Breakout Beyond—yeesh, where do I start? It takes the classic brick-breaking vibe and flips it on its head. Now, you’ve got these long playfields that just keep you smashing those bricks forever. Kind of fun, right? But oh man, you gotta unlock so much stuff. Some folks might bail before they hit that point. Others though? They’ll be at it, paddle in hand, maybe dragging a buddy into the chaos.
So, yeah, two-player co-op is the real deal here. I mean, I got sorta bored playing by myself after a while. But then my wife grabbed the second paddle, and bam, we were crushing it together. Speaking of leaderboards and whatnot—I’ll get to that later. First, you gotta dive into what they call “voyage.”
In “voyage,” you snag cool bombs, soup up your paddle, and mess with the ball speed (yep, minus some points, but whatever). Heads up, it gets rough after the first few levels, super tricky if you’re flying solo. But hey, it nails that “just one more try” itch. Seriously, get your paddle sensitivity right—it’s the difference between a win and epic fail. There are, like, 72 levels? My inner completionist lost it, but you don’t really have to do them all. It’s kinda linear, gotta beat levels one by one to open up more.
Now, the look and feel—classic yet snazzy. It’s got this “Procedural audio and visual effects thingy.” Get into that groove, and it’s like a whole show for your eyes and ears. Love that you can tweak the tunes and sound effects—makes a big difference.
But hey, back to the unlocking stuff. Seriously, locking leaderboards? Even the endless mode and the OG arcade thing are locked. What were they thinking?! It kills me. Wouldn’t it be better if this was there right off the bat? Play around, get some practice, mix things up. At least, the leaderboards separate who’s who around the globe, with friends, or by mode. Right now, my wife and I top the co-op list, but that might just mean most people dig playing solo.
Breakout’s got staying power—it’s still a blast. Can’t really mess it up, right? But Choice Provisions, locking this stuff? Almost did. Kudos to them for pulling it off anyway, just goes to show you can’t beat a classic.
