Twin Breaker: A Sacred Symbols Adventure Review – Repetition is not key
Twin Breaker is exceptionally average but I’m trying to be kind.
TW does it’s best to re-hash the magic of old arcade style brick breaker games but doesn’t quite get there. Leading up to this game I was hyped! I even had the special physical edition pre-ordered for my Vita.
A brick breaker style game developed exclusively with the Vita in mid, what could possibly go wrong? Everything, apparently.
I’m not sure if it’s because I was expecting something so much more. So when I did play it I was disappointed. Or if the game really is just that underwhelming. Maybe I am the problem, I’m willing to entertain the idea. But I’ve seen some other lukewarm receptions to it so I’m guessing maybe not.
The game is developed and published by Lillymo Games. A bit of history here for those not in the know. Lillymo Games has teamed up with “Sacred Symbols” podcast stars Chris Ray Gun and Colin Moriarty to help co-produce and write for the game. No surprise, then, that there was alot of hype amongst gamers when it came to it’s release. Myself included as I’m a massive fan of both Chris and Colin.
Let’s jump into the review though shall we? We’ve wasted enough time here.
Storyline
I find it kinda funny that I’ve done an entire section for just the storyline but old habits die hard I guess. The brutal truth is. This game has no storyline. Or to be more accurate: it tries to have one but it’s so ridiculous and cringe inducing that it’s probably best to pretend it doesn’t have one at all.
I know, I know. That’s harsh but it’s true. At first I was actually interested. Twin Breaker exists in the far future. Where exploration has come so far that humanity is living on other planets now and moons. The only country to be isolationist and not get involved with the expansion of the human race to other worlds is the USA. Which prospers fantastically and happily on Earth.
However. NASA receives an odd coded message from one of it’s spacecraft meant to carry entire generations through space. A spacecraft thought to be lost.
You depart in spacecraft called “Greetings” and “Salutations” these will be your craft you use to investigate.
Gameplay
Oh boy where do I start…? The gameplay is OK, it’s nothing special and it tends to get pretty annoying after a while. The developers seem to have assumed that having the uniqueness of using dual thumsticks to control the paddles that you bounce the ball off is enough to make it stand out. Only it doesn’t, well it does, but not in a good way. It’s unique for sure but it’s uniquely frustrating. Keeping things traditional and adding a space theme with the power ups and the like would have been a far better move as far as I’m concerned. The beauty of these classic style games is in their simplicity, not in spite of it and I’m worried that fact has missed the Lillymo team completely.
There are other modes to play which are fun for a while but again, just get very boring very very quickly. It seems because the simple charm just isn’t quite there.
It’s a brick breaker game but it’s been stripped of almost everything that made brick breaker games fun.
Review
Basically, what I’m trying to say is. This is a perfectly fine game. Definitely nothing special but not so bad that I’d consider calling it bad. It is good but only in small doses and because those small doses are few and far between it’s hard to focus on them rather than the glaring flaws.
One pet peeve of mine is the “It Only Took A Day” trophy. Anyone who knows me knows how much I hate trophies that force you to play a game a certain way. Like multiplayer only trophies. They’re ridiculous because they take away the very reason why so many people love the gaming medium.
Video games, no matter how linear, always have a sense of control to them. A sense that you can play this game however you want to. The way you feel comfortable playing it. I can understand why it’s there. It’s a challenge but it’s not so much of a challenge that people will get frustrated. My issue is that it forces you to play the game one way and one way only. Now I know it’s a personal thing but that just bugs me. It’s something I’ve always hated and to see it here got me super wound up.
Final thoughts
That. Along with the fact that trophy hunting is pretty much the only thing that will keep you playing the game because of it’s ultra-repetitive nature. Just makes me want to give up on the game completely and never play it again. What’s the point if I can’t platinum it? I can’t platinum it because I don’t have time to be playing the game all day and getting it cleared in 1 day.
The games trophies are it’s main redeeming feature and even that’s flawed.
All in all I think Twin Breaker is a game that’s been given alot of attention and praise because of the people involved in it’s creation. None of that is necessarily warranted. I still love Chris Ray Gun and Colin Moriarty but this game is going to do well because of their fame and not because it’s necessarily any good.
