Through the Broken Glass
A Breakout or Arkanoid clone that does its inspiration one better, Shatter did precisely as the name implies to our expectations and emerges as one of the single best games you can find on the PlayStation 3.
Published: August 8, 2009
Wow. No, seriously, wow. Sidhe Interactive, my hat is off to you ladies and gents. After the tragically under-supported GripShift, I knew you could make a good game, but I was woefully unprepared for the sheer awesomeness of Shatter. Best thought of as a sort of Arkanoid Evolved, the New Zealand-based development house was able to take the simple brick-breaking/power-up-collecting/weapons-firing gameplay of the arcade classic and give it a proper next-gen update. Shatter looks great, plays even better and has one of the most impressive soundtracks I've ever heard in a video game.
Stop reading this and go buy the game. Right now. Review's over.
Okay, okay, so I'll talk a little more about things, even if the rest of this review is only going to point right back up to that sentence you see up there. Essentially the "story" of a paddle (dubbed a "bat" in game parlance) that manages to break out of being just another cog in some kind of mega-factory by literally shattering the walls around it, and the subsequent escape across an incredibly trippy series of techno-swept "environments," Shatter is remarkably simple, yet offers a stunning amount of replayability and depth underneath its "break all the blocks" levels.
Chief among them is the ability to exert pushing and pulling forces on both the balls you're able to fire out (which represent your lives, so you can technically launch more than one any time you have more than one life left, but it means the chance of a much quicker trip to the Game Over screen) and the environment itself. This is key, because every broken brick releases Fragments, little collectable power-ups that build your Shard Storm meter, eventually unlocking the ability to launch a massive volley of projectiles that quickly chews through most blocks.
The push/pull mechanics, though, are cleverly weighted with that all-important risk vs. reward setup; yes, you can suck in Fragments to fill your Shard Blaster, but you'll also change the trajectory of the bouncing ball and suck in any errant blocks still floating around. If one of them hits you, you won't lose a life, but instead get knocked out of the area for a second, and if your ball is on a return trip, improperly timed you will end up losing a life. To guard against this, excess Shard Storm energy can be burned to power a shield that will destroy any objects (beyond the ball, of course) that touch the energy barrier.
And really, that's about it. A few additional wrinkles are introduced with a handful of different level shapes and orientations (your bat may start on the left or bottom sides of square arenas or end up at the lower part of a circular level, all of which influences the angles and return travel times of your ball). Like any good Arkanoid clone, hitting some bricks will release power-ups that can transform your ball into a one-hit brick-destroying machine (the Unstoppaball), an ultra-agile push/pull-sensitive guided weapon (the Maneuveraball), give it more oomph (but not quick the Unstoppaball's punch), cause more Fragments to be released, gain extra balls (lives) and so on.
Despite updates to the classic formula, though, this is all pretty standard stuff, which leaves it to the gameplay to give the game legs, and hooboy does it ever have 'em. Shatter is relentlessly addictive. Not since Super Stardust HD have I been so susceptible to Just-One-More-Time-itis. The game's Trophies are fun to get, the included Bonus and Boss Rush Modes (the latter of which is unlocked after making it through the game) give the game more depth and the sheer variety in boss fights keeps things interesting throughout the game's 70 or so levels.
Those boss battles are probably the most interesting and unpredictable part of the game. After powering through six standard stages where the bat flies around increasingly fantastic and even downright hallucinogenic-friendly backgrounds, a boss battle is opened up. These can take the form of anything from a multi-tentacled squid (the Bloctopus) to a, uh... clock (the Clock-O-Block), and usually only have one main weak spot. These fights are far harder than normal levels most of the time, but they're so power-up-rich (particularly in extra lives) that they can be mined a bit before taking them out completely.
The game's visuals really do deserve a ton of praise. They're imaginative, abstract collections of shapes and structures that you'll end up swooping through, around, under and over while progressing toward the boss, and through it all the game keeps a rock-solid framerate and supports all those quasi-futuristic backdrops with an hour and a half of the most amazing music I've ever heard in a video game. I can't really describe it except to have you imagine Daft Punk went on an Electro bender and the result is pure aural bliss. Seriously, you need to hear this soundtrack (luckily, you can stream the whole thing over at Sidhe's official Shatter web site.
