‘Breakout Beyond’ Is the Nostalgia-Soaked Sequel I’ve Been Craving, Flipped On Its Head (Review)

Not every game needs a radical reinvention to feel fresh and new. Sometimes, all you need to do after 49 years is flip things 90° to the right, and that’s enough. Breakout Beyond is more of the same, yet completely and utterly different than it ever has been before.

Simplicity is still the name of the game here, but thanks to a pounding soundtrack and a few additional tweaks to the formula, Breakout Beyond has the juice to convince fans both old and new.Screenshot: AtariYou Spin Me Right Round, Baby, Right Round, Like a ‘Breakout’, BabyEarlier this year, I stumbled upon the fact that Atari has been rebuilding classic games and turning them into completely new experiences. Games like Yars Rising have been taken from their initial form and reborn into a different genre.



Breakout Beyond isn’t like that, but rather, it takes the simple gameplay loop of “bumper hit ball, brain go bzzzz” and flips it around a little bit. Rather than being played from a top-to-bottom perspective, it’s from left to right. Revolutionary — absolute cinema.

While I may not be a Breakout aficionado like some, I’ve always enjoyed a game or two. Keeping the simplicity alive is part of the experience, but there are a few things to note here. My review session, played on PC, was done using the Atari Classic Joystick.

This has one particular feature that most controllers don’t offer: spin controls. So, rather than fidgeting around with a more modern controller, I took things back in time to play this as it was expected to be played. And honestly, I hope Atari releases a Paddle controller with a USB connection in the future.

This is the way the game is meant to be played.Even with the Modern Wireless Joystick, it’s a blast and a half. Swapping between the standard joystick control of up and down, alongside some twisting for good measure, I was able to make some significant progress quickly.

Breakout Beyond isn’t an easy game, even if it looks incredibly simple to master. For a game with a 49-year-old legacy behind it, there are some additions here that make it quite the blast, even for my caffeine-riddled brain. Screenshot: AtariFor a Game About Breaking Blocks, ‘Breakout Beyond’ Can Get Difficult QuicklyThe first time I hit a curve-shot in Breakout Beyond, I was beyond confused.

I expected the typical gameplay of “hit ball, ball bounce” that I wasn’t expecting to see my momentum used in such a way. That’s right. If you hit a ball in Breakout Beyond the right way, you can curve it to your whim.

It’s tricky to get the timing right, but once you master this skill, Breakout Beyond becomes a much more interesting experience. Using this to get into a tight space, then watching your ball continuously bounce between unbroken walls, is incredibly satisfying. Add some nifty power-ups into the fray, and you’ve got a chaotic mess that awaits you.

Racking up the highest score possible across 78 stages is also a trip. Oh yeah, speaking of trips. The team behind Bit.

Trip Runner is behind this revival. And their presence was almost immediately felt. The team at Choice Provisions are masters of music, making endless runner games that utilize the music of their world to their advantage.

Even in Breakout Beyond, I swear that ball hits are perfectly timed to the beat of the droning electronica in the background. It felt as if I was producing my own music as I tried to reach the goal. To help players compensate for the lack of precision on a standard controller, the ability to slow down time and speed up your paddle is also present.

Does it make everything better? No, not really. Playing on PC, I was lucky enough to have access to a spinning controller to help things feel authentic. But it helps with those on a controller.

Alongside the adjustable sensitivity settings, that’s something to commend. Plus, the multiplayer experience is pure chaos magic in its greatest form.Screenshot: Atari‘Breakout Beyond’ Is Great Already, but a Few Changes Could Make It A.

.. Breakout StarYou can’t really mess up a game about hitting a ball with a paddle, so we’re more than solid on that part.

A lot of small details, such as greasy fingerprints on the faux-monitor and the light of the action bouncing from the curvature of the screen are rather impressive. They help bring a graphically simplistic game to life in a major way, and the details are impeccable. But, there are a few things that I’d love to see make their way into Breakout Beyond in the form of content updates.

The first would be the ability to swap the screen. Yes, I know the rotation is a major changing point, but I’d love to use TATE orientation on my vertical monitor. Is it petty? A little, but it could still be really slick to have the game function in this form natively.

Beyond that? Breakout Beyond offers everything I could have wanted from a Breakout game. The blocks are here. Balls, too.

And the wholly satisfying gameplay loop of watching a perfectly aimed shot wipe out a major portion of the board is here, too. And with so many stages to play through, I know I can return to this at any time that I need my fix. Genuinely, there isn’t much they could have done to “revolutionize” the Breakout formula.

But Breakout Beyond feels like a great step forward for a classic franchise.It’s easy to pick up and play. Difficult to master, especially with the curve shots.

But it’s just as fun as it’s always been. And that’s all I could have asked for. The new updates to the game and the graphical facelift are a major plus in my book.

And seeing some of my favorite old franchises in Breakout form was a nice surprise.Verdict: RecommendedBreakout Beyond is available now on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC, and Atari VCS. A code was provided by the publisher for the sake of release.

Reviewed on PC. The post ‘Breakout Beyond’ Is the Nostalgia-Soaked Sequel I’ve Been Craving, Flipped On Its Head (Review) appeared first on VICE..