Shatter

Recently, I have purchased myself a new PC game, a game which I already had on PS3 but for some reason, I felt like owning it on PC as well as soon as I saw it on pop-up on Steam. I've waited a bit and eventually, choosing the perfect month of April, I purchased it once more. I say perfect month because on top of the games and items I bought, I had to get my car repaired which nearly killed my personal budget, so what better month than now to purchase yet another game? But it is official though; I have killed my budget. Nonetheless, it doesn't matter much because I always knew how to save money, so it's all good actually.

Shatter is a retro-inpired brick breaker game (think Arkanoid) that merges familiar actions with a unique twist and modern looks and gameplay. As with other brick-breaking titles, your goal is to conquer the levels by launching a ball or projectile and having it destroy the blocks on screen, which grants you access to the next level afterwards. What makes Shatter so different? Pretty much everything else.

The board you control is in itself different from what we have seen, where it reminds me of the one you would control in Magic Orbs on PS3, but made out of metal. You have the possibility, at any moment, to launch multiple balls into play. This is made possible by the fact that your number of lives are your number of balls, and rather than collecting a power up which multiplies the ball as with other games in the genre, you can, at will, dispatch another ball into play to the cost of a life. This manipulation alone makes you think twice before launching because while it could help you finish a level quicker, it could also mean your defeat is closer.

Some of the things that are somewhat unique features are that you can also control the ball by sucking or blowing out the air around your area. This allows you to push or pull the ball to change its direction on the field, allowing for precise control on your movements. As you break blocks, blue fragments are released which serves the purpose of filling a power meter. Collecting these fragments is, of course, easier done if you suck all of them in, but it also changes your ball direction. The power meter, once filled to maximum, is used to unleash a powerful shard storm that destroys pretty much everything in its path. I personally use it only for the end of each levels, where you encounter bosses. Of course, power ups such as rendering the ball more manoeuvrable or making it go through everything can still be collected.

Is level is made out of 7 waves along with a boss as an 8th wave. The bosses are different throughout the 10 worlds and each have different abilities, such as creating a shield for protection, pushing the air and your wall along with it, throwing projectiles and others. Some of them qill require you to use your abilities to discover their weak points as well, making for an overall better experience. The levels themselves consist of 3 templates: Some are made like the original games from bottom to top, others are made from left to right, and there's also ones that are round, in a circle shape. Sort of a variation of the bottom to top version.

Shatter has several different modes, including ones that are exclusive to PC, although I believe these will eventually be added to the PS3 version as well. The modes are as follows:

- Story mode: The regular gameplay experience through 10 different worlds.
- Endless: The name itself pretty much says it. It's en extended, endless mode.
- Endless Co-Op
- Time Attack: A mode where you complete worlds as quickly as possible.
- Time Attack Co-Op
- Bonus mode: At the end of each world you are brought into Bonus mode to rack up points, here you can play them on their own.
- Boss Rush: Defeat every bosses one after the other as quickly as possible.

Shatter definitely is a great game with a classic feel yet great looking and current gen. The music, visuals and everything makes this one of the best brick-breaking games out there in my personal opinion. For your viewing pleasure, I have recorded myself playing the fourth World, which is called Krypton Garden. I haven't unlocked everything as you will see because I did this relatively quickly after buying the game, but I sure will take the time unlock every modes as I did on PS3 in the past. Oh and don't mind the clumsy parts, I hadn't played in a while ;p