Amazing Breaker Review: Explosive Fun!

App Name:	Amazing Breaker
Platforms:	iPhone, iPod Touch
Publisher(s):	Dekovir
Version Reviewed:	1.0.4
Genre(s):	Puzzle
Release Date:	August 29, 2011
Price:	$0.99
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Puzzle games in the vein of Angry Birds and Cut the Rope — puzzlers with simple basics, lots of game levels, and three-starred ratings — have become a cornerstone staple of the App Store. One recent release that’s distinguished itself from the pack is Amazing Breaker , a catapult-style puzzler that packs a big bang.

In Amazing Breaker, you launch glowing, exploding baubles at colorful sculptures of ice. The goal is to blow up as much of the sculpture as possible; the more you blow up, the better your ranking, and if you don’t hit a destructive minimum you fail and have to start over. Helping you along the way are various kinds of bombs — chaining bombs, ghost bombs, bombs that split into threes — and you also have the ability to earn more bombs as you destroy (and figuring out how to get those extra bombs is necessary to defeat some levels).

In general, the game is very fun to play. Any game that roots itself in explosive destruction is a good one. Firing off bombs is fun, and creating chains of six, seven, even eight bombs to all explode in a row is both challenging and rewarding. Like any good puzzle game, this one offers that “one more try” element — if you fail, you want to do it just *one more time*, and if you succeed, there’s just *one more level* to play before you’re done.

The game’s interesting visuals help, too. Instead of bright, clean colors or a cartoony look, this game almost feels Victorian, with a steampunk flavoring to it. The “ice sculptures” that you destroy look great, generally, with some interesting color use and a sheen that almost feels like glass.

That’s not to say the game doesn’t suffer from some problems. Principal amongst these is that there’s simply not enough room at the bottom of the screen to aim and align your shot. The catapult is too close to the scoring bar, and so when you pull all the way back you can easily slip into the scoring zone and launch before you’re ready. This can get really frustrating!

There’s also some issues with difficulty. First, it’s one of those games that only awards you a full 3 stars with 100% destruction; so even if there’s a sliver of ice left, a handful of pixels so small you can barely see it … that’s 99% and you’re out one star. These kinds of games can definitely irritate.

Second, the game sometimes suffers from a bumpy difficulty progression. One board can seem ridiculously easy; but it can be followed by a board that makes you want to spit in frustration. Granted, all puzzle games suffer this to some degree. But the problem seemed especially acute at times in Amazing Breaker. I hope future levels even things out a bit.

While I don’t foresee Amazing Breaking joining the ranks of an Angry Birds or a Cut the Rope in the annals of all-time great puzzle games, it is a very solid title. With some update tweaks and some better managed update levels, it can certainly become one of those games you keep on your iPhone for a long time.

Our Score: 4 out of 5.

About the Author

Writer@Large Brian P. Hudson is an educator and freelance writer currently living in Dearborn, MI.

 

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