Mega World Smash

In Brief

Mega World Smash is a 3D breakout/arkanoid game that was released about 8 years ago via Alawar games, it’s a meld of their old Smash Frenzy breakouts (1 to 4) that were originally called Magic Ball 1 - 4) and Strike Ball Deluxe games; taking the best of each game and combining them with the addition of a power up upgrade shop and upgrade tree and four characters with different attributes as well as boss battles.

It was originally given away January 5th 2014 where it received a 74% positive rating from 493 votes with 62 comments which you can see HERE

Introduction:

Mega World Smash is here and is packed with an incredible amount of Action & Arcade game fun! Tear through stunning scenes using your ball and paddle, unleash weapons of mass destruction, and collect stars to upgrade your bonuses. Become more and more powerful and marvel as the wildly creative levels realistically crumble to the ground around you! Take your battle across the planet in Mega World Smash!

Reference accessed HERE on the 5th Jan 2014

The Game:

Mega World Smash is a brick-breaking game that takes place in the lighthearted, somewhat tropical setting of an amusement park. With a bright and cheery atmosphere, it's an attempt to add some cheer to what has otherwise been a traditionally bland genre, visually speaking. The graphics, combined with a loose story and three-dimensional levels, help Mega World Smash stand out a little. If only it were a bit more challenging.

Like all brick-breaking games, Mega World Smash follows closely in the footsteps of titles like Breakout and Arkanoid. The struggle that most games run into is trying to stand out from those classic titles. Mega World Smash, as with all the other brick-breakers that have tried, has reminded us yet again that re-skinning Breakout and Arkanoid just leaves us with a re-skinned Breakout and Arkanoid, and not much more.

Maybe I'm being a bit unfair. Mega World Smash doesn't necessarily feel original, but it does do its best to stand out from the other games of its genre. One of the most noticeable differences is how the blocks are arranged in three-dimensional structures. Because the ball is always rolling on the ground, you can only hit the ground-level blocks. This enables gravity to take control in something I can only describe as Breakout meets Angry Birds (without the cute, slightly deformed birds, of course.)

As fun as it is to watch this structures collapse, the third dimension isn't the only tweak developer makes to the brick-breaking formula. Similar to other titles, there are power-ups and power-downs...lots of them. These features are what leads to the vast amount of collateral damage during any one of the game's 100 levels. The power-ups range from traditional items like guns and extended paddle to crazy attacks like air strikes, buzz-saws and homing missiles. The power-downs have just as many different levels of sanity. While the old favorites like small paddle and speed-up remain intact, new horrors (like “crazy ball”) make some appearances and do their best in trying to keep things fresh.

Sadly, these changes alone don't add much to make the game feel fresh for very long. After the first dozen stages, the levels start to feel somewhat stale and repetitive. The challenge is lacking as well, as extra lives are plentiful, and the ball moves quite slow. The developer has a few other tricks they try to use to keep you playing the game. The first of these is a story. Sadly, the story is really only told through occasional character dialogue and little scenes before boss battles. I credit them for trying, but a story in a brick-breaking game is like a cherry on top of your sundae: It doesn't matter how good or bad it is, it’s not why you're buying it in the first place.

The other unique quirk is the skill tree, which attempts to give Mega World Smash something of an RPG feel. As you play through levels, you'll collect stars. The stars are used to upgrade the effectiveness and duration of power-ups and abilities, and downgrade the power-downs, this is a direct copy from Strike Ball 3. Each character has his or her own specialty and that allows greater benefit in one of the parts of the tree. Like the rest of the game, the skill tree is a nice addition to the genre, but it hardly changes the core game play, and the game is easy enough where it can be played without touching the tree.

Where Mega World Smash reaches its maximum level of fun is during the boss battles. There are only five stages of the game dedicated to bosses, but they're unique creatures that add flavor and challenge to the experience. The bosses are amusing beings who include a giant enemy crab and a large pumpkin robot who speaks like Yoda. The bulk of the game is quite easy, but the bosses add a much-needed challenge. The average boss will spawn new enemies, roll mines at you, give you a random power-down, and attack you with its own projectile. A boss battle is an easy way to lose a few of your many, many lives. I'm very disappointed that there are only five bosses in the game, as they're easily the best part of the experience.

Mega World Smash is just about what you'd expect from a brick-breaking game. There's more destruction and it's certainly prettier than games like Breakout and Arkanoid. But the only challenging levels are the boss battles, and even those aren't much of an issue. If you've always felt like brick-breakers needed a bit more destruction and chaos, you're in luck. If not, you're just going to find the typical brick-breaker re-skinned into a 3D world.

Reference accessed HERE on the 29th Dec 2013

Images, Video and other Reviews

You can see another full review of the game HERE and lots of screen captures HERE as well as several videos of game play HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.

Conclusion:

Breakouts are one of my favorite genres; however, I’ve always found the 3D variety rather easy to beat. This game is no exception. Still, it’s an enjoyable mix of Alawar's old Magic Ball/Smash Frenzy and Strike Ball games, with the addition of a power-up tree and up-gradable power-ups and boss battles. I'm sure there used to be a kiddy mode as well, but couldn't find it in this version (it may be via one of the locked characters, it's been a long time since I last played the game when it was first released via Alawar? Basically Mega World Smash is a decent time waster. I’d give this game a 7.5 out of 10 for family fun.

Suggestions:

1) … Add a 2D version
2) … enable the user to select which power ups are used. (this would allow experienced players to make the game harder by reducing the number of positive power ups or conversely make it much easier by allowing players to select the positives over the negatives.
3) … Include a level editor/creator
4) … Add mini games

Problems?

If you have any problems installing or playing today's game please go to the game discussion forums where you'll find a FAQ's section HERE.

Useful Information not related to today's game giveaway:

The latest game to be given away via Epic Games this week is Inner Space a game about exploration, about player-driven moments both small and grandiose. Take your time, soar through the skies and dive through the oceans, and the secrets of the Inverse will reveal themselves. Next week we will be getting Offworld Trading Company - Mars has been colonized, and Earth's corporate titans fight to dominate this new market. Competition is fierce in this fast-paced economic RTS and GoNNER - a tough as hell score-based procedurally-generated platformer with rogue-like elements. GoNNER is also a story about friendship between Ikk, Death, and a space whale named Sally.

Don't forget to check out the Game discussion threads over in the forums for details of other free games and offers HERE (I've recently updated the thread though 'some' of the links to older bundles are no longer active; however, most of the links still take you to the latest deals); especially Delenns thread, HERE.

Three more games have been added to the indie Gala freebie section. These are Shuyan Saga - a graphic novel series where action scenes come alive in 3D combat game play. Set in an ancient Chinese martial arts fantasy universe. Mechanic Escape - a platform game full of infernal chases. Waste Walkers Deliverance a top town post apocalyptic survival RPG and the sequel to Waste Walkers (also still available HERE)

You can get Black Desert Online free until 2nd March via Steam. It's a sandbox, living-world MMORPG; with beautiful graphics, action-packed combat, hunt monsters and huge bosses, fight with friends in a guild to siege nodes and conquer castles, train your life skills such as fishing, trading, crafting, cooking, and much more! (thanks for the heads up Delenn). Also, still available to play for free via Steam until Half-Life: Alyx is released on the 23rd March the entire single player Half-Life franchise, which you'll findHERE (sadly it doesn't include the excellent Half-Life 2: Deathmatch, which is one of my favorite shooter that I still play with a few friends).