Atari’s run of revitalizing their classics alongside indie developers continues with Breakout Beyond, a rendition of one of my favorite series of theirs with a rich history and plenty of clones I played on bootleg consoles from a local flea market. Breakout was always an incredible “pick up and play” formula that transcended all ages, and though it never reached the status of some of its competitors critically, a title like this is just another proof that it deserves the spotlight.
Lights are a big theme here, though not the overwhelming variety. In this horizontal, visually retro interpretation Choice Provisions, who you may know from the Bit.Trip series, opt for their signature style of gentle build-ups and cathartic finales. Starting each screen with releasing a slow ball which, after a few successful back and forths, starts glowing, moving faster, and enveloping the screen with afterimages in a sort of understated, pleasant chaos that can be hard to follow at times given all the effects. Eventually, it all resolves when any one ball reaches the goal and a huge, stylized “BREAK OUT” text read by a robotic voice takes over the sounds as a satisfying, tender melody follows.
The core of the experience is formed with these ramping up one to three minute segments split into 72 levels on a multi-color rectangle level select. The player unlocks various popular powerups from the series such as a multi-ball, explosion, or a shooter attached to the paddle, all of which can be fitted into predetermined boxes seen in a preview. This bit of strategizing (all of which goes out the window after unlocking the drill ball which is a fit-all tool), does not help the unfortunate fact that stages fully blend; aside from the color and soundtrack differences now and then, maybe a tricky level or two, they end suddenly and leave behind no unique impressions.
Would I want it any other way? I think I played enough Breakout clones with complex layouts (shoutout Egypt Ball) to know that they can get quite tiring, and would likely not fit the intent of Breakout Beyond. The goal you have to reach is a perfect mechanic that puts the whole experience together—making it revolve around clearing the whole stage would shift it in a dramatically different direction.
Still, this does not feel like its ideal version, there is too much visual clutter at times no matter how important it is to the atmosphere, so I hope there is a future for this game, be that through updates or as a series. They have something special, they just need to figure out how to add even more substance and iron out a few spots.
One thing I would like to see is some attempt to lessen the discrepancy in controller and mouse controls. Simply put, this game plays like a dream with a mouse, with 20 levels of sensitivity to choose from on top of a sprint button to speed up the paddle further, and a focus mechanic to slow down time (at the cost of score), but even with all that, when I tried playing it on the controller I could never get it to feel even remotely as tight.
Lastly, a reward for clearing all levels, the infinite mode, could use a lot of work. When I played it it was not very infinite at all, ending after the first loop. Running it back the same thing happens. Not sure what to make of that, but right now it’s just one very mediocre level with no powerups and a global leaderboard (my tag sitting at the top as of the moment of writing, does not happen often, so might as well brag while I still can). The second reward, a playable 1976 arcade version of the game, fares better, providing a bit of that old-school vertical Breakout.
Breakout Beyond’s choice of a more abstract, minimalistic audiovisual style for what I always perceived as a purely casual game gives it a strong basis, but it needs a stronger direction. It is a short and wondrous experience that playfully toys with the player, one that satisfied my recently acquired appreciation for light shows and score-chasing, but still lacks a bit of a punch to put it among the greats. Still, as an experience and a proof of concept for just how artful and timeless these classic blocky games can be, it truly impresses.
Mateusz played Breakout Beyond on PC with a provided review copy.
