I remember getting this game from buybacks just a year or two ago. I remember thinking that it would be fun. After all, I always did love the breakout game. When I began to play it, I realized just how far video games have come, even just to the point of this one. The original breakout had no story, no goal, just hit as many of those blocks as you can. This game was way over that! There were a lot of different game play options throughout the game. Sure, it had a lot of your typical whack a block levels, but this game consisted of far more than that! There were times where Bouncer stood up and ran, and you got to play him as that! Running from wolves, pushing demented ducks back into the water, fighting dragons, were a few of the really cool things that you were able to do. But all of the fun of this game was not in simply standing up. There were all kinds of puzzles that you had to hone your breakout skills for. Think you know Breakout? Think again!

Graphics: Well let me start this game off by saying that the graphics were awesome! For PlayStation, everything looked really good. There was a lot of variety throughout the worlds, and everything was pretty appealing. Wait till you get to the space levels! (There I go again, bragging on space!) Throughout the game, there are several things that you just would not expect from breakout, like dragons and mummies! Not quite what I thought I was going to get, but I'll take it! This game really pulled out the stunts, it was especially fun seeing the job that they had done on the chickens and ducks! Graphics get a 10, for sure!

Sound: Oh, yeah! Major upgrade in the sound department as well! It is a lot more the simple beeps that you get from the original game. The sounds are so diverse, the music was awesome. I really loved what they did with this classic. Some of my favorite sounds come from the chickens and ducks! Yes, they did fairly good at making a sound for these lovable foes that really sounds halfway between reality and cartoons in my opinion. There is some good explosion sounds, and you can hear Bouncer's footsteps. I loved when you were trying to knock away the asteroids and one would hit another and break it in half. That ultra-satisfying sound when they break is just something else that I loved about this game! Oh, yeah, did I mention how good the music was? I loved the music towards the end, it made the whole thing feel epic to me.

Addictiveness: I am definitely going to go back and play this again and again. I want to be the ultimate champion at this game! There are so many things that just make this game addicting. First of all, it comes from the ultimate arcade title of simplistic fun. Secondly, the graphics and sound add so much fun to the whole atmosphere of the game. Thirdly, the game play of the game is just awesome. The makers did an excellent job revamping the whole thing. The game is also fairly difficult, so that makes it even more appealing to me! Overall, I just really love this whole thing. I may not have had this game for the longest time ever, and have owned it after experiencing Mario galaxy (oh yeah!). And I still think that this is a great game worth playing. I cannot wait to get this loaded so that I can give it a few more run throughs (the only thing is, I just discovered some more megaman on Sony, so I'm going to put this on the back burner.) With all of this in mind, I feel no shame in giving the addictiveness a 10.

Story: The story was a fairly common scenario in video games, but they really milked it for all that it was worth. What basically happens is that the evil guy (his name is escaping me at the moment, since I have not played it for a few years.), captures Bouncer and all of his friends while they were playing with their ball on the beach. (It seems pretty logical for our paddle heroes, right?) Bouncer is chained to his ball, but when the evil ones walk away, with a wink of the eye, the ball breaks free from his chains. Now Bouncer can get out! He breaks free from his cell and manages to jump out of the tower that he was locked in. He goes to work making a hole in the fence big enough that he can squeeze through. Just when he thinks he's free and clear...grr...rawr! It's nothing other than a hungry wolf! Run bouncer, run! Managing to get away from this beast, Bouncer escapes the prison grounds and is now on a mission to rescue his friends...as well as Daisy. (Typical name, though, don't you think?) So with that, Bouncer visits, farms, factories, pyramids, and more on the adventure to rescue his friends and defeat What's his face? The story definitely gets a 9, with the development that it gets throughout the game.

Depth: This game is fairly deep and has quite a bit to offer, this game took me about a month to complete without a memory card. I would say that there is a good amount of things in here to keep even talented players busy for a little while. Especially if you are shooting to be the master. There are all sorts of game play variations and difficult puzzles that are sure to keep players entertained. You run, you fight, you shoot lasers, you throw blocks. This game really went above and beyond the call in making this updated remake. I was fairly pleased by the number of levels and the difficulty of completing them. Depth gets a 9.

Difficulty: This game has a feature that most other games do not. The better you play, the harder it gets. So, in this manner, you can control and unlock the game's true difficulty. Even if you do not do so well, it is easy to lose a lot. There are a lot of puzzles that just require hitting things in the right order, or hitting things in certain spots. Sometimes, it all comes down to timing. So it takes a bit of playing to figure out what does and does not work. And there are some bits that even feel like a little bit of action. If you manage to work your way up to the master level, the game can be notoriously difficult. I think that the difficulty would by far get ranked a 9.

Overall: I calculated the average score to be a 9.5, although I would just make it ten, I cannot be too partial now. This game combines the good old days with cool graphics, great sound, a good story to make for an exciting an fun game that is worth playing through and through. If you get to the Demented ducks you will understand what I mean! This game is sure to be on my favorites list for a long time to come! 

This is a really good review for a game that sounds great. I never played it, but I might check it out now because you make it sound like its wonderful. The review is very well done, its a good length with a ton of detail.

I can see that you have put a lot of effort into this, and I can't wait to see another.

zanderlex : Did you see my Donkey Kong Country tropical freeze, Speedy Gonzalez: Los Gatos Bandidos, or PacMan world 3 reviews?

I saw the pacman one in the forum, but I never had a chance to read that one, but I should be able to on the future, are any of those better than this one?

zanderlex : I would not say better, but I hope that they are as good as...

Well, even if they don't match up to this one and are in fact worse, then they could all still be good, sine this one was very good.