Shatter - Review

Shatter is a new arkanoid-style game, with plenty of physics and that stylish retro-scheme.

I've just bought it from checking out a video trailer, since there isn't a demo - from Google, looks like the used to be one but they removed. I imagine after playing the demo users might be less likely to buy than just watching the trailer.

I'm not a fan of Arkanoid games overall, but the trailer was enough to convince me.

There are a few differences from most classic breakout games. In particular, you both blow and suck (not at the same time), you have shields, you can shoot and the particles can behave in interesting ways.

The "shatter" part is about the little pieces in which bricks get. You can suck those to get energy, which you can use to shoot shards, or with the shield.

Also, there are boss battles! I've just won the first, and I can tell it wasn't as easy as I'd expected! This boss was made from a large number of segments, and could both ram the bat (which just returns after a few seconds, but you can miss the ball doing that) and hit the ball, which sometimes would cause you to lose it.

Some of the explanations could be much better. One thing I didn't like is the default control scheme - which expects you to use the right side of the keyboard AND the mouse when playing solo... Maybe the developers were lefties (so I am I, but I got used to using the mouse on the right side of the keyboard)?

Overall, playing only the first world, the game is fun, but I'm not sure I'd buy it at this point. I'm trying to remember the name of another breakout clone with neat physics I've bought and played from end to end (a few years ago), but so far I had no luck :-).

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