Hands down this game is the best ball breaker since Arkanoid. With over 100 levels, dozens of crazy power-ups, 78 different bricks, and a level editor, Deep Ball Defender is just what the brick breaking enthusiast has been looking for.
Game play is your standard affair. Balls bounce, bricks break, power-ups drop and everybody wins. However, Deep Ball Defender’s power-ups go far beyond the normal ones you would expect.
Sure you still get the usual three balls and wide paddle options, but you also get some crazy stuff like eight balls or the really cool mother ball, which makes your ball create a mini ball every time it destroys a brick.
What’s even cooler is that all the power-ups can stack so you can have eight balls that all spit mini balls every time they destroy a brick. You can even set them on fire so they’ll destroy even a five hit block in one shot. Simply put, it’s just fun.
Mouse controls are tight, however playing the game with a touch pad is a real pain and it would’ve been nice if the game supported keyboard controls for laptop players, or people who just aren’t good with a mouse.
Levels are divided into lots of ten, and are actually fairly difficult. Many levels will have you repeatedly bouncing the ball only a handful of pixels away from the bottom gap. It requires a great deal of skill, but that’s what makes the game fun.
Eventually the game’s 100 levels will become tiring, but luckily developer BD Studios was prepared and included a level editor. Now granted the editor is very basic, just point and click, but it works.
The only problem with the editor is that it’s a separate application instead of simply part of the main game. Had the editor been smoothly integrated into the main game you could easily test your levels without having to switch applications and things would be much easier.
It’s simple, but if you love games like Arkanoid or Breakout, it’s going to give you a lot of fun.
Deep Ball Defender costs $19.95 and can be ordered through the BD Studios Web site.
Article comments
1 - Ken Edwards
Now, if they would only make this game for the Mac.
2 - Phillip Winn
If only they would make many games for the Mac, Ken!
Actually, I've got more games than I could ever hope to exhaust already on my Mac and in my browser, but somehow that doesn't help when I see a certain game, like this one!
3 - Ken Edwards
Now if only I had an Intel-based Mac, I could play this running Boot Camp or Parallels.