The first thing I
see after the credits is an oldschool Commodore 64 style scroller
explaining that he can't come up with a story, while the story blitzes
past. Finally the scroller finished with the obligitory backstory(Maybe
someone should tell Relsoft that pongs don't need stories?), and the
game begins.As I expected, the game looks great and has a polished, arcadey feel to every aspect of it's graphical design. There are even powerups which are nicely integrated into the game. The ball moves smoothly, some nice subtle palette animation effects keep everything lively. There colourful blocks and backgrounds, and even some of the powerups, like the gun attachment, has some suprises(as I found out when the bullets regenerated independantly on one another), but something is definitely missing.
The paddle has no feedback whatsoever on the ball.
To imagine what I mean, thing about a tennis racket. Depending on how it's moving when a ball hits it, the trajectory of the ball is altered. If you want to get really technical, the fact that the center of gravity is at the center of the racket means that when the racket is hit off-center, that alters the trajectory as well. In this game, no matter where or how you hit the ball, it bounces off at a 45 degree angle opposite to it's original direction. This doesn't matter in the first little bit of the level, but as fewer and fewer blocks remain to be hit, the lack of control becomes frustrating, making an otherwise flawless game an excersize in tedium at times.
In the end, it's still enjoyable for a few levels before the lack of control really bothers you, and the arcadey style of this game shouldn't be missed. In spite of it's problems, I recommend you to try it out for a few minutes of old-school arcade goodness.
--SJ Zero is sensing a pattern here...