ArkanoArena
is the rebirth of the classic brick-busting game Arkanoid for the mobile gaming
generation. It's not just a simple port of some old PC code from the 90s,
though, as ArkanoArena would be unrecognizable at first glance to anyone
familiar with the old games. Gone are the brightly colored bricks and the shiny
silver paddle, replaced by a hardened steel industrial look with a slight
steampunk vibe to it. The gameplay is unmistakable, though, as you glide your
paddle across the bottom of the screen to keep a ball in play long enough to
destroy all of the bricks filling the screen. Embedded in some of the bricks are
power-ups that grant temporary powers, some good such as ball-splitters that let
you play multiball, and some bad such as ball speed increasers or paddle
shorteners. The game wisely gives you some extra space at the bottom of the
screen to use to swipe your finger back and forth to move your paddle, so you
never miss a shot because your finger was obscuring the paddle. On the other
hand, on occasion it seems to lose track of your finger, requiring you to
quickly tap and swipe in order for it to pick up your finger again before the
ball in play drops through. Each level has a par time and other chances to pick
up bonus points, which can be exchanged for weapons in the game's shop. The
weapons include a short term machine gun that lets you fire projectiles up at
the bricks to knock them out yourself, a one-shot rocket launcher that will
destroy a cluster of bricks when it hits, and a lightning bolt that will arc
through a series of bricks.
The game features three modes of play, although they all use the same
progression of levels and are really just rule variants. The first mode lets you
play until you drop three balls, although you can continue from the level at
which your game ended, the second doesn't let you continue, and the last only
gives you one ball for the whole game, but starts you out with a full set of
weapons.
ArkanoArena makes for some great arcade fun, and if you enjoy Breakout or
Arkanoid style games, you'll love adding this to your iOS game collection.
ArkanoArena
is the rebirth of the classic brick-busting game Arkanoid for the mobile gaming
generation. It's not just a simple port of some old PC code from the 90s,
though, as ArkanoArena would be unrecognizable at first glance to anyone
familiar with the old games. Gone are the brightly colored bricks and the shiny
silver paddle, replaced by a hardened steel industrial look with a slight
steampunk vibe to it. The gameplay is unmistakable, though, as you glide your
paddle across the bottom of the screen to keep a ball in play long enough to
destroy all of the bricks filling the screen. Embedded in some of the bricks are
power-ups that grant temporary powers, some good such as ball-splitters that let
you play multiball, and some bad such as ball speed increasers or paddle
shorteners. The game wisely gives you some extra space at the bottom of the
screen to use to swipe your finger back and forth to move your paddle, so you
never miss a shot because your finger was obscuring the paddle. On the other
hand, on occasion it seems to lose track of your finger, requiring you to
quickly tap and swipe in order for it to pick up your finger again before the
ball in play drops through. Each level has a par time and other chances to pick
up bonus points, which can be exchanged for weapons in the game's shop. The
weapons include a short term machine gun that lets you fire projectiles up at
the bricks to knock them out yourself, a one-shot rocket launcher that will
destroy a cluster of bricks when it hits, and a lightning bolt that will arc
through a series of bricks.