I'm actually unusually lost for words when trying to properly convey how much fun I had with Shatter. The game is, quite simply, phenomenal and every single person that owns a PlayStation 3 should buy it. Every last one. So what are you waiting for, head on over to the PlayStation and start buying! Gogogogogogo!
Stop reading this and go buy the game. Right now. Review's over.
Okay, okay, so I'll talk a little more about things, even if the rest of this review is only going to point right back up to that sentence you see up there. Essentially the "story" of a paddle (dubbed a "bat" in game parlance) that manages to break out of being just another cog in some kind of mega-factory by literally shattering the walls around it, and the subsequent escape across an incredibly trippy series of techno-swept "environments," Shatter is remarkably simple, yet offers a stunning amount of replayability and depth underneath its "break all the blocks" levels.
Chief among them is the ability to exert pushing and pulling forces on both the balls you're able to fire out (which represent your lives, so you can technically launch more than one any time you have more than one life left, but it means the chance of a much quicker trip to the Game Over screen) and the environment itself. This is key, because every broken brick releases Fragments, little collectable power-ups that build your Shard Storm meter, eventually unlocking the ability to launch a massive volley of projectiles that quickly chews through most blocks.
The push/pull mechanics, though, are cleverly weighted with that all-important risk vs. reward setup; yes, you can suck in Fragments to fill your Shard Blaster, but you'll also change the trajectory of the bouncing ball and suck in any errant blocks still floating around. If one of them hits you, you won't lose a life, but instead get knocked out of the area for a second, and if your ball is on a return trip, improperly timed you will end up losing a life. To guard against this, excess Shard Storm energy can be burned to power a shield that will destroy any objects (beyond the ball, of course) that touch the energy barrier.
And really, that's about it. A few additional wrinkles are introduced with a handful of different level shapes and orientations (your bat may start on the left or bottom sides of square arenas or end up at the lower part of a circular level, all of which influences the angles and return travel times of your ball). Like any good Arkanoid clone, hitting some bricks will release power-ups that can transform your ball into a one-hit brick-destroying machine (the Unstoppaball), an ultra-agile push/pull-sensitive guided weapon (the Maneuveraball), give it more oomph (but not quick the Unstoppaball's punch), cause more Fragments to be released, gain extra balls (lives) and so on.
Despite updates to the classic formula, though, this is all pretty standard stuff, which leaves it to the gameplay to give the game legs, and hooboy does it ever have 'em. Shatter is relentlessly addictive. Not since Super Stardust HD have I been so susceptible to Just-One-More-Time-itis. The game's Trophies are fun to get, the included Bonus and Boss Rush Modes (the latter of which is unlocked after making it through the game) give the game more depth and the sheer variety in boss fights keeps things interesting throughout the game's 70 or so levels.
Those boss battles are probably the most interesting and unpredictable part of the game. After powering through six standard stages where the bat flies around increasingly fantastic and even downright hallucinogenic-friendly backgrounds, a boss battle is opened up. These can take the form of anything from a multi-tentacled squid (the Bloctopus) to a, uh... clock (the Clock-O-Block), and usually only have one main weak spot. These fights are far harder than normal levels most of the time, but they're so power-up-rich (particularly in extra lives) that they can be mined a bit before taking them out completely.
The game's visuals really do deserve a ton of praise. They're imaginative, abstract collections of shapes and structures that you'll end up swooping through, around, under and over while progressing toward the boss, and through it all the game keeps a rock-solid framerate and supports all those quasi-futuristic backdrops with an hour and a half of the most amazing music I've ever heard in a video game. I can't really describe it except to have you imagine Daft Punk went on an Electro bender and the result is pure aural bliss. Seriously, you need to hear this soundtrack (luckily, you can stream the whole thing over at Sidhe's official Shatter web site.
I'm actually unusually lost for words when trying to properly convey how much fun I had with Shatter. The game is, quite simply, phenomenal and every single person that owns a PlayStation 3 should buy it. Every last one. So what are you waiting for, head on over to the PlayStation and start buying! Gogogogogogo!
