I’m fairly certain brick-breakers have to be, like, the second oldest kind of game in the medium. Next to Pong, naturally. Don’t quote me on that, but even if I’m wrong they’ve been around for a long-ass time. As with most genres from the early days this one has seen its share of lame knock-offs as well as clever evolutions, but which of the two does Block Vengeance Alpha qualify as? Is it just a lame Arkanoid clone or does it bring something new to the table?

Well it may look like the former, but it definitely plays like the latter.

There’s no point in sugar-coating it: Block Vengeance Alpha isn’t much of a looker. The cartoon eyes on the blocks do give the four-sided bastards a cute little one-dimensional personality, but aside from that the game just looks kind of bland. I don’t mean to imply that the visuals are horrible or (as with a surprising number of other indie titles) that the color combinations make it borderline unplayable, but this isn’t a game that’s going to win many people over with a screen shot.

So looking at it isn’t all that spectacular. Playing it, on the other hand, is fun and surprisingly unique due to its own personal twist to the classic formula. While more “typical” block-breaking games focus on keeping the ball from falling off the screen, Block Vengeance Alpha does away with the concept and introduces a new one: a paddle with a health bar and blocks that go on the offensive. It sounds so simple, but in practice it’s anything but. Clinging to the old ways are pointless as many of these blocks will shoot fire or flat out go on kamikaze drops, making the simple act of returning a volley more of a suicide run.

Of course, no self-respecting brick-breaker would neglect power-ups, and Block Vengeance Alpha is no exception. On occasion, little purple-ish/pink spheres will fall from the top of the screen that can imbue the paddle with the ability to produce balls faster, fire off three at a time or even magnetically attract them once they’re on the rebound. And as with any power-up using game worth its salt, these temporary abilities can stack and create utter (beautiful) chaos.

Yet, as much fun as I’ve had clawing my way through the arcade mode and attempting to put a dent in the high scores for Survival mode, I can’t help but think this game would attract more attention if it looked a little more polished. Again, I really enjoy playing it, but I think a reworked presentation would go a long way to drawing in more people. Maybe have greater visual deviation in block types or something. Or makes the power-ups look a little more appealing (and maybe toss in a few more). This all sounds like I’m complaining that the graphics suck, but really all I’m trying to say is that if the overall style were pushed further I think it would attract more potential customers.

Asinine whining about the game’s visuals aside, Block Vengeance Alpha is still very entertaining. The Arcade mode does a good job of introducing new block types at a steady pace as well as mixing things up with different level modifiers (i.e. the blocks scroll from right to left in a loop or slowly push down from the top), and the Survival mode is there for anyone who just wants to jump in and tackle those high scores. Regrettably there’s no online play or even leaderboards, but that (and maybe some refined graphics) would surely make Block Vengeance Beta (nudge, nudge) a force to be reckoned with. At least among block-breaking fanatics.

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Things We Liked: A great twist on the classic formula. Lots of fun to be had with the Arcade and Survival modes, not to mention local Versus. Grabbing the rapid-fire and three-way power-ups as the same time is insane but awesome.

Things We Disliked: The visuals are a little too bland to grab much attention. Bare-bones presentation. No online functionality of any sort, including leaderboards.

Target Audience: Anyone who’s ever enjoyed bouncing a ball off of a paddle and using it to destroy blocks. Anyone like that who’s also looking for something a little different.

(Block Vengeance Alpha – Developer/Publisher: Boddicker Games. Available for Xbox 360 via Xbox Live Indie Games. A copy of the game was provided by the publishers for review purposes. Unfamiliar with CFD!’s review system? Read our newly revised explanation here.)