Mega World Smash is the demented love child of Breakout, Pinball and Worms. If that alone is not enough to make you immediately go and buy it, read on… I’ve always liked Breakout style games, though since moving to the PC platform via C16, ZX Spectrum and Atari ST, haven’t really played all that many. Still, although games like DX Ball are very good and feature shiny graphics and music compared to Arkanoid (still in my view the definitive breakout game – yes, even more definitive than Breakout itself!), basically the gameplay was no different – perhaps a little more hectic, but pretty much unchanged in essence. So now along comes Mega World Smash , and it turns the whole Breakout genre on its head. I’ve seen 3D breakout games before, but it’s never quite worked; however what this game does works brilliantly because it takes the genre in unexpected and highly enjoyable new directions. There’s some sort of plot about being trapped inside an alien amusement park, which gives rise to occasional dialogue from the player character and others, which is often quite amusing. However if there’s one thing that Arkanoid taught us it’s that a great game doesn’t necessarily need a great plot. Although saying that, you can play 4 characters (each with slightly different strengths and weaknesses), and they each have their own unique journey through the game. In keeping with the genre you control a paddle at the bottom of the screen (and in this case, each level is a different ride in the amusement park), and you have a ball that can break blocks, which might have different properties, until you’ve cleared the whole screen. There are power-ups that can fall down from some of the blocks to aid you, as well as power-downs that can hinder your progress. Lose the ball at the bottom of the screen and you lose a life. Little creatures can roam the screen too sometimes. Well, that’s pretty much where all the typical Breakout features tie in with the game; the fun really starts with what you wouldn’t normally expect. The blocks are not all the same, in fact many of them aren’t blocks are all – some are part of larger structures that you have to knock down before you can start destroying them, some release monsters or have other effects on the ball. There is a wide range of power ups and downs, but in addition to this you can collect coins which can be used to purchase enhancements between levels; these enhancements can increase the effect of power ups, or reduce power downs. The levels can become extremely frenetic, as some of the bonuses you can collect include heavy weaponry, and sometimes even weaponry being fired automatically from outside the main playing area. There are also boss battles, which are great fun. It’s hard to describe just how enjoyable this game actually is. There are 100 levels, and with each level taking from maybe under half a minute (rarely) up to maybe 5 minutes or more (also rarely – my guess would be 2-3 minutes on average), it’s going to take you a few hours to complete the game with any one character. Add in time spend deciding what enhancements to buy, throw in a few short cut scenes, and you’re probably looking at an absolute minimum of 3 hours to complete the game, probably more like 5 or 6. I doubt you’ll stop playing it after completing it just once though… The levels can become so frantic that it’s hard to keep track of what’s going on, much less where the ball that you need to keep in play is – some levels seem to hardly require you do have much bat and ball action at all. On other levels you need a bit of skill to get the ball in exactly the right channel to start things going and be able to complete the level. With all the different power ups and enhancements, there’s quite a bit of variety going on here. This sort of game instantly falls down if the physics feel wrong or seem unrealistic, but that’s not a problem in Mega World Smash. The controls are nicely responsive too. The graphics are very nice, just a shame that I don’t currently have a PC capable of showing it in anything like its best resolution and detail settings. The sound effects are also good quality, and the music is excellent, with a pleasing variety of styles within the soundtrack. I would have liked the track played on the levels to change just a bit more frequently than it did, but that’s a minor quibble. Once I’d completed all 100 levels the first time, I immediately started with another character – the basic game isn’t much different, you just start off with a slightly different set of enhancements, bit the storyline’s slightly different and the game’s so enjoyable that you just won’t want to stop playing. My only major criticism of the game is the lack of difficulty levels – it’s really not a very difficult game, and I completed the 100 levels with 37 spare lives and a score of 5788800. I guess you could play the game deliberately not buying enhancements to make it a little more challenging, but you really should have at least 2 difficulty levels. While the game is brilliantly fun to play and 100 is a nice number of levels, it’s far too easy to feel any real sense of accomplishment. There are achievements to collect and statistics for your game history, although I don’t think the “levels completed without losing a life” is accurate as it gives me zero for this despite completing 100 levels with 46 lives lost! Basically the fact that this game is just a huge blast to play overrides any negatives about it, although I would still dearly love to see if patched to include at least one extra difficulty level. Mega World Smash is still a great game though even without this. System requirements for Mega World Smash: Windows XP, Vista or 7 / 800 MHz processor / 256 MB RAM / 3D video card / DirectX 9.0 or later Available from Alawar Entertainment PC Game Reviews and News You can also follow CaptainD on Google+ to stay up to date with the latest news and reviews.
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PC Game Review – Mega World Smash
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