LifeisXbox’s Shatter: Remastered Deluxe review | You only need to glimpse a screenshot of Shatter to understand what kind of game it is. Yes, this is basically the Breakout/Arkanoid you remember playing as a kid, but with more bells and whistles. The goals is to hit all the bricks on the board, some more durable than others, but keeping your ball in the playing field and bouncing it off your paddle.
Where Shatter changes things up is in the spectacle it brings: explosions, temporary power ups that are more impressive than the ones from the source of inspiration, and adding more modes and awesome boss battles.
The original Shatter, made by PikPok, was first released back in 2010, but the Remastered version lets you relive the award-winning classic that redefined the brick-breaking genre. It brings a 4K resolution to the table and runs at 120fps, has an updated UI, and many more visual improvements.
Most Memorable Moment
The first time I filled up the power bar and entered slow motion to release a barrage of artillery shots at the defenseless bricks. The poor little rectangles never knew what hit them.
ℹ️ Reviewed on Xbox Series X | Review code provided by Stride PR, this review is the personal opinion of the writer.
What we Liked!
- Spectacular effects | The particles fly off the screen (in fact, you can even collect them to power up your special attack) and make the game look absolutely spectacular. There are many special bricks to hit and power ups to collect that keep the game looking fresh.
- Wind steering | You can press RT to blow wind from your spaceship-paddle or LT to suck things towards you. Without this feature, it would be a lot more difficult to hit those final bricks and get that ball exactly where you need it. Boss Battles especially make clever use of this.
- Soundtrack | Shatter has an original soundtrack that perfectly fits the genre, and it has now been remixed and remastered in 5.1 surround sound for your listening pleasure.
- Plenty of things to do | There is a 10-stage single player campaign, an endless mode, a boss rush mode and more to keep you busy. I also found it pretty addictive to replay certain levels and get a better score than my Xbox Live friends.
- Co-op | You can invite a friend to play with you in the co-op mode. Which gets pretty hectic, but the on-screen action is amplified even more.
Mixed Feelings
- Oversteering | The default controls really weren’t doing it for me. I was constantly overshooting my attempts to save the ball, and only after I turned down the paddle sensitivity to about 0.7 did I find it accurate enough to predict where it will stop. Good that they added the settings, but I wonder if the default is giving every else the same issues as me.
- Linear campaign | I know this is the case for almost every game, but when it’s an arcade experience I prefer to see all modes unlocked from the start and the Boss Rush mode is locked behind completing the game first. So if you really aren’t that good at it, you risk not being able to experience a significant part of the game.
What we Disliked
- The rounded levels | While I did like that they add an extra way of playing the game and change this up, it was VERY hard to pinpoint where your ball would end up and I’d sometimes waste minutes getting that last brick to be hit.
- Difficult Boss | The single player has a halfway boss that was way more difficult than any of the others, and I almost quit playing the game because of it. It also adds to the frustration that you have to replay the 7 levels before him if you should die during the boss fight and run out of continues.
How long to beat the story | ~2-3 hours depending on how good you are
How long to achieve 1000G | ~6 hours to get all achievements (if you have the skills!)
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Robby lives and breathes video games. When he’s not playing them, he’s talking about them on social media or convincing other people to pick up a controller themselves. He’s online so often, he could practically list the internet as his legal domicile. Belgian games-industry know-it-all.
