Shatter Review

By Jason Nimer

I love what the Xbox Live and PlayStation Network services have become. During the normally slow summer gaming months, both services have stepped up the release of great downloadable games, effectively bridging the "game gap" between May and late August. It's almost bizarre to think back just a few years, when nothing of note was released between The Darkness and Bioshock. On the download front, 2009 has been the strongest year yet, with all kinds of high-profile releases hitting the consoles each week - 'Splosion Man, Shadow Complex, Unbound Saga, Battlefield 1943, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles In Time Reshelled, etc. As of this writing, not all of those games are out yet, and some of those already released aren't great, but it's safe to say that the sheer volume of releases makes downloadable games worth taking a look at. Out of all the games released so far this summer, one clearly rises above the pack and takes the crown for the very best - the PSN exclusive Shatter.

Until this game popped up on the PSN Store last week (sorry, 360 fans - this one is exclusive for now, but the PS3 is getting Castle Crashers soon, maybe Shatter will be on Live before you know it - keep your fingers crossed), I'm pretty sure I'd never even heard its name, let alone what kind of game it would be. As the favorable reviews started surfacing, I figured I'd give it a shot. It's only $7.99, right? Well, it turns out that this was the best use I'd made of eight bucks since I bought some of that compressed air stuff and fixed my laptop's DVD drive. Shatter is deceptively simple to explain, so until you play it for yourself you'll just have to take my word for it. The game is AWESOME.

Shatter is more or less Arkanoid, Pinball (NES - Mario held the paddle), Hardball, Bebop, Quester, Brick Breaker, Alleyway, Brick Mania, Devilish or Breakout, depending on which of the hundreds of variations of the basic game you are most familiar with. You know it - little paddle, bouncing ball, break the bricks and move on, right? Shatter takes this timeless game and pulls it right into present day, making the game we've all played thousands of times seem brand new (or the game you've played hundreds of thousands of times if you are my little brother's Blackberry). But if timeless gameplay was Shatter's only draw, then it would be a shoddy product indeed. Those Namco and Atari Arcade Collections aren't exactly flying off store shelves, are they? No, the brick breaker concept is there, but it has been stripped down, rebuilt and set to one of the best game soundtracks I've ever heard.

Shatter is still, at its core, a game of bouncing balls and breaking bricks. But new play concepts make the action tense and addictive. Each of the ten or so worlds is separated into eight stages and one boss fight. Boss fights? Yeah, I'll come back to that. The object of each world is the same - break all the blocks on each of the eight stages, just like all the games this is based on. The addition of power-ups, extra lives and more ball control than any game of this type had previously given players make this more than just a break-all-the-bricks game. The best are the "suck" and "blow" abilities you have at your disposal (c'mon, people - grow up). The R and L triggers allow you to "suck" the ball toward your paddle or "blow" it away, which adds a touch of strategy to the action. Is it better to keep the ball destroying blocks by blowing it away? Or should you suck power ups toward you and face increased interaction with - and the possibility of losing - the ball? At first glance, it seems like a lot to keep track of, especially when you have multiple balls in play. But the difficulty ramps up slowly and by the time you make it to the last worlds, anyone who happened to be watching would think you were an old pro. This is truly a hallmark in great game design - Shatter is challenging, but never frustrating and it consistently forces you, the player, to adapt, learn and overcome.

I know you're dying to hear about the boss fights. How do they work? What is a paddle and a ball's worst enemy? Are there any Whammies involved (Big money, no Whammies)? All good questions, but impossible to answer. The boss fights must be seen to be understood. For example, knowing what you do of the brick breaking formula, how would, say, a fight with an octopus - who's only weak point is his head - play out in a game where your ball's trajectory is tough to determine? A week ago, I wouldn't have known either. Now, that very battle is right up there with Punch-Out!!!'s Mr. Sandman and Ghostbusters: The Video Game's Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man as one of my favorite fights of 2009. (By the way, the boss' name? The Bloctopus. Awesome.)

People who know me and my musical tastes won't believe this one, but Shatter's techno inspired soundtrack serves as the glue that holds the whole wonderful package together. Usually, if it ain't European metal or 80s/90's punk rock, I have no use for it, but this game's soundtrack has bounced (pun intended) into my brain and it simply refuses to leave. There are no words, just upbeat, energetic electronica that PERFECTLY fits the mood and style of the game. Each of the ten worlds has its own style, both audio and visual, and I'm sure those versed in the genre could describe the tunes much better than I can. But if the guy who can't stand anything but wailing guitars and faster-than-a-heartbeat-after-a-marathon drumming was won over, you probably will be, too.

As I was finishing the game, I toyed with the idea of giving it only my third ever perfect score. Yes, Shatter is great. Perfect score great. But I felt I needed to dock it a handful of points because once you're done, you're pretty much done. You unlock a Boss Rush mode, which is actually very welcome and engaging, but other than that, you'll only be perfecting your high scores and placing on the online leaderboards. Scores and the amazing soundtrack aren't enough to bring most people back day after day, week after week. If they had included, say, a level editor and the ability to share your creations over the PSN, Shatter would have been a solid 100/100. As it stands, Shatter is too short and offers little reason to play through multiple times, thus no perfect score.

Also, and I might be the only one who cares about this, but I would have ignored the lack of replay if the game could have been transferred to the PSP and played on the go. In a lot of cases, playing less-complex downloadable games can feel like a compromise - why play a 2D action/puzzle game when a full disc-based 3D FPS or action/adventure title is just sitting in the system? If the game was transferable to the PSP, I would have played it at work and thus, finished it a lot faster. I guess the lack of this feature is a blessing AND a curse.

Barring some huge surprise from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles remake or Shadow Complex (you can't select the "classic" sprites in the Turtle game, so that's out; Shadow Complex does look pretty good, though), Shatter is hands-down my favorite downloadable game of 2009 and tied with Monster Hunter Freedom: Unite as my favorite overall game of the summer. For eight dollars, you simply can't do any better than Shatter. It, in all honesty, is about as perfect a game as you'll see anywhere. Download this one right now.

In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated: 97%.