If there’s a genre that you probably wouldn’t expect to take off, it’d be the brick breaker. I have nothing against games like Arkanoid, but there’s not a whole lot of room for improvement. At least, that’s probably your initial thought. Recent years have brought some fantastic titles with the brick breaking base, such as Sidhe’s Shatter and Tribute Games’ Wizorb. As something that many new developers typically make as their first game, I’m always intrigued by what kind of new content people bring to the tried and true formula.

The gimmick behind Energy Invasion isn’t that you break blocks with the ball you bounce back and forth, but rather with projectiles that ball emits. Essentially, the ball serves as a vehicle that you’ll be using to shoot from. So instead of merely aiming the ball, you’ll be timing the shots from the ball in directions with the right stick. Is there a block to the left of the ball? Shoot to the left. Are you above a ton of blocks bouncing between them and the ceiling? Shoot down. It’s nothing drastically different from the norm, other than the fact you’ll be utilizing a second analog stick.

There are a few modes here, although none of them differ all that much. Invasion features enemies that will shoot projectiles that will kill you if they make contact. There are also some interesting graphical changes later on that will remove all your projectiles and probably result in your death as it’s much more difficult to see what’s happening unless you are prepared. Linear mode is basically invasion but without any of the extra difficulties. And like any game such as this, there’s an endless mode for those that want to just break some bricks. Once you die, you’ll see your score and where you place on the leaderboards.

The amount of lives you are provided is generous as you progress through the game, although I can’t tell you when exactly you earn new lives. The game also has power-ups such as a bar that keeps you from needing to hit the projectile, as well as an extended paddle, but again, these aren’t obviously attainable. It just so happened I got them after breaking a block at random. If you die, some blocks will require more hits to destroy them, thus extending the life of the level and making you work for that life you just lost – these are the only obvious visual change. Perhaps a weird complaint, but one I realized I had while playing the linear mode – without seeing my score constantly while playing, I didn’t feel any sort of compulsion to keep playing. Seeing that with a “next highest score” sort of thing would drive me to keep progressing, but I found myself getting bored halfway through the levels (which I knew after quitting and seeing I had finished about 50% of them – my score didn’t count because I quit though).

The soundtrack is fine, but it doesn’t grab me in the same way that Shatter‘s soundtrack did (or still does, as I have it in regular rotation in my music library). The visuals aren’t spectacular or out to do anything especially different, but they work for what the game is and does. Controls are about as basic as they come, although the shooting frequency can at times be sporadic and not necessarily make sense to the player without extensive time with the game – these are likely caused by power-ups and power-downs.

If you’re hankering for a new brick breaking title, Energy Invasion is definitely an option you can consider. But if you are looking for something truly different in the genre and haven’t played the aforementioned titles in the opening paragraph, I’d say you should play those first. If you still need some bricks to break, then you can hop into this.

5 out of 10

Pros

• New Brick Breaking Mechanic
• Several Modes

Cons

• Lack of Visual Cues
• No Compelling Motivators
• Unpolished

Energy Invasion was developed and published by Sometimes You. It’s due out January 11th, 2018 for PC, PS4, Vita, and Switch. The game was provided to us for review on PS4. For more on Energy Invasion, check out the game’s Steam page.

 

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