Review: Shatter [PSN]

Intro
A LOT of hype was going around when this game came out, at least on one or two of the podcasts I normally listen to. As a fan of "brick breaking" games, I figured I would of loved this! Arkanoid is one of my Top 25 NES games, after all. After playing Magic Ball (now Magic Orb. which don't get me started on the name change), I thought maybe I love affair with this simple genre was long gone. Then I hear ALL this talk and "OMG WOOTZORZ SHATTER WTF WOWZ!" about Shatter. So I bought it, well, my son bought it for me for Christmas.

Score: B

Pros:
The genre itself is a positive thing, in my opinion. If you have 10 minutes you can easily knock out a level. The graphics are superb and very nicely done. This game really makes Magic Orb look like a kids game. They added a "suck" and "blow" feature, that does exactly what it says. You can change the path of the ball with either button one way or another. That's probably one of the coolest touches. Remember all those times ONE block was left and it took forever to hit it? You have much more control of the ball now, and that's hardly a problem.

You can also spit out multiple balls at once. The days are gone of waiting for a "multiball" powerup to randomly appear. They removed another powerup, and turned it into a real power. You collect shards that the bricks become when you hit them, and it fills a meter. This meter, when full, can be activated and a shard storm occures. Basically, it shoots tons of shards out of the paddle for a limited time.

The boss' are a very nice touch, too. They get progressively more difficult and they become trickier to defeat as you go along. But it's something pretty new to these types of games, so it's a fresh addition. The "high score chase" is obvious whenever you are playing, as your friends' scores are visible at the bottom, comparing yours to the next highest score. Very nicely done. And from level to level, the layout changes. Sometimes you are playing vertical, othertimes horizontal.

Cons:
The biggest thing people raved about was the soundtrack. I'm sorry, but I don't enjoy raves, nor do I like techno music. So I was sorely let down when the beats started thumping. Oh, AND NO CUSTOM SOUNDTRACKS! I DON'T LIKE YOUR CRAPPY TECHNO MUSIC YOU ARE SO PROUD OF! PSN games used to have the best chance of custom soundtracks, now it seems the option is just dead. Congratulations Sony for fubar'ing that one up and not making it mandatory. My hopes for custom soundtracks aren't dead yet, but a game like this, no excuse.

Removing two of the most popular powerups kind of made powerups in general boring as hell. You have the one that will go through everything instead of bouncing off, which is still cool, and a "manuverbility" one, which I fail to see the point in. But that's it. They also make it so you play through the game in stages, which means when I go to get a trophy for beating the next stage, I can just turn it on and pick up on the world I left off. Granted, your score will be lower when you are done, and the big trophy is beating the game in one sitting.

Summary:
While it did move the seemingly dead genre forward, it made it's mistakes along the way. Is it fun? Sure. For about half an hour at a time. The ability to jump to any level after getting to it kinda ruins the arcade feel to me that they were going for. And the music, ugh, it's as bad as playing a sports game with rap blaring through the game to me. Buy or pass? At $9.99, if you are looking for an old school feeling game, pick it up. If there's ever a half off sale, buy it for sure. For the price, I will say it is loads better than Magic Ball.