BreakQuest - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

BreakQuest is a multi-platform Breakout

Breakout clone

A Breakout clone is a sub-class of the "bat-and-ball" genre introduced with the Magnavox Odyssey's Tennis and Atari's Pong...

-style game created by Nurium Games, later ported to Mac OS by Red Marble Games

Red Marble Games

Red Marble Games was started in 2002 by Mark Batten with the intent of porting the best indie games from Windows to the Macintosh. The Macintosh platform is infamous for its dearth of commercial video games , and the indie realm is no different...

. It was released on November 16, 2004, and was published by Stardock

Stardock

Stardock Corporation is a software development company founded in 1991 and incorporated in 1993 as Stardock Systems. Stardock initially developed for the OS/2 platform, but was forced to switch to Windows due to the collapse of the OS/2 software market between 1997 and 1998...

as part of TotalGaming.net.
PSP Minis version developed and published by Beatshapers

Beatshapers

Beatshapers Ltd. is a new generation video game developer and publisher working on global markets for seventh generation handhelds and consoles and Apple Inc...

released in Europe/Asia with PSP Go

PSP Go

The PSP Go is a version of the PlayStation Portable handheld game console manufactured by Sony. It was released on October 1, 2009 in American and European territories, and on November 1 in Japan. It was revealed prior to E3 2009 through Sony's Qore VOD service...

launch, October 1, 2009. It was later released in the North America region for PSP Go on March 18, 2010.

2-D physics engine

The most unusual aspect of the game is the use of the DynaMo physics engine. The engine enables all the objects in a level to interact with each other in a simulated physics environment. This allows for much more interesting gameplay, as the blocks and other objects respond realistically to collisions with the ball and each other. In many levels, some blocks or objects hang on strings that spin or move when hit, or are otherwise mobile. Sometimes, this can become chaotic as dozens of blocks, balls, and objects fly around and bump into each other. The use of the physics engine makes the levels in BreakQuest very dynamic, as opposed to the static brick formations seen in traditional breakout levels.

Storyline

A huge corporation rules the world by making thousands of TV channels and shows for people to watch. Everyone becomes addicted, starting the destruction of human intelligence. The player has to put up a transmitter

Transmitter

In electronics and telecommunications a transmitter or radio transmitter is an electronic device which, with the aid of an antenna, produces radio waves. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which is applied to the antenna. When excited by this alternating...

to stop the satellite signals and end the corporation's rule.

Gameplay

There are two modes of play: Arcade

Arcade game

An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...

and Quest

Quest

In mythology and literature, a quest, a journey towards a goal, serves as a plot device and as a symbol. Quests appear in the folklore of every nation and also figure prominently in non-national cultures. In literature, the objects of quests require great exertion on the part of the hero, and...

. Quest is basically a "campaign mode", where the levels are played in order, while in Arcade, the goal is to beat random levels as fast as possible.

Unlike most Arkanoid clones, BreakQuest includes some innovative features:

Power-Ups

BreakQuest incorporates some unique power-ups that, for example, change the shape of the ball or bumper, or make your bumper "drunk". Most of these make the game harder by making it more difficult to predict the movements of the ball. Many of the bumper transforming effects can be combined, resulting in a large number of possible bumper shapes.

Other unique power-ups include "weapon" power-ups, such as mines, which are delivered using the ball. When a mine power-up is active, any ball touching the players' bumper attaches a mine. The mine is deposited when the ball next
touches something, and explodes shortly after.

Level Design

The 100 levels

Level (video gaming)

A level, map, area, or world in a video game is the total space available to the player during the course of completing a discrete objective...

available in the game have each been designed with their own theme, realised with distinct sound and visual effects, also utilizing some features of the physics engine. Depending on what mode

Mode

Mode may mean:* Transport mode, a means of transportation* Block cipher modes of operation, in cryptography* A technocomplex of stone tools...

of difficulty the player picks, they will get a 'key' to permanently make the level available.

Gravitator

Another notable element in BreakQuest is the Gravitator, which can be used to attract any balls towards the bottom of the screen. With sufficient skill, it can be used to guide a ball towards a specific block. This alleviates the difficulty of hitting the last block in a level, a problem present in many breakout games.
Unfortunately, since Gravitator attracts toward the screen bottom, not the ship itself, it cannot be used to curve a ball travelling perfectly vertically, such as the initial shot at the beginning of every level.

Reserve ball

A reserve ball is an extra ball that the player starts with for every life. If the main ball is lost, the reserve ball is released. The player also has the choice of manually releasing the reserve ball. It is possible to gain additional reserve balls by collecting power-ups.

PSP minis version

BreakQuest PlayStation mini version developed and published by Beatshapers

Beatshapers

Beatshapers Ltd. is a new generation video game developer and publisher working on global markets for seventh generation handhelds and consoles and Apple Inc...

, features some modifications (according to developer's interview): levels are modified to fit PSP

PlayStation Portable

The is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Corporation Development of the console was announced during E3 2003, and it was unveiled on , 2004, at a Sony press conference before E3 2004...

widescreen resolution, some levels are simplified to make a game playable because of performance issues. Also custom editable Arcade mode also has been removed, only preset modes (Beginner, Minimal, Fast, Armageddon, etc.) left in PlayStation version.

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