About BreakQuest: Extra Evolution:

Game Overview:

BreakQuest is back and is twice the fun! Stunning visuals and shapes, energizing physics and exciting sounds! Enjoy 100 сcompletely redesigned action-packed levels, each featuring own colorful design, elements behavior and visual effects.

Publisher: Beatshapers

Developer: Beatshapers

Platforms: PS3, PSP and PSV

Release Date: Already Released

Stay tuned to Gamingbolt.com for more news and updates.

BreakQuest: Extra Evolution is a complete throw back to classic games like Arkanoid, which I spent hundreds of hours playing both in the arcades and at home. With those games well carved into my past gaming experience, it was a no brainer on figuring out how to play BreakQuest. You simply shoot the ball into the play field and keep the ball from getting past you.

As with Arkanoid, there’s no need for a huge back story or plot to this game. Just pick up the controller and start plugging away at each level. In essence each level is like a puzzle. In some levels you need to hit certain objects first, such as power reactors, in order to turn on the main reactor. Once the main reactor is on, you can then knock it out of the field.

With over 100 levels, you certainly get your money’s worth. With each level being completely unique, there’s no real sense of grinding or repetition in game play either. Each level is broken down to ten each, with a boss battle at the end. The boss battles are hard and certainly rewarding when completing, but I found that if you lose the boss battle, you have to start back a level instead of jumping right back into the boss battle.

Much like Arkanoid, you get power ups along the way. Some power ups are helpful, while others can be hindrances, so you need to be careful which ones you choose. You also have a wall defense below you and once you figure out how to use it, it becomes a huge tool.

With Breakout: Extra Evolutions being released through Playstation store as a Mini, you can either play Breakout at home on the PS3, or you can take it with you on the go with the PSP or PS Vita. With clean solid colors, reminiscent of Loco Rocco, this game looks good on any console.

Although the physics of Breakout clearly rival that of older games like Arkanoid, I found at times that the physics would simply break. If you get your ship to the ball a little too late, it could cause a glitch where the ball breaks through your shield and can get stuck inside your ship. Whenever you break physics, a game wigs out, and in the case the ball will immediately shoot out in a random direction. If it shoots back into the field all is good, but if it shoots past you, it could mean certain doom if your defensive wall is not up, or in some cases it can bounce off the defensive wall and then bounce back to the ship. This causes a dribble effect and eventually the ball will shoot past the broken wall and you lose.

Even though the graphics are clean and vibrant, it’s very hard to tell what you need to hit until you’ve hit it. This makes starting each level very confusing. It’s hard to tell if you’re about to shoot the ball into an open space, or a block half and inch from the ship. There are also some blocks with physics that change up game play, however if the physics wigs out, again you’ll have no chance for recovery.

BreakQuest: Extra Evolution is one of those games that is fun to play without having to worry about story, plot, leveling up, or any other nuisance when you want to just get into a game and turn your brain off. The puzzles are challenging, although sometimes the challenge comes unexpectedly from bad physics or blocks that blend into the field. This game feels like it’s built so you can jump on a bus, or subway, pop out the PSP/PS Vita and hit a few levels before your stop, although it might be too much fun, and you might miss your stop. The graphics are solid enough that it looks good on a big screen too, and if you don’t want to sit next to strangers and play this, PS3’s got you covered.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 3.

BreakQuest: Extra Evolution is a remake of BreakQuest which was released in 2004, and contains a lot of new levels and other innovations. It is also quite a competent game too. The studio that remade the game called Beatshapers have a lot of games in the pipeline for the Vita and PSP, and we talked to the founder Alexey Menshikov, about the challenges they encountered and also about the future.

It’s a physics based game, features 100 new levels, and a lot of boss fights. The game’s on the PS Vita, PS3 and PSP.

Questions by Kartik Mudgal.

Why did you guys think about remaking BreakQuest? I understand it’s much more polished than the previous game, but remaking minis are definitely not something most developers do. Tell us what made you guys think about this?

