Reviews from

in the past


A game perfectly fit for the Vita, as expected from Colin.

Platinum'd it on Vita and then played it again on PS4.

Brick breakers can be a lot of fun. It's one of the styles of classic arcade games that I appreciate quite a bit. It's a very underrepresented genre.

People seem to have complaints about the difficulty, specifically once you have 4 paddles to control, but I found it just the right amount of challenging. It's a hard task to wrap your brain around at first but it reaply does work. Seeing all the references to Savred Symbols and having Chris and Colin be represented in game is a nice treat.

In second grade, my parents got me my first iPod Nano, fully equipped with my most-played video game growing up—the basic brick breaker iPod game! A few years later, when I upgraded to the iPod Classic, this favorite also got an upgrade to Vortex. Since those fondly remembered childhood days, I have missed this once-beloved genre as console games “grew up” beyond this historically simple game. That is, until Colin Moriarty (Colin’s Last Stand, formerly of IGN and KindaFunny) partnered with Lillymo games for Twin Breaker—a game themed around Colin’s PlayStation Podcast: Sacred Symbols.

The game earns its name with its novel addition to the brick breaker genre—twin paddles controlled on each analog stick. Each paddle also has a rechargeable (by time?) ability to fire a projectile into the play field, which comes in handy when the ball inevitably ends up bouncing across the screen parallel to the paddles. These two new gameplay features aside, the game otherwise stays true to its formula.

The first time through the game’s 40 levels takes about 2 hours to complete, and it is rather uneven in difficulty. The story is simple science-fiction, grounded in Colin’s realistic expectations about our universe. I was quite frustrated by the game’s early levels for their simplicity and slowness, and the game’s bosses count among the easiest levels, but the late game stages (and New Game+) allowed me to enter a flow state that I have missed since my old iPod gaming days.

You don’t need to be a fan of Colin’s to enjoy this game—in fact, there is very little that is distinctly him in the story or character—but this was a fun, simple first game for him to write, and it carries great promise to be a fun arcade game I will return to in between major AAA releases.

A game I can play when I don't know what to play and just want a fun time.

In second grade, my parents got me my first iPod Nano, fully equipped with my most-played video game growing up—the basic brick breaker iPod game! A few years later, when I upgraded to the iPod Classic, this favorite also got an upgrade to Vortex. Since those fondly remembered childhood days, I have missed this once-beloved genre as console games “grew up” beyond this historically simple game. That is, until Colin Moriarty (Colin’s Last Stand, formerly of IGN and KindaFunny) partnered with Lillymo games for Twin Breaker—a game themed around Colin’s PlayStation Podcast: Sacred Symbols.

The game earns its name with its novel addition to the brick breaker genre—twin paddles controlled on each analog stick. Each paddle also has a rechargeable (by time?) ability to fire a projectile into the play field, which comes in handy when the ball inevitably ends up bouncing across the screen parallel to the paddles. These two new gameplay features aside, the game otherwise stays true to its formula.

The first time through the game’s 40 levels takes about 2 hours to complete, and it is rather uneven in difficulty. The story is simple science-fiction, grounded in Colin’s realistic expectations about our universe. I was quite frustrated by the game’s early levels for their simplicity and slowness, and the game’s bosses count among the easiest levels, but the late game stages (and New Game+) allowed me to enter a flow state that I have missed since my old iPod gaming days.

You don’t need to be a fan of Colin’s to enjoy this game—in fact, there is very little that is distinctly him in the story or character—but this was a fun, simple first game for him to write, and it carries great promise to be a fun arcade game I will return to in between major AAA releases.

I'm not a fan of brick breakers, to be honest. While the story, unique abilities, and boss fights were great, the game falters in its difficulty spikes (when you control 4 paddles).
Good job from a small team, though! Gotta support the "Pride of Long Island"!

A View From The Heitz: This is your classing brick breaking game with a couple of tricks up it's sleeve. You control two paddles, one with each analog stick as you go through 40 regular and then 40 New Game + levels with a couple of boss battles peppered in between. The game is fun in that classic sense and there is a story for you to enjoy written by former IGN/Kinda Funny and current CLS/Sacred Symbols Colin Moriarty. It's quick to beat (Approx. 2 hours to go through all 40 levels) and a fun game to jump into, especially in New Game +.
******
******
So look, I have a soft spot for Colin Moriarty. Regardless of your opinions of him and the stances he takes, the man knows video games. So when I heard he was writing his very first video game, I was excited to check it out. I think most of us expected a Mega Man type game and was surprised when the trailer launched and saw that it was a narrative brick breaking game. But then, of course it made sense. Going back to the very roots of video games, Colin along with Lilly Games put together a worthy addition to the brick breaking genre.

