At its core, Devilish might seem like just another Breakout clone. One paddle, one ball, loads of helpful power-ups and a ton of stuff to break. But Devilish has a few differences between itself and Breakout that not only add to the game’s fun, but make it more than just a copycat game. However, it’s also a game with a lot of opportunity left to waste, and that’s a pity, because those few differences really aren’t implemented as well as they could be.
In Devilish, the main character, a princess of a far-away land, finds her world invaded by Satan and his army. In the ensuing chaos, her mother dies, and the king escapes with his daughter to safety. Apparently, their mission is to fight back against Satan’s minions and regain control of their land, but how the Breakout-style game play factors into this, I don’t know. I guess they just needed the story to make the title fit.
The original Devilish first appeared on the Sega Genesis, but Starfish decided to update it for the DS. Unfortunately, they decided to leave touch-screen interfacing out of the game, something that could have resulted in a quality gaming experience. Instead, we’re left with just using the directional pad and L and R buttons to move and rotate the paddles.
Yes, that’s right. I said paddles. Devilish has two of them; one at the bottom of the screen, and another that can be moved up and down the screen and rotated to help better control where the ball goes. It’s a nice little feature, and one that lets you play the game a lot easier.
It doesn’t help that the ball only seems to bounce off at 45 degree angles from the paddle’s surface, but at least the freedom to move both paddles around on the screen allowed for some unique level designs.
The graphics of Devilish are passable at best, but they’re nothing that will make you want to rip out your eyeballs, thankfully. They’re just nothing that is really exciting or new. If I hadn’t told you that the game was an update of a Sega Genesis game, then the uninspired soundtrack, in all its MIDI glory, might give it away.
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