Breakout Beyond Review (Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, Switch, Atari VCS & PC)

It has been just shy of fifty years since Atari first launched its global tile-smashing phenomenon game, Breakout, and so, it does seem awfully fitting that both developer Choice Provisions and powerhouse studio Atari would return to the root of 1976’s arcade poster child to rebuild the blocks of its original design and breathe new life into its paddle-centric world.

Thankfully, Breakout Beyond, the latest installment in the series, has touched down on consoles and PC not with the intent to damage the legacy of its source, much less replace it with the incompatible DNA of an alternate IP, but to expand, evolve, and effectively spearhead a love letter to Nolan Bushnell himself, the developer who wrote the script for the blueprint just under half a decade ago.

With dazzling lights and mesmerizing neon-drenched firework effects, the latest entree in the collection captures a lot more than a word-for-word emulation of its predecessor; it brings a modern design that still manages to accredit its source while also providing exhilarating detail and an impressive array of newly crafted features, including signature power-ups, dynamic effects, and a conveyor belt of both classic and modern modes, as well as a global leaderboard, to boot. It’s still the same old pedigree as it was before, but with more pizzazz and all the technical doohickeys that comprise a genetically enhanced golden retriever, it’s a bigger, perhaps even better installation than the original. Bold words, but you can see what we’re saying.

With Breakout Beyond cutting the red ribbon and lifting the veil on its vast wealth of electrified levels and stylized features, we thought we’d venture back to 1976—to the golden age that was the blistering, block-busting, and bewilderingly beautiful Breakout series.

A Classic, Reborn

For those who happened to miss out on the original Breakout that launched back in 1976, here’s what you need to know: the game is, in some respects, a love letter to Pong, yet another arcade classic that adopted the traditional cubed ball and slab paddle style. In this representation, however, there are no second paddles to beat; instead, there are multiple layers of neon bricks, several of which contain several perks, points, and special abilities to help you accrue higher combos and rewards. As you break through each of these walls and gradually progress towards the goal point, you can also unlock the opportunity to stack your points and alter the setting to unleash dynamic effects and other elements. In layman’s terms, it’s essentially a bat-and-brick feud between a paddle and a rainbow-riddled building site — with fireworks.

Breakout Beyond flips the script ever so slightly by knocking the original blueprint on its side by ninety degrees clockwise. With a vertical twist in tow, players must battle to scrub across a series of different levels (72 in total) and earn points to unlock higher combos, perks, such as the ability to slow time or eject wider laser beams, and earn their rightful place atop the local or global leaderboard. It’s a relatively simple game to wrap your head around, but one that’s also somewhat difficult to master, doubly so given the fact that each layer of the board has its own randomly generated bricks, abilities, and other set pieces. But that’s a small part of the fun: learning how to break bricks in a timely and effective manner to earn bigger combos. It’s a darn good thing that achieving such feats is downright addictive, then, to be fair.

Brick & Mortar

The good news is, Breakout Beyond performs to the standard you would normally expect from a laser-brazen arcade shooter. And it doesn’t just flow nicely, but it also does a remarkable job of turning even the most basic backdrops into colorful works of art, most of which include an entire galaxy of moving pieces and dream-like shapes and colors. Granted, it can be a lot to take in, more so if you’re somewhat unfamiliar with lightning quick gameplay mechanics and what have you. Still, I can honestly say that the visual components that Breakout Beyond brings to the table are second to none here, and that they compliment the original source material surprisingly well. Well, at least in its own category, at least.

While a lot of these signature features are likely to feel somewhat dated to a lot of modern gamers, there’s still plenty of reasons as to why you should venture back to Atari’s golden era of arcade staples. And if the reasons mentioned above aren’t enough to convince you, then allow us to tie a ribbon on it with a conclusion that feels befitting of the experience.

Verdict

Breakout Beyond reignites the spirit of a formidable arcade classic that once held the world captive with its blistering, albeit somewhat limited gameplay style and high-octane audiovisual elements. In this recreation of the former kingpin of Pong-inspired brick brawlers, there are numerous fresh additions to carve through, including but not limited to seventy-two aesthetically distinct levels, a fresh batch of alternate game modes, and a solid selection of in-game pick-me-ups, to list just a few of its primary ingredients.

If you’ve an undying love for anything that sweats neon bricks, electric bullets, and nostalgia fodder, then you’re bound to love taking a trip down memory lane to relive the highlights of Breakout’s fruitful career as one of the most influential arcade games of all time. Breakout Beyond does its forefather a lot of justice, too, with the core DNA of the original still intact and the competitive edge still alive and kicking. To that end, it’s a lot more than your run-of-the-mill port of a former favorite; it’s the rebirth of a classic, infused with modern visuals, swifter mechanics, and a surprising amount of binge-worthy modes of play that could quite easily turn a short game into a jam-packed weekender with friends.

It’s a bit of a no-brainer at this point, to be fair. But, for the sake of answering the question of whether or not Breakout Beyond is worth picking up, I will say this: if you’re an avid fan of retro gaming, then yes — a thousand times, yes, you should check it out.