A great modern take on the Breakout formula.
Cons: Awkward, unbindable controls; Bosses can be frustrating
The idea behind Shatter seems so blatantly obvious that I feel embarrassed for the game development community (myself included…sort of) that nobody thought of it before. Basically, take Breakout, but add control.
"What? That doesn't make a lick of sense" I hear you ask. And certainly it sounds like I've just spoken a bunch of hogwash, but bear with me. Whereas most Breakout games only allow you to control the paddle and by extension, the ball it bounces, indirectly, Shatter lets you influence almost everything on-screen. Blocks break into fragments that you can collect for points and multipliers, but you have to suck them towards your paddle like a vacuum. Which also sucks in the ball. AND any loose blocks floating around.
Alternatively you could blow the shards, blocks, and ball away from you. And you can also throw a few more balls into the mix if you have the lives, allowing for more crazy combo-ing. And if you fill up your energy meter, you can unleash a satisfying machine gun attack on any blocks in your path. With a little less power, you can use a shield, which protects your paddle from harm, and allows you to smash blocks flying your way.
Basically, at any point in Shatter, there is a lot going on. And you have some level of control over all of it. But of course, you have to have crazy coordination and a knack for physics to do that. Which means that to get a higher score than all of your friends (whose scores smugly mock you from the corner of the screen), you need to play a lot and improve. Throw in a few different modes and Shatter is highly addictive, and highly polished, probably making it the best rendition of Breakout to date. Period.
It's not without its flaws, mind you. For one, the controls are mapped in an inherently awkward way, forcing you to bunch your left hand in an uncomfortable spot on the keyboard, where you may have a tendency to accidently drop a finger on the launch-extra-ball button. This wouldn't be so bad if the controls were rebindable, but they aren't (fortunately the controller is supported). The bosses at the end of each stage, however fun they can be, can also cause you to launch into a fit with the sheer volume of things that they fling at you in some fights. These are minor complaints in the long run, but they do frustrate pretty strongly when you encounter them.
In any case, Shatter is a fantastic entry into its genre, and sufficiently modernizes the package to make chasing high scores addicting again. Shatter does to brick breaking games what Geometry Wars did for the twin stick shooter, or Pac-Man Championship Edition did to…Pac-Man. And much like those games, this one definitely belongs in the collection of modern arcade classics as well as your collection.