First of all a shout out. Shout out that Colin remained true to his word and gave the PS VITA the love it deserves by having both a physical and digital release for this game on PS4 and VITA. I obviously chose to play it on the VITA and without having played it on the PS4, I can guarantee you that I made the correct choice. This game feels right at home on the VITA and a perfect game to play while in the restroom, feet up on the couch or in bed right before you go to sleep. I think Colin would appreciate our ability to enjoy this game while taking a poop.

We've seen these types of games everywhere, from arcades and consoles to some of the very first cell phones. The last brick breaking game I played was "Shatter" on PS3 which I have to say, is an awesome game. The ability to pull, push and curve the trajectory of the ball all the while playing in very Lumines inspired levels was a great experience.

Twin Breaker concept is all about controlling two ships: Greetings and Salutations (did I already mention that Colin Moriarty wrote the script?), each controlled with their own analog stick. In later levels, they take it up a notch by including an additional 2 paddles for you to control at the same time. The difficulty of the game will come from your ability to control multiple paddles at the same time with the analog sticks. For me, 4 paddles at once was a definite challenge. The games difficulty is uneven with levels that are unevenly paced and boss battles that are among some of the easiest level in the game. Getting a high score is a mixture of skill and luck with the types of power ups you get. For example, if your early in a stage and get the Heavy Ball upgrade (which guarantees that all bricks are destroyed in one hit), as long as you avoid the ball going out of bounds, you are guaranteed a high score and quick completion of the level. That is key for later on when we talk about trophies and earning the platinum for this game.

Now i'll be honest, I began the game reading the narrative that takes place but then started skipping through it to just get to the next level. So I can't say much about the story, but there is one if you want it.

The game also has 7 more modes you can take part in like boss rushes, catch mode, shooter mode, etc. Some fun extra content that you can enjoy.

Twin Breaker is at it's best in the New Game + mode which are the same levels just remixed with more durable bricks. The difficulty is better paced and there are levels that do present a good challenge. It is definitely the best way to play. Overall, this is a good little game to sink your teeth in that offers quite a bit of replay-ability and has a solid trophy list to boot. Which is the perfect transition to:

Trophies
Difficulty: 4/10 (difficulty based on skill)
Time: 6-8 hours
Trophy Guide: Not needed as there is a Trophy Room that tracks everything you need for every trophy.

Colin Moriarty has been saying for years to developers, "Let me write your trophy list!" and now he finally had his chance to do exactly that for his first ever game. Did he disappoint? No, no he didn't.

This is as good as trophy list can be and all easily tracked through an option in the menu called Trophy Room. You can see how many pickups you have had, how many missed, how many bricks broken with various upgrades, etc. All of these tied into the trophies that you will be earning throughout the game. A good majority of them will come naturally, here are some tips for you to net that sweet, sweet Platinum Trophy.

1st order of business - Just play through the entire game once and then again on New Game +. Along the way, catch every upgrade that you can, kill the beetles with your paddle and once complete let them hit you to earn their respective trophies. Don't worry if you are getting S ranks as that will be your focus during level select for the last two trophies.

2nd order of business - play every mini game (you can enter and immediately exit if you want) and completely exit out and start the game 5 times to earn those respective trophies as well.

3rd order of business - Each level awards you a codex when you beat a high score, you can see what that score requirement is in the Trophy Room. That score is typically lower than what you nee to S rank a level but it is usually the case that if you get a high enough score for the codex, you more than likely hit the score for the S rank. With that said, New Game + offers you higher points and an extra heart so that is where you want to be to get the Codex for every level. Working towards all 40 Codex will almost surely net you the 20 S ranks you need as well.

Lastly you can play mini game such as "Catcher" to grab coins, get 1000 pickups and purposely miss pickups to net you the last couple of trophies needed for the platinum. Congratulations!

Now for a little tip - for many levels, concentrate on breaking bricks that are closer to you and netting important upgrades such as 2x, Heavy Ball and Fire Ball. These are going to be the ones that help you net the most amount of points the quickest and they are random drops. So if you are more than a minute into the level and you haven't seen one, it is best to restart and try again. I'm sure very skilled players may be able to get high scores without the need of those upgrades but to guarantee an easy high score, aim for those upgrades early in the level.

Fun game, love a good brick breaker, guy who wrote it is a weirdo so I pirated