It was quite a random decision that started with ideas of quick refresh levels and artwork which later grew to the total conversion of whole game. So BreakQuest: Extra Evolution is totally new game based on original BreakQuest idea. We’ve reused the most successful and fun elements from original game but re-wrote the game completely. I can only imagine, how Felix Casablancas from Nurium Games, an original BreakQuest author created the game in 2004. At that time, it was one of the first physics interaction titles.

It’s on the PS Vita as well, and as you know, Sony has said that it’s extremely easier to develop for. Did you guys find it challenging to develop for it?

The development process actually happens on PSP devkits, the minis are using same package to play on PS Vita and plays through emulator. But from our StarDrone Extreme PS Vita launch title development experiences and other games we are developing right now – yes it’s easier to develop than even on iOS. The difference is there is a certain knowledge threshold to engineer qualification applied but it is easy to develop for sure. PS Vita is amazing device, very powerful and solid, it’s a pity that other developers are not jumping the wagon.

Let’s talk a bit about the remaster quality. Has the graphics been significantly improved? What other technical improvements does this version feature?

In the beginning, our designer, Alexander, told me that it’s not possible to make a new set of artwork (as I wanted to keep the old school look ), it is easier and definitely better to make everything from the scratch. We spend some time solving technical issues trying to fit all 100 levels to the minis format, its took some time on R&D process – as result, every background is unique and created from constructor, all 100 levels squeezed to the 2Mb (compare to 100 x 480x272x32bit = 52mb of raw data). We also optimized the physics and particle system – unfortunately PSP is quite old hardware – physics requires faster CPU, more than 222 Hz (another minis limitation), but we got 30fps in 90% of levels action.

Tell us something about the new content in Breakquest: Extra Evolution?

What makes BreakQuest Evolution is is definitely the 100 new levels – each has unique art, sound and game mechanics. Than we have 10 boss levels – each is a unique kind of mini-game, which requires strategy and skills to defeat. Bosses attacks players with weapon which freezes, reverses control, removes bumper for a short amount of time. Player receives award and new shuttles will activate power ups – each boss have their own shuttle, so we recommend starting play the game from different lines. Bonus shuttles really help on various levels.

Talk us through the gameplay mechanics as well. It will be helpful for people who haven’t played the previous game.

BreakQuest Extra Evolution is a unique block breaking game. Each of the 100 levels as I mentioned, has different game mechanics – one level contains handing bricks on ropes, another bricks are floating in the space, some levels have bricks moving. I’m calling them “bricks”, but they are rather elements, sometimes it is not an easy to understand which elements to smash but players will be able to figure it out quickly. This is what inspired me when I saw the original game and we developed it to the new Extra Evolution game.

Another game mechanics improvement is the Energy Shield. The PSP screen is quite wide and we have learned lessons from the previous game, so made this always working shield mechanics. So one ball launched, players see the charging lines coming from left/right sides – this is charging process. Player may activate Energy Shield any moment and shield can survive 2 ball bounces – this is complicated with active multiball bonus but in other cases works perfectly – player has to master this, the only thing to defeat bosses, especially when shuttle damaged by boss weapon.

PS Mini’s doesn’t feature trophies unfortunately, do you guys think for smaller games such as these not having trophies reduce the sales potential?

Yes, we believe this have a major affect on this type of games, also any kind of global scoreboards affects replayability. I’ve followed many of forums and blogs posts, many people requests for trophies. I totally understand why it’s been made from the Sony but its seems players demands more nowadays.

The game costs $3.99, which is a fantastic value when you take into account it contains 100 remastered levels, what other things are there in the game that makes this worth the money for people on the fence.

Its not really only remastered levels – most of them are brand new, than 10 bosses which are quite challenging, new sound track, unique Energy Shield mechanics, 21 integrated awards, a nightmare complexity secret level  – this gives new experience to players and makes BreakQuest Extra Evolution unique.

What other games are in the pipeline right now at Beatshapers? Can we see some unique new title for the PS Vita?

Yes, we have more games coming. Two Minis: Carnivores SKU and secret_title, than one work-for-hire PS3 went to tests and ETA early next year but its publisher and we working on 2 titles: PS Vita exclusive game and PS3/PSVita/PS4 title (not sure about all platforms same day but we aiming next-gen).

