Hyperballoid HD

[Septimus Prime]

http://hyperballoidhd.com/

Welcome to the future! Hyperballoid HD is a next-gen brick-breaker arcade game developed by iSquare in cooperation with leading casual games publisher Alawar Entertainment. Using the latest cutting-edge technologies to harness the immense power of the PlayStation 3, iSquare has created an extraordinary arcade experience. Amazing art and animation, along with a bass-heavy techno soundtrack, will immerse you in the psychedelic world of Hyperballoid HD, even as feedback from the console's gamepad adds realism to the experience!

I'll pretty much buy any of these Break Out and Arkanoid clones. I ended up getting Hyperballoid HD last night, and here's my quick assessment of the game, after spending a few hours with it and finishing the first 50 levels.

Pros
+Pretty graphics.
+Responsive controls.
+Your controller vibrates whenever your paddle hits the ball, which is kind of cool.
+Novel level design (better than Magic Ball's).
+Most power ups are actually useful.
+Easy (but not too easy) trophies.
+There are a lot of levels (100 levels), and none of them feel cheap (like putting indestructible blocks or magic fountains right in your face) or ridiculously hard.

Cons
-The background's color saturation is a bit too high, and this can make some blocks hard to see.
-There are way too many indestructible blocks per level.
-Most breakable blocks take too many hits to destroy. It stops being fun when you have to hit the same lingering random block six times just to finish a level.
-You aren't awarded points for damaging blocks—only breaking them.
-The physics get a bit weird sometimes, and the ball bounces off objects at weird angles.

Overall, I quite like this game. I think it's better than both Magic Ball (Magic Orbz) and Shatter through its simplicity, but I do wish it had multiplayer. I think it's well worth $4.99 if you like this type of game.