I still fondly remember when my college roommate arrived back at our apartment after Christmas break one year carrying a brand new Atari 5200 game system that his parents had given him.  He only had a couple of games for it though; Joust, which I found a repetitive and dull and Super Breakout, which was marvelous.  Hooking his new toy up to my TV I soon found myself becoming addicted to breaking down the wall of multi-colored bricks.  Staying up well into the early hours practicing, I was soon the best among my circle of friends.

My love of this type of game didn't stop when the 5200's crappy controllers gave out either.  A few years later when I purchased my first home computer, a Commodore 64, the first games I bought for it were Infocom's Zork, and Arkanoid, a Breakout clone. (And later Krakout, another great Breakout inspired game.)  Even all these year later I still have found memories of the game which is why I became excited when I heard that Break 'Em All, a new clone of the old classic, was being released for the Nintendo DS.  Would the double screens and lower touch pad improve this old classic?  Well, sort of.  While this is a fun game for Breakout fans, there are some problems with it that will likely scare away casual users.

Gameplay:

Break 'Em All is very similar to Breakout, Arkanoid, and a slew of other block-breaking games.  The concept and exectution are really pretty simple; the player controls a paddle at the bottom of the screen that can move left or right.  A ball bounces between the paddle and a wall of colored bricks at the top of the screen.  The player tries to break all of the bricks without letting the ball slip past the paddle.  Power-ups are awarded as your score increases.

The paddle is controlled by either running the stylus along the bottom of the touch screen or with the L and R buttons on the side of the DS.  This latter method is awful and makes maneuvering the paddle very difficult.  Part of the problem is that you can press the left and right directional buttons at the same time which is easy to do and leads to poor control.  Making the directional pad the alternate method of control would have been a better choice.  With the stylus, the control is pretty good.  The paddle stays firmly grounded under the plastic point and it's easy to get the feel of the game.  The occasional tap of the sides of the screen to activate a power-up is easy and doesn't interfere with the game.  (You can also use the X button if the ball is moving particularly fast.)

The power-ups that are available during game play are selected by the player at the beginning.  Pairs of different special abilities such as slow, which slows the ball down, or fast, which increases the speed and also the score per block hit, are presented and the player gets to select one.  As the score increases more powerful abilities become available and can be activated, or the player can opt to wait and 'save up' their points for a stronger power-up.  This is a nice way of handling the special abilities and works well in the game.

The various levels arrange the bricks in different patterns and the bricks themselves have different properties.  The regular ones are destroyed as soon as the ball hits them, but some are indestructible, and other have to be hit several times before they are destroyed.

The game has several modes, some of which are more suited to play than others.  Tokoton mode is a straight forward set of 50 levels to play through.  In random mode the game selects one of over three million boards ensuring that players will never become board playing the same starting levels over and over.

Quest mode is a story mode without the story (thankfully!  I'd much prefer no story at all than some lame plot that has nothing to do with the game.)  In this style of play players have to shoot the ball through a small hole at the top of the touchscreen in order to progress to the next level, and eventually arrive at a boss level.  The bosses present an interesting take on this classic game.  Each one has a weak spot that must be hit with the ball in order to complete the level.  This was fun and added an interesting challenge to the game.

Quest and Tokoton are a lot of fun to play.  Then there's Survival mode.  This multi-player version of the game playable with wirelessly linked DS' is absolutely horrible.  Each player has their own paddle, and the object is to hit the other paddle's weak spots with the multiple balls that are flying around.  It is almost impossible to predict where the balls will be coming from, and aiming them is a joke.  With two players it is a bit irritating, but with more than that the game becomes insane and impossible to play.  This mode is all luck and no skill and what little fun there is in it is soon exhausted.  Stick to the single player modes on this game.

Graphics:

The graphics in this game are a bit on the plain side, but it fits the game well.  The top screen is devoted to keeping track of the score and which power-ups are available or activated, and the game is played totally on the lower screen.  I was glad that they didn't split the game board over the two screens as this would have been unwieldy with the ball passing though the non-video middle of the opened game unit.  As it is, the lower screen is large enough for game play.  The ball is clear and easy to see, and the blocks are appropriately sized.

Having said that the Spartan look of the game isn't very impressive looking.  The entire game looks like it could have been for the Color Gameboy instead of the DS.  The paddle and blocks are simple and the entire game lacks the flash that many DS games have.  While it's not ugly per se, the graphic designs of this game won't win any awards.

Audio:

The aural component to the game, like the visuals, is adequate but a bit plain.  The *plink* of the hit blocks lets you know when you've scored, and the *bump* of the ball hitting the paddle helps player get into a rhythm, but there's not much more than that.  The catchy background music gets tuned out after a few minutes and I found myself playing with the sound turned down in public places rather than bothering to get out the earphones.

Conclusion:

This is a budget priced game, retailing for under $20 everywhere, and that was a wise decision.  Many gamers won't see the point of busting blocks with a small white ball, but if they give it a try they just might discover how addictive the activity is.  This game recreates the feel and fun of Super Breakout and Arkanoid, while still presenting some new play to keep this clone fresh and interesting.  The sound and graphics won't win any awards, but then again this is a throw back to a time when 256 colors were considered massive and impressive.  Retro gamers and fans of the old Breakout games will surely want to pick this one up, and it is Recommended to other gamers too.