The other option is to battle it out with the computer, who, at AI level 2 and above, will decimate you. During this challenge mode, you net points that you can use to buy boring bonus features, such as new backgrounds and block sprites. This is more entertaining than Clear Mode, but is ultimately a hollow experience which, again, eventually proves frustrating. Arkanoid DS features a psuedo-mission mode, Quest Mode, in which your job is to clear a certain number or a certain color of blocks from the field within a limited amount of time. There are two more options for the solo player. Clear Mode’s one interesting feature is that you can choose the next planet you go to after every five puzzles. Arkanoid has always been a little bit about luck, what with the ball flying off the paddle at various angles, but the late-game puzzles in Arkanoid DS seem designed to mock the player (for example, another “feature” is that the longer you stay in any particular puzzle, the faster the ball travels, which is very frustrating). When a puzzle consists of a large square of colored blocks surrounded by gold blocks, with four silver blocks as entrance points, it’s hard to see the point of all the effort. I beat Clear Mode in about forty-five minutes, but because it’s a high-score-fest with no unlockable content, I couldn’t help but feel bamboozled.Įven worse, later puzzles are so difficult that you have little incentive to continue playing.
Arkanoid ds game series#
The primary single-player mode is Clear Mode, in which the player progresses through a series of “planets” to save the planet Arkanoid. There are even some new power-ups, but that doesn’t matter much when the core gameplay hasn’t changed one iota in more than two decades. Sure, the blocks are all different colors, along with silver blocks which require two hits to destroy and gold blocks that can’t be destroyed at all. No, I’m serious-there’s very little growth here. It’s been 22 years since Arkanoid gobbled our quarters in the arcade Taito just released an update! Surely, they’ve managed to spruce up the package…right? You deflect a ball off the paddle to hit and clear blocks up top.
Here’s the basic concept: there’s a vertical field with lots of blocks at the top, and you control a laterally-moving paddle on the bottom. The concept has been revisited a few times since the 80’s, most memorably in the forms of Alleyway and Kirby’s Block Ball in the 90’s. I was a huge fan of the original game, Breakout, and then the shameless rip-off, Arkanoid.
Update: Oops, that too now appears sold out.I was elated when I received Arkanoid DS for review. It still seems like a pretty good deal to us and will probably be a no-brainer option to any other Arkanoid fans out there. The alternative is buying the game and paddle bundle, which is retailing at $50 (around £25). Of the four paddle colours available (to match the colour of your DS) of black, white, silver and pink, only the pink one remains in stock. With no plans for the paddle peripheral to be released here, importing from a site such as play-asia could be the only option for retro fans. And it works very well according to comments left by gamers who've bought it from website play-asia. The controller replicates the original Arkanoid arcade controls, which utilised a weird paddle/knob thingy you used to move your onscreen paddle (or space vessel) left and right. Not only is Arkanoid DS out in Japan now (published there by Taito) and not out here until summer, but Japanese gamers are also getting the game bundled with a special controller that slots into the DS's GBA port. It's a double blow from Square Enix for western gamers.
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