Nervous Brickdown

Developer: Arkedo Studio
Publisher: Eidos Interactive, Success Corporation
Release: 2007
Platform: Nintendo DS
Genre: Breakout clone

“Rise of indies” era games often suffered from the “pre-casual market” syndrome: they usually had the potential to appeal to wider audiences due to their out-of-the-box thematics, artsyles, content, etc. but usually missed the mark because their developers’ classic hardcore mindset was still there when it came to structuring gameplay flow. Gorgeous and human as Braid is, funny and intuitive as World of Goo is, even such games couldn’t possibly be “beaten” by casual players on their own traditional “progress” terms.

The talented guys behind Arkedo Studio could easily fit that classification, and Nervous Brickdown is a classic debut case on the matter.

Presentation is solid in both graphics and sound fronts, and their gimmicky, idiosyncratic twists in the ol’ Breakout formula inform/get informed by the artstyle in a pleasant, organic feedback loop. But the traditional game design rules start to get in the way when they throw more and more tricky situations even when the physics can’t quite cope with the custom bat made by the player with the stylus, or when the mic isn’t a reliable input for controlling the ball by blowing gusts of wind into the play field.

Most of those are passable issues, but the final world (properly called “Retro”) takes away any chances of a persevering casual gamer beat the game. Soon enough the double-pad independent control in the touch screen coupled with a platform game running in the upper screen AT THE SAME TIME will exhaust—if not give a stroke to--even seasoned players.

It surely looks the part, but you better get a friend and an extra stylus if you want to beat this.

Arkedo’s subsequent game, Big Bang Mini, is a better rounded attempt in mashing new gameplay concepts and a more lighthearted presentation together—in fact it’s much more unique mechanics-wise—but it’s still far from being “casually beatable”. Not to say that Arkedo itself messed up, but it was—like pretty much everyone else at the time—mired in the conundrums of its era.