14 DAY TRIAL // Have you ever had one of those days when you're just sitting bored to death in front of your computer and pray for someone to go online to start a little chat? Or, you're home alone, there's nothing for you to do, you're not exactly in the mood for throwing a party, but still, you feel like having some fun? Well in that case, or in the case you just want to experience a relaxing but enthralling little game, then you came to the right person. I'm sure I'll find a cute game, one that is not too tiresome but which is quite captivating.
Ta-da-dam...[drums rolling] ...please meet the LBreakout 2, successor of LBreakout, as you might have already figured it out. Do I have your attention? I hope so, because I have a lot to tell you about. I've been playing it for hours last weekend and I just couldn't get enough of it. I must now be fair to you and warn you from the very beginning: the game is addictive! Therefore, you'll play it at your own risk; do not blame me if your boss should enter your office and find you wasting precious working time on...LBreakout. This game I'm telling you about won the No Starch Press SDL Game Contest.
Besides the amazing entertaining power, LBreakout2 also benefits of pretty nice graphics and sounds. Well, now, do not expect sophisticated 3D acceleration or who knows what other complicated features. This game is more like one of the "classics": it keeps everything simple and focuses mostly on the relaxing purpose. It can be used by the entire family, no age-limit. The game is cross-platform, therefore you'll be able to play it no matter the system running on your comp, Linux, Windows or even Mac OS X. I've tested the Linux version on my good-looking Ubutnu 7.04 and I had no problem with it, except for the installation, when I've noticed the game required the Simple DirectMedia Layer library that was not yet installed. After I've got it via Synaptyc, things worked as smooth and clean as possible and 5 minutes later, I was poking the keyboard like crazy, eager to get to the next level. The entire philosophy in LB2 consists in breaking some bricks using a shiny green metal ball and a paddle. It doesn't sound too difficult, does it? Well, don't rush into thinking that. The game aims to challenge your reflexes, therefore it brings in some unorthodox "friends", called maluses (chaos, darkness, weak balls, malus magnet a.s.o), which will try to hold you back from smashing the colorful bricks. The bricks themselves can tease you, as they are not regular bricks at all, they can be regenerative bricks, indestructible bricks, chaotic bricks, growing bricks. However, you won't be left on your own in front of so many maluses. There are also a lot of bonuses (goldshower, joker, explosive balls, bonus magnet etc) to help you out. There are also some friendly bricks, to compensate the balance, such as the explosive bricks.
LB2 resembles much the popular Arkanoid arcade game. The idea is the same, a paddle prevents the ball from falling from the playing field, attempting to bounce it against a number of bricks. When it hits a brick, the brick goes away. When all bricks are gone, the player goes to the next level. LB2 has 50 levels, and it also offers the possibility to create completely new levelsets through the integrated easy-to-use level editor, according to your more or less merely twisted imagination. The default levels have different difficulty degrees, starting from Kids, continuing with Easy, Medium and finally Hard. I will only say that the Hard difficulty level is definitely one hell of a challenge. If you get tired with all those levels, you can always challenge your friends via LAN or internet. Fullscreen supported? Sure it is. Just press the F key and there it is.
What I forgot to mention about this game here is its impressive customization power. You can set your own controls, the Graphics or Audio settings. There are also a few themes available from which you can choose but you can download and add others too.
The Good
LB2 is just one of those old-time classic style games. It's quite simple, but it is also very entertaining and you'll always find the same fun and pleasure whenever you come back to it.
The Bad
What I did not like about it was that it is quite difficult to play it with a more sensitive mouse. The ugly part is that the game does not provide you the option of changing the mouse sensitivity. I would have also liked to provide features such as two players at the same time. I think this will be even more challenging. I think that also the graphics can be improved. LB2 has nice and elegant classic graphics, but this can be improved for a more modern aspect.
The Truth
Nice, compelling, slick, breakout game. For further details ... Go Play It!
If curious, you can also check out the screenshots below:
