Game Review by Emily Hunter
Game Rating = 2/5

Why should you purchase this game?
Fun for all ages
Low learning curve
Great epic soundtrack

Why shouldn’t you purchase this game?
Lacks in originality
Shard graphics are same size as balls
Scary retro fonts

Game publishers have tried to capture the magic of Arkanoid for years. With such a simple concept, innovation within the field comes harder than for most subsets of the casual game industry. Brixter’s appeal comes from players designing better games, rather than the gameplay itself.

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This retro Brickout style game is reminiscent of the ’90′s style with its cartoonish style and laughable font selections. Cheapen the graphics from Arkanoid and you have Brixter. Of course, this is forgivable when playing a game whose plot is so compelling that it transcends eras. When your game is the first, you have every right to be nostalgic. Unfortunately, Brixter is not the first in this sub genre.

In order for a game to rise to the top, it must offer something unique AND interesting in gameplay or plot. Brixter’s plot was nothing to speak of: megalomaniac alien subjugating other aliens in order to control some resource of value. In this case, they’re rings. It honestly could have been anything, as the rings are an excuse to play a brick busting game. With no particular plot to pull from, the game needs to rely on distinctive gameplay.

The unique ‘twist’ on gameplay that Brixter offers is that your field of hittable bricks drops like in Space Invaders, so you are effectively timed without being timed. The table of bricks shifts from left to right so players do not end up in an infinite loop, helplessly watching the ball while wishing for a pinball’esque tilt button.

The player is responsible for hitting EVERY brick, a point on which recent game developers have been lax. This would not be such a point, except players can become extremely frustrated aiming for that last brick on a moving target. There is no way to simply blast the bricks with a laser. The bricks, when hit, burst into multiple shards, easily confusable with the ball that is also bouncing.

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The saving grace of this game came from an unlikely source: the sound. The background music is especially moving, reminiscent of an epic soundtrack. Such robust music does not need to be included with a mediocre brick-busting game. It fuels imaginations into believing that the world can honestly be saved with a pellet gun and a ball of twine.

Brixter is a Breakout style game which spurs the imagination into creating a better game. Some designers would have chosen not to make the ‘break’ of the game another Breakout styled game. Some might not have made the choice to have a plot so old that it is almost painful when people dust it off. Font selections could have been better. This game is worth playing for the few minutes that it takes a better game to download.