Ark: Bricks of Camelot [by Arcade Lab]

Game Review:  Bricks of Camelot
Release Date: February 2005
Developer: Arcade Lab
Genre: Sports
System Requirements: 233 MHZ, Windows 95 / 98 / ME / 2000 / XP, DirectX 3.0+
Players: 1
Price: $19.99
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The 1980’s hardly made anyone happy. Strange haircuts, strange clothes, and to top it all off – Wham! If there is one thing to remember about the 80’s, it has got to be the advent of video games. I can still remember the first time I got my father to sit down and play a game called Tetris. He would jerk from left to right with his whole body as he tried to get the small bricks into place.

And to see my mother playing Super Mario Bros has given me the poker-face I have today. She would jump in her chair as Mario jumped – and since it was a side-scroller, we had to place some cushions around her, in case she jumped off the chair.

Another classic game during the infancy of gaming was, of course, Arkanoid.

Just like with Tetris, it is hard to tell what is really so fascinating about Arkanoid. Just what was the sales-pitch for Tetris? “We are working on a new game right now – the player will need to place small, different-shaped bricks in order to fill out a row. Once a row is filled, it is deleted. Then the player does the same to the next row, until he makes a mistake and has to start on a new row. There is no way of winning the game, but they will be very frustrated with their own faults, and they will get a really high score to show for it.”

Arkanoid is probably, when I think about it, a spin-off from Tetris. Here’s the sales-pitch for Arkanoid: “Did you get tired of placing the bricks properly in Tetris? Did you get tired of the wrong brick constantly coming up when you needed a specific one to complete a row? Now – here’s your chance! Use the small ball to destroy the bricks! Did you complete the first level? Great – here’s another set of bricks to destroy. There’s a hundred levels left to go before you complete the game. Yes, it can be completed. It’s a ground-breaking new idea. Go have fun.”

And it was fun. In fact, it is fun to this day, and I think that’s why I’m so fond of “Bricks of Camelot”.

“Bricks of Camelot” is a pretty standard version of Arkanoid, though with a medieval theme. As an avid reader of the King Arthur-saga (and the author of one as well!), this is obviously a theme that suits me as the famous glove.

I can’t seem to get bored by an Arkanoid game, and this remains true for “Bricks of Camelot” as well. This is a game that I can constantly come back to, either to break my own high-scores (an old war-injury from my Tetris days), or just because a game of Arkanoid is never the same.

“Bricks of Camelot” has a great theme. It runs smooth, has nice-looking graphics, and is everything you could expect from your regular Arkanoid-game.

The game also has most of the usual bonus-items, like getting a bigger bar (so you won’t miss the ball as easily), getting three balls, and being able to fire arrows at the bricks. Firing arrows allows for some major brick-destruction in a very short amount of time, and represents a great amount of fun in a very short time for us scarred Tetris-veterans.

Graphics: 8
The graphics is one of this game’s strongest points. The backgrounds look great, and the tile-set works well for a medieval game. In the more futuristic games (read: BreakQuest!), you can fire missiles at the bricks. In a medieval game, you fire arrows, allowing you to do an awesome amount of damage and move on to the next level.

If there’s one thing I miss, is that an Arkanoid game with Arthur and Camelot has the possibility of being so much more than “Bricks of Camelot” became. The theme allows you to have a background story, and use levels more closely related to the Arthur-saga. You could, for example, in a short text tell the tale of how young Arthur drew the sword from the stone, and then have a level where the player has to destroy a tileset that forms a sword in a stone! In a game that is a remake of an old classic, you need to find a way to stick out, and I think that telling the story of Arthur, and linking the levels closely to resemble the story, would have been a great way to stick out. For an example of how this has been done in a non-Arthur related Arkanoid game, check out BreakQuest.

Sound: 7
The in-game music gets a bit repetitive after a while, since there’s always the same music for all levels. The music is nice, but to avoid hearing the same song over and over again, I find myself playing the game on mute at times.

Gameplay: 8
Your job is to move the mouse (and thereby the bar on the screen) to make sure that the ball doesn’t drop out, and you lose a life. So, if your mouse is working, you will have an easy time of managing the controls.

Let us instead look at the behavior of the ball in this section. In other games, I’ve found areas where the ball gets stuck in a repetitive pattern, bouncing back and forth on indestructible tiles. I think “Bricks of Camelot” has approximately 120 different levels – and not once did I get stuck, which means that the producers must have tested the game over and over to make sure that the ball will not get stuck in a pattern. Great work – because there’s nothing more annoying than having to start a game over because of it.

Also, there isn’t much that beats the feeling you get once you have been able to get the ball into a place where it will bounce around, doing heavy damage to the enemy’s defenses.

Value: 9
Different difficulty settings and 120 levels to beat means that “Bricks of Camelot” is a game that you can return to play again, without getting tired, though a bit of background story would have added interest.

Concept: 8
“Bricks of Camelot” brings a slightly different spin of an old classic, but a good story would have really made it stand out. This mythological concept does however open up for a lot of sequels. Can we expect to see releases like “Arkanoid and the 12 deeds of Hercules” in the future?

Fun: 8
There’s something strangely addicting about an Arkanoid game, and this holds true for “Bricks of Camelot” as well.

In my opinion, the best game out there right now is BreakQuest, which is a very original game. “Bricks of Camelot” still has some way to go to reach that level, but this is definitely a game that I would consider buying –even though I hold an extreme aversion to bricks…

Overall: 8
A game that will be able to give all brick-haters a good night’s sleep. 120 levels with a ball as your only weapon of brick-destruction (notice the intended, but weak, pun) will leave you tired but happy. And it’s definitely a game that will keep you coming back for more.

To think that destroying bricks can be so much fun! Added: April 29th 2005
Reviewer: Martin Krantz
Score:
Hits: 3371
Language: english