of fun. For example, there are several stages that will have only one breakable block, and you will have to bounce the ball in a certain angle to maneuver it around many corners in order to hit that one piece. Due to this, you can find yourself in a single stage 10 to 20 minutes. Frustration will no doubt begin to set in, and sometimes those bounces will feel more like luck than actual skill.

There are key problems here that can have this game feeling like a chore. For one thing, the blocks in the original were rectangles, here the blocks are square; this actually does mean something. The game was programmed with the ball operating as if the blocks were rectangles, and I found myself needing to use the barrier to help complete stages because the squares make it difficult to fit the ball in tight spaces. This is actually a problem because you earn bonus points towards unlockables for completing stages with your barrier at full power. Also, the playing field is kind of smaller than the original, and in some stages the field is very narrow. You will need the power up to shrink your Vaus in order to make some of these bounces. The problem is you may not see it that round, and I found myself having to commit suicide hoping I could get it the next time around. Limits like these aren't challenging and fun, they are just plain annoying, and on top of this you will have to revisit some of these stages. The DS' split screen is another issue; the ball passes through a good amount of dead space that can lead to easy misses when it picks up speed. I was able to work around this but I still don't like it.

I'm not fond with some of these changes to the original game play; but what also gets on my nerves is Taito's lazy approach towards replay. It's bad enough that you have to revisit stages. It's even worse though that the final level ends with three boss battles, and you will have to replay those final 35 stages two more times after your first run through to get them all. This also means being forced through stages where lucky bounces are your only path to victory. I really hate this and it's made worse by the bad music which I will get to later. There's a second mode called Quest, where you can only replay stages that you already beat. This can help you earn more award points for unlockables such as new music, new Vaus, and other things. Too damn bad these items are ridiculously high priced and it can take about an hour to unlock one thing. These miserable attempts to squeeze out replay is just so annoying. I actually feel like my time was wasted playing this. The multi-player features up to four players via Wi-Fi. The most I ever played against is just one on one, and I found this to be decent at best as you race against your opponent to finish the stage.

Controls:

The game uses both control pad and stylus; they both perform quite well, however, I chose the pad every time I played. The reason being is because the stylus limits game play quite a bit. It feels very awkward being right-handed trying to control the stylus, plus at the same time enter button prompts to use power-ups. I couldn't pull it off at all so I got frustrated real quick. Someone left-handed may not have this problem at all.

Graphics/Music/Sound:

There really isn't much to look at here. The little cut scenes for the intro and endings are mainly stills, plus the backgrounds are single colored with what appears to be a star. There's nothing here to wow you at all. I found most of the music annoying; it consists of some electronica with a mix of jazz. The vocal choruses reminds me of Marvel vs. Capcom's "Take Me For A Ride" hook, but a little less irritating. I was rarely able to get into this. The sound effects of the ball hitting the metallic blocks are probably the only thing to stand out to me. Other than that this area is pretty stale.

Final Thoughts:

Most die-hard fans consider this Arkanoid only in name; with its mediocre game play design, pathetic attempt at replay, bland visuals and even worse music, you're just wasting time playing this. Even casual gamers can find something else just to pass the time. My recommendation for the DS if you want something of this type would be Nervous Brickdown for its variety in game play and just overall better design, or even Tetris DS and Tetris Party Deluxe. If you own a 3DS, then Tetris Axis would be a good enough buy.

Rating: 4/10

Pros: Can be addicting

Cons: Can feel like work, bland visuals, bad music, mediocre gameplay, very poor attempt at replay