BreakQuest: Extra Evolution comes out on the PS Vita, PSP and PS3 today, and we interviewed Alexey Menshikov, CEO and founder of Beatshapers, and asked him how it was developing for the Vita and whether trophies are something that people actually demand for Minis.

“The development process actually happens on PSP devkits, the minis are using the same package to play on PS Vita and plays through an emulator,” he revealed. “But from our Star Drone Extreme PS Vita launch title development experience and other games we are developing right now – yes it’s easier to develop on Vita than even on iOS.

“The difference is, there is a certain knowledge threshold required to qualify, but it is easy to develop for sure. PS Vita is amazing device, very powerful and solid, it’s a pity that other developers are not jumping on the wagon.”.

The game costs $3.99 on PSN and considering Minis do not support trophies, even a low price sometimes is not enough to make the game attractive for people.

“Yes, we believe this has a major affect on these type of games, also any kind of global scoreboards affects replayability,” he said. “I’ve followed many forums and blogs posts, many people request for trophies. I totally understand why it’s been made by Sony, but its seems players demand more nowadays.”

Stay tuned for the full interview soon. Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

The trailer above shows plenty of interesting gameplay bits and pieces, showing features that look pretty enjoyable.

BreakQuest: Extra Evolution will have plenty of new features- unlockable shuttles, new Energy Shield mechanics and a lot more. The video above shows plenty of those new features too.

The game is available now for $3.99.

Tell us if you will be buying it in your comments below!

BreakQuest: Extra Evolution has been announced for PS3, PSP, and PS Vita and will be released next week as a Playstation Mini. It’s developed Beatshapers, an Ukranian studio, and it is a physcis-block-breaking game.

The game will cost $3.99 in the US and the same amount of Euros in Europe. It’s a game that is playable by everyone as it is rated 3 + by Pegi.

It contains 100 completely redesigned levels, with colorful design, elements behaviour and visual effects, or so the developers say. I haven’t played it yet but this does sound really promising. Here’s the description and features of the game.

“BreakQuest: Extra Evolution is an unusual game: from one side it’s a full sequel to BreakQuest, one of the best block-breaking and genre defining games licensed to us by its creator, Nurium Games but from another side its completely new game which incorporates our vision and based on our inspiration from playing original BreakQuest,” said Alexey Menshikov, CEO and Founder of Beatshapers.

An advanced physics and collision system gives a never-seen-before interactive experience for your pleasure. And don’t forget about weapons and power-up bonuses, the amazing Gravitor which attracts the ball to you and unique Energy Shield which help you keep ball on the level via always-generated energy shield. Breaking bricks has never been so fun!

Features:

• 100 exclusively designed levels with new stylish art
• 10 unique bosses to defeat! Each attacks with special weapon!
• Unlock new space shuttles; each comes with activated power-up!
• Unique energy shield mechanics to help player control the ball, including endless Gravitor energy
• 21 achievements for an outstanding performance to reward players
• New power-ups and bonuses to smash and crash blocks
• All new music tracks, created by the SandS band

Beatshapers has announced that it will be releasing a sequel to its 2009’s BreakQuest, BreakQuest: Extra Evolution for the PS3, PSP and PS Vita on the PS Store via the PS Minis program next week, €3.99 in Europe and $3.99 in the US.

Some of the many new features the game will have are- 100 new levels; 10 new bosses, each with their special attacks; new space shuttles, each equipped with their special weapons; new energy shield mechanics which will help the player control the ball and will also include an endless Gravity energy; 21 achievements for players to unlock in-game; new power-ups and bonuses; new music tracks composed by the SandS band.

“BreakQuest: Extra Evolution is an unusual game: from one side it’s a full sequel to BreakQuest, one of the best block-breaking and genre defining games licensed to us by its creator, Nurium Games but from another side its completely new game which incorporates our vision and based on our inspiration from playing original BreakQuest.” said Alexey Menshikov, CEO and founder of Beatshapers. “What we made is took best game and design elements of original BreakQuest and rebuilt it from the ground using today’s approach to the genre.”