Publisher: Lillymo Developer: Lillymo Price: $9.99 Platform: PS4, PS Vita
Colin Moriarity and Chris Ray Gun have had a fantastic couple of years, forging and creating one of the most successful video game podcasts on the internet today, Sacred Symbols: A PlayStation Podcast. The top-ranking podcast on Patreon, the duo has delved deep into the mammoth ocean that is the video game industry, discussing the various happenings and discourse constantly shaping the direction of video games.
Now, Colin and Chris have taken a new path within the gaming industry with the creation of their first video game, Twin Breaker: A Sacred Symbols Adventure. This new video game comes in collaboration with Lillymo Games, the makers of last year’s solid spaceship shooter, Habroxia, which I reviewed here. Twin Breaker: A Sacred Symbols Adventure is a space adventure game inspired by block breaker games, such as Pong and Arkanoid. With a unique story penned by Colin and Chris, and the creative talents of Lillymo Games, this game is a fun, enjoyable, and engaging sci-fi adventure that leaves room for a bright future.
It is the near future. World War III has happened and NATO has dissolved, but the global community has united behind the prospects of science and technology to further explore the Solar System and beyond. Advances in interstellar travel are made, and humans are further capable of living and working in space, but even so, it takes years to reach the nearest solar system. NASA authorizes deep exploration and colonization missions to find new homes. Humans are placed aboard large colony ships, designed for long-term space travel deep into the cosmos. To the fear and deep concern of the planet, no ship is ever heard from again. In this moment of expansion, a small wormhole appears just beyond Earth. The wormhole is mysterious in origin, certainly not man-made, but unable to be thoroughly explained. To discover the truth of what has happened, two ships are dispatched to investigate deep into the wormhole. Chris and Colin each pilot two advanced interstellar ships, the Greetings and Salutations. Together, they jump into a strange universe and embark on a quest into an intergalactic mystery.
Twin Breaker: A Sacred Symbols Adventure plays as a block-breaker, themed to a science fiction adventure. Over the course of forty levels, players progress through a series of challenges involving bricks and energy balls to bounce. Twin Breaker: A Sacred Symbols Adventure switches up the established formula of the block breaker genre with the inclusion of alien enemies, special power-ups, and boss fights. The goal of each level is to complete each level. Players are ranked by a score and can proceed to the next level on even a D ranked score. However, to unlock collectibles and unlock more lore to Twin Breaker: A Sacred Symbols Adventure, players have to aim for an A rank or better. Following the main campaign, Twin Breaker: A Sacred Symbols Adventure contains a New Game Plus mode that introduces additional paddles. Additionally, several other modes exist, which include a Marathon Mode, Boss Rush Mode, and various others. For PlayStation 4 owners, a second player can jump in at any time to play.
Twin Breaker: A Sacred Symbols Adventure is simply strong and strongly simple in its gameplay mechanics. Like various other block breakers, the idea is to break blocks, and the ability to do so in Twin Breaker: A Sacred Symbols Adventure is incredibly fun. Twin Breaker: A Sacred Symbols Adventure is clearly inspired by NES and arcade classics, but comes into its own with its unique story and lore, as well as its eclectic visual presentation. Controlling the paddles is quick, responsive, and enjoyable, and the gameplay sensation keeps the player wanting more. Twin Breaker: A Sacred Symbols Adventure introduces various powerups, from heavy balls that obliterate al insight to laser fire, which transforms your paddles into a set of laser cannons that slowly chip away at the blocks. The bricks contain various powerups, but occasional, small alien beetles descend onto the player. These can be shot down, but they can harm the paddle and your score. Moments like this keep Twin Breaker: A Sacred Symbols Adventure engaging, but the game also introduces newer attributes. At one point “a hologram” mode is enabled, putting paddles on the bottom and sides of the screen. This gives players the unique sensation of controlling four paddles at once. This type of multi-control mechanics is something I haven't seen since Velocity 2X by Futurlab, which has players control two spaceships at once. It’s a tricky move that pays off well. Twin Breaker: A Sacred Symbols Adventure also has several boss fights that are engaging and enjoyable to conquer.
The story and lore of Twin Breaker: A Sacred Symbols Adventure is interesting and well-woven as well, providing a solid world and purpose to the gameplay but not becoming a distraction. With Habroxia, I had imagined a solid story of flying through space and destroying mammoth bosses, though the game did not contain one. With Twin Breaker: A Sacred Symbols Adventure a really solid world has been constructed, depicting a believable state of the geopolitical world in the future. It’s clear Colin has a strong pulse on the behaviors of governments, religions, and government entities, predicting a plausible future that feels like it could happen. Should a sequel for Twin Breaker: A Sacred Symbols Adventure I’d love to see this world continue somehow and encourage Colin and Chris to continue drafting more small stories and worlds. Perhaps, the story of Habroxia and Twin Breaker: A Sacred Symbols Adventure can combine in the future.
Perhaps the only fault I can make for Twin Breaker: A Sacred Symbols Adventure is the music selection. It does the job of feeling like background music, but I feel there could have been a more energetic and mysterious music composition, given the nature of the game. It works for what it is but could have been better at delivering the sensation of being in uncharted space and discovering a mammoth interstellar mystery. Twin Breaker: A Sacred Symbols Adventure runs excellent on PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 4 as well. I encountered no technical issues during my playthrough.
Twin Breaker: A Sacred Symbols Adventure is a strong cosmic adventure that is fantastic in its presentation and gameplay. It’s solid story and narrative weaves into a solid block breaker with unique powerups and mechanics. I hope to see more games like Twin Breaker: A Sacred Symbols Adventure in the future, wherever else they may venture into.