Yeah! one of my all time favourite arcade genres; though, I prefer the harder 2D versions to most 3D versions, which in my opinion tend to be too easy to beat; Mega World Smash is no exception. Breakouts were the third type of arcade game that I ever played when they became available in the arcades. Pong and Space Invaders were the first and second. The creator of the first breakout was inspired by the game Pong; you can see the similarities. If you ever come across either of the games Rival Ball Tournament or Little Gods, both of which are a combination of Breakout and Pong, grab them, they are both brilliant arcade games. Another Pong/Breakout clone called Geometry Ball was given away here way back, but can now be found free HERE

Mega World Smash:

In Brief:
Mega World Smash is a 3D breakout/arkanoid game that was released about 16 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 the three 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.

We've been given this game twice previously; the first time via Alawar Entertainment was way back on January 5th 2014 where it gained a positive 74% from 493 votes with 61 comments, which you can see HERE. It was also given away for the second time on March 1st 2020 where it received a positive 93% from 29 votes with 18 comments which you can check out HERE

Images, Video and other Reviews

You can see another full review of the game HERE I used to have over 30 images posted as a slide show via Photobucket, but they changed the number of images you could store for free, reducing the amount drastically. When I tried to access them last year, I was asked to pay some exorbitant monthly fee to unlock thousands of images I'd uploaded via different accounts. You can also see several videos of game play HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.

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 favourites 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 flavour 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

Conclusion:
Breakouts are one of my favourite 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 kiddie mode where you couldn't lose the ball, but I 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 around 16 years ago apart from when it was given away each time. I think this was the last game I beta tested for Alawar before they changed their beta testers policy? Basically Mega World Smash is a decent time waster. I’d give this game a 7.5 out of 10 for family fun.

Suggestions:

The following suggestions are probably now moot as it's unlikely Alawar would bother to change anything so long after it's release, but I thought I'd leave the following suggestions that I originally made back in 2014
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