Today we’re taking a look at a free game called Brick Annoyed, developed by Omikron. Brick Annoyed is yet another Breakout clone. A brave (or silly?) move considering the Market is teeming with them, but then the format has always been popular. To give the format a little twist, there are also geo-location based high scores. Here’s the official description from the Android Market:-
Brick Annoyed is classic arcade game. You have to destroy all balloons on the screen to advance to the next level.
Gadgets will fall from some balloons and help you finishing the level or even get you an extra ball.
Global geoscore: http://www.party-ville.com/ba
Gameplay, like in all Breakout clones, revolves around trying to clear all of the bricks (or as is the case here, brick-shaped balloons) from each level using a bat and ball. The ball flies towards the bricks, damaging them and eventually bounces back towards the ground/space/thin air, you need to position the bat so as to prevent the ball landing/being lost/disappearing (if this format is completely alien to you, then you should probably avoid downloading any games for any device. Ever.). The game is controlled by one of two methods – you can either use your device’s accelerometer, or you can swipe across the touchscreen to change direction. The controls (both accelerometer and touchscreen) seemed just ever-so-slightly sluggish in the response to me, but otherwise worked fine.
There are two different game modes: Ball, in which you follow the standard Breakout format of smashing the balloons with your bat and ball, and Clock, in which you follow the standard Breakout format of smashing the balloons with your bat and ball…against the clock. There’s little noticeable difference between the two game modes, except that the Clock mode gets much more difficult to progress in as you increment through the levels. Graphically, whilst the game isn’t going to win any awards, it’s simple, bright, easy on the eye and has a polished, cartoony feel to it.
The gameplay is pretty much what you’d expect from a Breakout clone- you’re not going to come across many surprises here, but it’s well put together and instantly playable, which I suppose is all you can ask of a free casual game. I did find that, in addition to the slightly sluggish response I mentioned above, that the game occasionally lagged a little, but I tested it on a Hero, so it will presumably fare better on current generation Android devices.
Overall, I can’t think of too much that’s wrong with Brick Annoyed. It’s a solid, straightforward Breakout clone that does exactly what it says on the tin. But at the same time, that’s what holds games like Brick Annoyed back – in a Market that’s filled to bursting with clones of classic games, it would be nice to see a novel approach to an old format to make a title really stand out from the rest. However, it would be unfair to use this criticism as a negative mark against Brick Annoyed. It’s well put together, I noticed no bugs and it’s definitely an above average example of it’s genre. Add to that the fact that Brick Annoyed is free and I’d say it’s well worth a look.
Some selected comments from users of Brick Annoyed:-
“Great! Totally worth downloading.” – (5 out of 5 stars)
“Yea this is an above average paddle game. Good work the shifting background is a nice touch” – (4 out of 5 stars)
“The game has the ability to improve, however lag and lack of response for the Cliq is the reason for the uninstall” – (3 out of 5 stars)