Bust’em
2 by Digital
Concepts, Price: $6.99
Reviewed September 2003
The talent of Digital Concepts just keeps
on shining. They have made a Breakout game that changed the
way you look at that genre, a space shooter that looked and
played like no other space shooter game, a motocross game
that made X-gamers heartbeats race, and now they are just
showing off! With an additional 100 great looking levels
of frantic fun, Bust’em 2 screams its way onto our
Pocket PC. And from what we can tell, it will give you another
wild and trippy run at this unusual Breakout game that’s
only loosely based on the original game play.
Like the first Bust’em game,
Bust’em 2 isn’t about endlessly moving a paddle
and bouncing a ball to break block formations. It’s
about the actions and those power ups that generate them,
and there are more than plenty of both to go around in Bust’em
2. For Bust’em fans, this game is a no-brainer. You
want to buy it now. The newly added power ups alone are worthy
the price of admission. You will find many if not all the
power ups from Bust’em making appearances in this sequel:
various ball types, food items and soda cans that duplicate
and spit out balls and screaming airplanes spraying an army
of attacking balls. There are new powers up like the gophers
who mow the debris of the blocks, rockets that you can shoot
up with your paddle and many more items that trap your balls
into an early death.
The graphics in Bust’em looked so
good that you can hardly think they could be improved. But
Bust’em 2 proved that assumption wrong. In addition
to the various frame shapes found in Bust’em, this
sequel has added some teeth and small platforms to the frame,
adding dynamic moves to your balls. For every few levels
you clear, you get rewarded with a new frame design that
has both an interesting shape and 3D texture. Marble and
mahogany never looked so good! Of course, you will enjoy
the flying debris of the blocks, power up items and balls
when they hit the ground, and the animation of those little
ground critters when they dig up the debris and spray it
around your paddle. The power up effects are just as spectacular
as in the last game with some new special effects that come
with the new power ups.
The sound FX kept its signature crashing,
screaming and exploding audio palette, while the music tracks
are perfectly composed to go with the game pace. You will
find volume controls for both sound FX and music in the Options
menu. And to keep the Cheat-code tradition, you will find
a cheat sheet in Game Info. We’ve tested the game on
both Pocket PC 2002 and 2003 devices and it runs fine on
both. Bust’em 2 takes about 2MB storage space.
If you are new to the game of Bust’em
series, you might look at the screen full of dancing balls
eating up the blocks in awe. But for those of you who had
enjoyed the first game and will look for the nuances and
new excitement in Bust’em 2, you won’t be disappointed.
Playing Hints and Tips
Unlike in the first Bust’em game,
there are no introduction levels to the new power ups. You
need to observe what these power ups do to you during the
game and remember to pick the up or avoid them at all cost. |
