Ark: Arkout 3D [by GameXcite]

Arkanoid games seem to be a right of passage for many developers.  Nearly every developer has to create their own Arkanoid/Breakout type of game.  The sad side of this is that very few developers do anything to help push the genre along and instead seem content with just rehashing the same ground over and over again. 

This certainly is the case with the new game Arkout 3D.  Much like was in the case of our review with Ricochet Arkout 3D takes the breakout genre to a fully 3D environment where you bounce the ball around the bricks, and behind them down a seemingly never ending tunnel.  The problem with this is that it ads nothing to game play.  In fact, the entire tunnel concept is in my estimation either a waste of time, or it hasn't been perfected yet.

Those who have been frustrated in the past by trying to get that last brick on a normal horizontal or even vertical board will be frustrated beyond all belief trying to hit those bricks in a 3D environment where it is hard to determine where the bricks are at all.  Similarly hitting the ball can be a bit of a challenge as it doesn't often bounce back to where you think it will bounce to.

Overall this game offers no new power-up ideas only slightly above average graphics, and poor game control due to the games set-up.  If you are a fan of the breakout genre, you might give it a run for a little while, but I'm confident that only the most diligent fans of the genre will really get into it.

Added: October 31st 2003
Reviewer: Russell Carroll
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