Previous Next

Aging arcade games always go through a revival stage, with a conversion to the ST and a "classic" label - Defender, Robotron, Space Invaders and Pac-Man. Most old coin-ops become in vogue once again, and game-players buy them in droves to recreate nostalgic periods in their youths.

Breakout's been there more times than most, with both straight conversions of the arcade game, and offerings which break the original boundaries and actually add something to the game - Arkanoid's a good example here. There hasn't been a Breakout clone released since the birth of ST Format, so it's a bit of a surprise to see this...

Enter WalZ, stage left.

It's too expensive. Before the review even begins, before we even load up the game, £19.63 ($29.95) is way, way too much to ask for any kind of Breakout clone. Maybe the North American market can stand this kind of prices, but when CWest release this in Europe they need to seriously rethink their pricing strategy.

This is compounded by - yes, sorry, negative vibes are flowing - that fact that WalZ is not even a very good conversion of Breakout. There are a few frilly additions, such as "goodies" which float down from certain bricks and give you special bonuses and powers, but they only add a certain amount of interest to the game. There's also a mode called "English", where the direction and velocity of the bat have an effect on the movement of the ball. A good idea, but to have an effect the bat has to be travelling fairly quickly - in which case you normally miss the ball completely. And why's it called "English"?

The goodies can make your bat grow or shrink, make the ball stronger or disappear completely, finish a level or kill you off at a stroke (if, indeed, you can "kill" a bat). This idea was introduced in a game called Arkanoid now available from the budget label Hit Squad in the late '80s, but then everything in that game was so much more polished than in WalZ.

The first word that enters your head when playing WalZ, if you either order it from CWest or wait for it to be distributed in the UK, is "Why?" or more accurately "Why now?" Are they expecting a rush of interest in early '80s coin-ops? Do they really think they can sell any at just under 20 quid? It's a bit of a mystery.

The Breakout elements are average, while the goodies and English mode don't add very much. Buy Arkanoid 2 - it's over a tenner cheaper, and a whole lot better.

1. Goodies fall from the sky.
2. Whole new mode of bat operation.
3. Hmmmm, not a lot really.

1. Dull, dull, dull. Nothing new, everything bloody old.