With Atari back as a publisher again in full swing, they are now exploring new ways of delivering their classic games with the Beyond series. This differs from the previous Recharged series that focused on a more faithful update of the classics. With Beyond, we’re getting new ideas. Breakout Beyond still features a bat and ball and a plethora of bricks to smash, but beyond that, things have changed.
Each of the 72 levels is played horizontally, not vertically, and the bricks stretch out beyond the screen. Instead of clearing every brick, you are simply trying to make it to the goal zone to break out of the level and escape. Every brick you hit and remove from the game moves the wall of bricks from right to left, closer towards you. You don’t need to clear every brick, though, and as you move the bat up and down, you might ram into them, stunning you for a brief period of time. This is because Breakout Beyond is more concerned with combos of shots and time taken to inform your score. Bat the ball for 20-ish brick breaks and the ball with supercharge and clear two bricks if one is nearby, but the ball gets faster and faster as you go through the combo. This means you’ll be moving up and down the screen at speed, looking to catch the ball as you only have a few for each level – they act as lives. You can use a sprint button to move at double speed, but that’s tricky to control and should be used sparingly. You can also use a slowdown button, and doing so drains your combo and ruins your score. It’s a risk vs reward battle, and it is up to you to decide when to deploy them.
Helping you along the way are 9 powerups. These can be guns, bombs, lasers, multiball, or barriers to catch balls that you miss, and all of them are helpful. Before you start each level, you’ll see an overview of the brick formation you’ll be trying to beat. Powerups will be dotted around the level and purple blocks with question marks will be included too. You can only take one powerup into a level, and these will replace the purple bricks, with the powerups unlocking throughout the campaign mode. I personally loved the barrier as I found myself losing balls too often and this was down to two things. Firstly, the game has a CRT neon haze filter over it that you cannot turn off and that meant I struggled with perception sometimes when moving the bat at speed. There is a white streak when the bat moves and my brain associated that as part of the bat. It isn’t. Secondly, the game has lots of fireworks-like visual feedback. This means if you trigger multiball or have lots of combos triggering at once, the game is like a light circus. It is fantastic to look at, but it is easy to get lost in the glory and miss the ball entirely. Breakout and Fantavision had a baby and this was the result. I wished the bat was thicker so it would help me know where the bat ended for better accuracy.
One mechanic you’ll need to get used to is the swipe shot. If you hit the ball whilst swiping the bat up or down, the ball will curve rather than hit at an angle from the centre of the bat. This is useful for getting around awkward shapes or clumps of bricks in your way. You can also use it to aim at specific layers of bricks to reach powerups quicker or trigger the fast-forward block that zooms the level forward like a VHS tape. This puts the skill back in Breakout and makes sure Breakout Beyond doesn’t end up like the very basic or old-school Breakout games where you are stuck trying to hit a couple of blocks at the end of the level to proceed.
2 player co-op is present throughout the whole campaign. This has a cool gimmick that swaps who is in front at the top or bottom of the screen. Do you split up and cover your side, or do you work as a pair and keep one player behind as secondary defence? Once you clear the 72 level campaign mode, there is an endless mode, complete with an online leaderboard. It is a shame that all the rest of the game is devoid of leaderboards, as the same designs are used for everyone – it’s just the chosen powerup that differs. I’d also like to shout out the soundtrack, too. It is a muddy synthwave soundtrack that grew on me the more I listened. I did like the thudding bassy kickdrum for every brick smashed, but I did turn down the effects volume to keep the neighbours from complaining!
I enjoyed my time with Breakout Beyond. It is still a Breakout game but with twists that kept it feeling, looking, and sounding fresh. The controls are fast, fluid and exacting. The aesthetic is uncompromising and fits the game. It doesn’t quite go full Tetris Effect on us (although I’d love that if it happened) but what is crucial is that the changes ensure skill is still key to success. This is a reimagining that I think both veterans of the arcade and newer games looking for a visceral fix will enjoy.
Review copy provided by the Publisher. PC version tested. Breakout Beyond is out now on PC and consoles.
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