Shatter

Shatter takes the old-school game-play of Breakout and modernises it with enhanced graphics, power-ups and mid-air control. You control a small paddle which can traverse one side of the arena, your aim being to clear all the blocks within the arena by bouncing a ball against them. If you let the ball slip past you, you lose a life. Your paddle has the ability to suck and blow which gives you mid-air control of the ball.

Blocks leave behind shards that you can collect for points and multipliers. To collect them, you have to take advantage of your sucking ability, but this also impacts the ball and any loose blocks.

You don't necessarily need to destroy the blocks, because loose ones can be sucked in your direction and fall off the screen. Sucking also allows you to have mid-air control as it moves the ball in your direction. Alternatively, you can blow which moves the ball in the opposite direction (and will also blow loose blocks and shards).

Shards increase a meter which can be used in two ways. The first is to power a shield which destroys any falling blocks that touch you. If you are unguarded when they collide, they will knock your paddle temporarily out of bounds, possibly causing the player to lose a ball. The second ability, Shard Storm can only be triggered once your meter is full. When executed, time slows down and the paddle unleashes a barrage of shards which causes large damage allowing you to quickly clear standard blocks.

The levels attempt to mix things up with horizontal, vertical, and even round level layouts. The horizontal and vertical layouts are just a different viewpoint, but the round levels change the way the ball ricochets around, posing a different challenge. There's also a great variety of blocks, with different colours, strengths and properties. There's special blocks that blow, explode, highly durable, float.

Power-ups may be dropped when blocks are destroyed. You may gain a 1-Up, or ones that modify the ball. Unstoppaball ploughs through blocks, and Maneuveraball makes the ball more susceptible to gales, which allows for a higher precision and curve in your mid-air control.

If you have the extra lives, you can launch extra balls into the playing field, increasing the challenge and allowing for extra point bonuses. It's a great risk versus reward option.

There are many modes to play: Story Mode (main game), Endless (survival mode), Time Attack (limited time), Boss Rush (taking on the bosses in succession) and Bonus Mode (keeping three balls on screen without the suck/blow abilities).

In Story Mode, you play several stages which ends in a boss. In these fights, you have to hit certain targets in order to expose the boss' weak spot, then hit this to deal damage and deplete their health bar. After the boss fight, there is a bonus stage which gives you chance to rack up a large amount of points.

The fancy graphics with colours and explosions can also mean you lose sight of the ball which is a big negative in this game. There is no limit on your blow/suction abilities, which mean on most levels, you can just mindlessly blow and keep the movement fairly minimal and the ball will remain on screen. You can be quite inaccurate when connecting with the ball, knowing that you can just adjust the trajectory mid-flight with a quick click of the mouse, reducing the amount of skill involved. Another major flaw is that each level isn't really any more difficult than the last, which means it quickly feels like a grind, rather than a natural progression.

At its core, Shatter's game-play is retro inspired and this aspect is great. Although the attempt to modernise it should have turned it into a brilliant game, it ultimately falls flat.