Review: Beautiful Bricks (Steam)

by Jim Smale · December 11, 2019

Beautiful Bricks is the ultimate 4 player brick breaker. Restoration of an arcade great with awesome improvements like physics-based ball behavior, more paddle control, 4 simultaneous players and boss battles. All presented in a consistent retro ‘8-bit’ aesthetic.

Pros:

Chunky pixel art graphics.
193mb download size.
Arkanoid inspired gameplay.
Own in-game achievements.
Controller support.
Graphics-scale and menu line spacing.
Customize screen-Wallpaper and border art.
Control mode-slick or stiff.
3 modes- Main game/Vs/special game mode.
How to play section.
Unlocks-visualer/hardcore/EDFI/max firepower.
3 difficulties-easy/medium/hard.
Special modes-endless/boss rush/invader/marathon.
Vs-competitive/volleyball can set rules and length.
Local leaderboards.
Bar-can does light/hard or even jump when hitting.
Power-ups plenty from multiball to the sticky ball.
Boss fights.
2-4 local play.
Simple concept.

Cons:

No fullscreen option instead you have to alt+enter to do it.
Clunky user interface.
No online leaderboards.
No steam achievements.
Have to unlock many of the modes.
Way too many power-ups to remember.
Mouse cursor stays on the screen.
Music.

7/10
Graphics - 7/10
6/10
Sound - 6/10
7/10
Accessibility - 7/10
7/10
Length - 7/10
7/10
Fun Factor - 7/10

6.8/10

Summary

Wh have had many Arkanoid breakout type games over the years and for a game to make a dent in its legacy it needs to build and expand the experience. Beautiful Bricks takes a stab at it and OK the gameplay is still the same it does try to introduce more mechanics like power-ups and the different strengths of hitting the ball but it has clunky menus, modes locked off and the bar movement is still not that smooth. I managed to get a few hours done and it was a mixture of nostalgia and frustration with frustration winning and me wishing the controls were tighter and that I could get some help with memorizing the many many power-ups. Basically it kind of half does the job it set out to do but for me, I still prefer the originals.