Shatter - PSN

[DANGERMAN]

I didnt have any idea what this was until about 2 days ago, but loads of places seemed to be raving about it. It turns out it's a Breakout/Arkanoid clone, but all Rez-ed up, kind of like Space Invaders Extreme (or that Arkanoid game...). Every level has a unique set of blocks, set up as a challenge, again think Space Invaders Extreme rather than old Breakout, as these are more dynamic. The various blocks you hit will react differently, some will just disappear, some are heavy and so will fall towards you, some will explode, and some hold other blocks in place until destroyed.

You're not completely defenceless though,you've obviously got your paddle (curved so you can angle shots), but you can also blow and suck. this chiefly affects the ball, with a glowing indent on the side showing where the ball is going to land, meaning you can judge how it's going to rebound. You can also use the blowing/sucking to manipulate the blocks, usually this is trying to blow them away from you, but you can be clever and pull them into the balls path.

There's also powerups, and extra lives galore, all acquired by destroying blocks. Every block you destroy leaves some shards, these can hit ran into or sucked up t be used for either a shield or a powerful laser (works well for defending yourself from falling blocks, and for damaging bosses). You get more powerful balls too, and an item that gives you more control over the direction of your shot.

As mentioned there's bosses, these all have some sort of animal/item theme, so a snake, a clock, or even a bigger paddle/bat that your own. The other quirks are that most of the game is played from the side, but there's also some levels where you're essentially on the inside of a fishbowl. The music is awesome too, really suits the look of the game, unsurprisingly though it's the clubby trance stuff that most psn titles seem to feature.

The only thing that's annoyed me so far is that you're ball is really a glowy triangle thing, and that can get lost amongst the other glowy triangle things. It's also relatively easy, I've done some stupid stuff but yet to have to retry an area (although i have used some continues)

It's brilliant so far though, and less than a fiver, which is a rarity on psn at the minute. Definitely recommending it as things stand

[retroed]

Bought, thanks Ben.

I have had a brief play of this, and have just finished the first boss. It's possibly the best block-breaking game that there has ever been. It plays wonderfully, the controls feel spot on and handles nice and tight. The curving the ball mechanic feels so natural after a while, and really adds to the gameplay. The soundtrack is absolutely superb too, I can imagine there'll be one or two tracks featured on a future Music From Games podcast.

For £4.79 you can't go wrong. The PSN can be great at times.

[David]

Isn't this the same lot that did Gripshift? The game Hendo and illdog rave about all the time. I'll buy it on my friends PS3, seeing as it's cheap. I like games that are sort of modern interpretations of old gameplay like Pacman CE and Space Invaders Extreme.

[retroed]

Yes David, I believe it is the same developer as GripShift, which itself is an awesome game too. I have it on PSP.

I've done three more worlds now, and it's really good. It's so addictive. I'm not so keen on the fishbowl style levels as I am the rest, but I don't dislike them enough that it would count as a negative. It's nice to have variety in the levels, be it horizontal, vertical, or the bowl-style stages. I love taking the risk on sucking the bonuses towards you whilst trying to be careful not to let any blocks get past, or hit, you as they reduce your multiplier. It's sometimes a risk to get those extra points, but is very satisfying when you manage to get the points and then push the blocks back away from you.

It hasn't been overly challenging this far, although I did fail on the fourth boss. Instead of continuing I restarted the whole world, though, so I didn't lose all my points. I wasn't annoyed either, it's so enjoyable to play and the music is sublime.

[DANGERMAN]

Yeah, i'm just going through it then score attacking later on. I need to start using the shield more, it's always a conscious effort but I need it to be automatic to stop getting hit quite so much.

The bosses remind me of old Treasure ones

[retroed]

I forgot about the shield.

That'll make things a bit easier when things get a bit tricky, then!

[HandsomeDead]

I saw this but I decided not to get it as I was in the process of getting the wipeout DLC, it's awesome but I think I've mentioned that before.

Anyone playing it played Bit Trip Beat? I'd just like to get a level of goodness against that.

[spatular]

you guys make this sound pretty cool, i'll have to check it out at some point.

