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.
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.