{"id":1234768,"date":"2025-02-25T10:41:36","date_gmt":"2025-02-25T15:41:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/?p=1234768"},"modified":"2025-02-25T10:41:36","modified_gmt":"2025-02-25T15:41:36","slug":"ataris-side-scrolling-breakout-reboot-arrives-on-march-25","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/?p=1234768","title":{"rendered":"Atari\u2019s side-scrolling Breakout reboot arrives on March 25"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Proving that truly no IP is safe from modern reboot culture<\/a>, Atari\u2019s Breakout<\/em> is back. The upcoming version of the simple 1976 brick-smashing hit rotates the playing field by 90 degrees and adds auto-scrolling, neon effects, power-ups and local co-op. In other words, Breakout Beyond<\/em> is the Tetris Effect <\/em>formula<\/a> applied to the Led Zeppelin-era arcade classic.<\/p>\n

The original Breakout<\/em><\/a> was a product of dramatically more limited 1970s hardware, but its simplicity was part of its magic. Rows of bricks sat up top, a player-controlled paddle lived down below and a \u201cball\u201d (actually a square, thanks to \u201870s graphics) bounced in between. Move paddle, hit ball, smash bricks, wow bellbottom-wearing arcadegoers.<\/p>\n

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The core formula \u2014 moving a paddle to bounce projectiles against bricks \u2014 remains intact in Breakout Beyond<\/em>. But the game\u2019s landscape perspective, while better suited for today\u2019s televisions and monitors, may be hard for old-school gamers to get used to. Ditto for auto-scrolling, as this version pans left-to-right toward a goal rather than simply requiring you to break all the bricks on a fixed screen.<\/p>\n

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Visually, the new version\u2019s ball is more like a comet, with a long neon tail trailing off behind its round head. Seizure-inducing effects abound. And there are multiple balls to contend with, not just one. (However, Super Breakout<\/em><\/a>, the original game\u2019s direct sequel, had two modes with extra balls.)<\/p>\n

Like Tetris Effect<\/em>, Breakout Beyond<\/em> introduces combos, rewarding you with intensified visual and sound effects for stringing together streams of broken bricks. You can also break special blocks that unlock power-ups: bombs that clear out everything from a set radius, a force field to shield the ball and a freakin\u2019 laser cannon that lets you blast bricks out of your way, a la Space Invaders<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The game supports two-player local co-op so you can smash bricks with a couch buddy. It has 72 levels and an optional focus mode that slows down time (at the expense of higher scores).<\/p>\n

Breakout Beyond<\/em> will arrive on PC, Switch, Xbox Series X\/S and Xbox One, PlayStation 5\/4 and Atari\u2019s rebooted VCS console on March 25. It costs $15, but there’s a 10 percent discount if you pre-order<\/a>.<\/p>\n