Anyone playing it played Bit Trip Beat? I'd just like to get a level of goodness against that.

that's a good question. does this go sideways like bit trip beat?

[DANGERMAN]

It changes, most are from the left hand side, but there's some from the bottom (usually curved)

I completed this today, shamefully even though I've beaten it and Ed hasn't, his Story Mode score still dwarfs mine

I even went back and redid the second level to match Ed's score, thought I'd done pretty well, but I'm still millions away from his retroness

[spatular]

just got it, was doing really badly at the start, with the overwelming urge to not let anything fall i kept trying to hit the falling bricks back into play, this results in a lost life, but i kept doing it over and over again anyway when really you seem to need to use your shield to destroy them or just avoid them. found controlling the ball really hard with the suck/blow thing too so it pretty much just went anywhere, (it makes sence going sideways though using the sholder buttons for suck/blow) but still it was pretty hard to die, but then i don't think i got that far. i bit the bullet on the boss that's just like you, it fires bigger versions of the ball at you and if they hit you you don't seem to die they just get stunned, but you can't use your shield on them or reflect them back - anyone figgure out that bit or is it just a case of avoiding them?

enjoying it so far, maybe just not as much as i expected givan the praise it's getting all over the place though.

[retroed]

I completed this today, shamefully even though I've beaten it and Ed hasn't, his Story Mode score still dwarfs mine

I even went back and redid the second level to match Ed's score, thought I'd done pretty well, but I'm still millions away from his retroness

That makes a change. I'm normally the one struggling to get a semi-decent score compared to my friends.

spatular, with that boss I just tried to avoid the stuff he was firing as best I could. Luckily it threw out a couple 1UP's, as I was struggling for a bit.

[spatular]

Thanks Ed, yeah i just had another go and did that bit, seemed more like luck than judgement though, the boss after was pretty cool when i figgured out what to do, was a bit stuck at first.

turns out i had even less of a clue what was going on, when you hit the falling blocks you don't die, but you get paralised for a bit (so could loose a life) and your multiplier goes down, the multiplier also seems to go down when any blocks fall off the screen, using the shield to destroy them seems to preserve the multiplier.

[DANGERMAN]

Yeah that's pretty much how the scoring system works, the only other factor is how you collect more and more shards, which I'm guessing is the difference between us and the very best people at the game.

Also with the bat boss, use your shield to hit his balls back. I'm not sure if they can damage him, but he moves to return them which might leave a gap for your ball to hit

[spatular]

Also with the bat boss, use your shield to hit his balls back. I'm not sure if they can damage him, but he moves to return them which might leave a gap for your ball to hit

Thanks Ben, hopefully kick it's ass next time!

yeah the shards seem to increase the multiplier.

[DANGERMAN]

No I meant there seems to be ways of increasing the number of shards, possibly by destroying a large number of blocks in one shot.

I've also noticed there seems to be a delay in updating your score. I could understand your friends score taking time, but I've increased scores, made a mental note of "right, i got 28 million something", then when i check the board I'm still on 23 or whatever. Not the end of the world, but if you're aiming for someones score you want to know you've got it

edit:

Case in point, my bonus round score isnt showing up

[spatular]

No I meant there seems to be ways of increasing the number of shards, possibly by destroying a large number of blocks in one shot.

oh good point, there's definitely some sort of combo meter when you destroy lots of stuff quickly.

got a 1cc earlier but it feels like cheating because basically you get unlimited lives, drop to 1/0 and it throws loads of lives at you, get to 3/4 and it doesn't give you any more.

[DANGERMAN]

I've done a video review of this. No umms that I can hear, but a few bits where the editing of the voice track has caused a few issues. It'd not the best review I've ever done, I didnt really have a huge amount to say about the game purely because it doesnt do all that much wrong

Wii/PS3 Flash version

and a HD youtube version

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="

name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="

type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

[Sly Reflex]

I have this now. I wasn't impressed at 1st, but the more I played the more I liked. I see Spatula's done his usual trick and claimed the top on all the leader boards.

[Sly Reflex]

That clock boss can suck my cock.

[Sly Reflex]

Also, the music reminds me of Freezepop for some reason.