Magic Orbz, or Magic Ball as it’s known by Europeans, is a downloadable game off of the Playstation Network that takes a unique spin on the brick breaking puzzle games of old such as Breakout and Arkanoid brought to us by TikGames and Creat Studios.

The game features 3D environments all made for you to destroy. See, unlike the brick breaking games of old, it’s not bricks you are breaking, but in fact 3D models of things such as buildings, pirate ships, sharks, octopi, and the list goes on and on.

Wonderful colorful 3D environments made solely for your destructive pleasure

When you first purchase the game, you start off with one set of levels which have a sea theme. You can however purchase new themed levels  such as a medieval themed set called “Wicked Witches” and just this past month there was a winter themed set of levels simply labelled the “Winter Pack.” Within the game’s menu you can also see that another set of levels is on the way as it’s simply labelled “Coming Soon.”

When you get to the actual game, you’ll notice right away that unlike the brick breakers of old, we don’t have the top-down (which seems to be the only way to really describe it.) Instead the camera is placed from a slight distance behind the paddle facing forward.

Much like more modern day brick breakers, the game has a wide variety of powerups, similar to what you would see in DX Ball for the PC. You have the basics such as power ups that stretch or shrink your paddle as well as power ups that increase or decrease the speed of your ball. You also find unique power ups such as guns to help you tear down the environments much faster, as well as lightning storms and meteor showers that just destroy anything they touch. These power ups are very fun to play with and add a nice element of gameplay that wasn’t all that common in the classics like Breakout and Arkanoid.

Graphically, the game isn’t groundbreaking, but it doesn’t need to be. What the game has graphically is enough to get the point across. The game is very colorful though and all around very appealing to the eye in that regard. The soundtrack, while nothing amazing, fits the themes of the levels and is generally perfect for the background. Just don’t expect anything that would make you consider ripping the soundtrack and putting it on your Ipod, or for those of you, like myself, still living in 2001, burning it onto a CD.

The controls of the game work as you would expect them to. There’s really no major complaints I can make with the controls because everything in that regard works fine. The paddle moves when I control it and there is absolutely no delay. If you lose, you can’t blame the game itself, it is your own fault.

Speaking of losing, the game isn’t all that difficult. There are a lot of cases where the models you destroy are so big that the ball can get caught behind it and destroy more than half of it just after you first launch the ball, not to mention while that’s going on, chances are you’ve already grabbed one of the many power ups available, such as a machine gun, bazooka, cannon, or even a laser gun which only speeds up the destruction. If you’re looking for this extremely challenging game, you aren’t going to get one. Not to say that you won’t lose, because it’s very well possible, but chances are, once you go right back into the game, you’ll beat that level with no real problem.

The only complaint I have with the game is that after a while, it can get a little repetitive and to some, boring. If you haven’t purchased the other level packs, the game becomes pretty limited in what you can do. Sure, you can play multiplayer, but even that can only get you so far. Then again, the original brick breaking games suffered from this problem as well.

To conclude, the game plays very well and looks great, however if you haven’t purchased the other level packs, you are only limited to one set of levels, which after a while, can possibly become dull to you, which is why I’m giving it 4 out of 5. I’d say if you are into brick breakers such as Breakout, Arkanoid, or DX ball, then by all means give this game a purchase, you will be satisfied.

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