Platforms: PC (version reviewed), Nintendo Switch
Genre: 2D puzzle, Action, Arkanoid/Breakout tribute

I’ll say this about Tri Breaker: A Sacred Symbols Odyssey, the latest 2D pixel-based Breakout/Arkanoid puzzle tribute: having your achievements named after awesome rock songs is a surefire way to get my attention.

Ball(s) To The Wall

Made by Lilymo Games, a game dev company owned by gaming podcast group Last Stand Media, Tri Breaker is clearly designed and made by folks who love their 2D titles and aren’t shy in mixing things up with established mechanics; it’s very evident with the cutscenes, graphics, and retro-laced soundtrack. In the 40 stages you go through, you control two paddle-ships and one ball. The ships are steered left and right using your left and right analog stick -one on each side and at the bottom- while you launch the ball from a purposely phallic-shaped rocket as you break all available blocks on-screen.

Sometimes, your paddle-ships are placed on the left and right side of the screen as you play through the brick-busting stages vertically. The kicker here is that you can make the ball turn left or right using your controller bumpers. That means no more relying on physics (less so than usual) since you can guide your golden sphere at the last moment to ping-pong your way through layers for extra points.

If you use up all your lives via letting the ball sink to the void, you can subtract bits of your score to get back to the game. Thankfully, the game’s progression isn’t a total gatekeeping bitch as you can bypass a stage with the worst possible score. Still, the allure of the feedback sounds and the “gotta try again but perfect” mentality instilled in its short-but-sweet replayable stages, coupled with bonus objectives to achieve means you will not be satisfied with your first run. Or even your fifth. Tri Breaker’s controls and gameplay are tight and addictive enough to keep you going on with the same white whale of a stage you’re trying to achieve an “S” rank for.

That said, I still find it difficulty to steer the ball as it’s honestly a new mechanic I haven’t experienced in these kinds of retro titles. The ball eventually pings around so fast that I mix up my orientation and end up steering left into the void when I should be going right. But that’s the point: Tri Breaker’s levels ease you in before it starts dogpiling you with the tougher challenges that require you to be creative in keeping the ball afloat on-screen as you plan your next trajectory.

And then comes the levels that deviate from the majority of the ball-pinging stages. Throughout the game’s funny yet quip-sized story involving time-travel and paradoxes that isn’t meant to be taken seriously -the talking heads are proxies of Last Stand Media’s podcasting leads– you play through side-scrolling shooter levels, a Donkey Kong Country-style barrel-traversing segment, and a slew of stages that are basically Pac-Man but with dinosaurs.

I do welcome the team mixing things up here to keep you invested, and they don’t wear out their welcome with the game going back to the actual brick-busting gameplay. In short, it’s a great mix of challenge and variety, capped off with one of the toughest retro bosses I’ve fought in a long while.

Another Brick In The Wall?

For just US$10, you’ll have a ball of a time with this lovely spin on Arkanoid/Breakout. It’s been ages since we’ve played a retro title that changes some fundamental rules of the 80s/90s classic ball-pinging and wall-busting title for the better. There’s going to be plenty of other folks who would want to tap into this title for inspiration, and they should. Because a title like Tri Breaker should be in your collection if you fancy a retro title that relishes in a long-forgotten game type while also throwing in some shooter and barrel-blasting levels just for kicks.

Final Score: 80/100

Review code provided by the publisher.