Bricks Pinball V

Genre: Arcade Brick Breaker / Pinball

Players: 1

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Review:

Bricks Pinball V is an Arcade-style Brick Breaker with some light Pinball elements released on Nintendo 3DS in 2021. This game takes a traditional Brick Breakers formula and adds in flippers and bumpers from Pinball games.

I should note that this game plays exactly like the original Bricks Pinball, just with different levels. As such, since this game basically copies the first game in the series, I will be copying over the contents of my review of that game.

The presentation here is simple, but not bad, featuring colorful, simple 2D visuals and backed by an energetic synthesized soundtrack. There’s nothing here that’s truly memorable, but it works well enough for the game. I should note that this game wisely ditches the terrible 3D perspective of Bricks Pinball 3 and Bricks Pinball 4. Thank goodness for that.

Players in this game control two paddles – one on top and one on bottom, each controlled simultaneously. Meanwhile, players can use flippers with a button press, though this isn’t anywhere near as nuanced as pinball games tend to be – when you push the button, it will rise up and stay there for a second or so before falling down. It’s not super-useful, and due to this and the game’s physics (which I’ll get to in a moment), you’re not likely to be making much use of these. Also, I should mention that this game requires you to tap the touchscreen to start, in a game that otherwise doesn’t use the touchscreen. Yeah, not off to a great start here.

The big issue here is that the physics in this game are awful. Unlike decent Brick Breakers, the trajectory of the ball is not affected by where on a paddle it hits, but by the direction you’re moving when you hit it, meaning that to make any headway, you’ll need to try to slide the paddle over to the ball as it reaches you. What’s more, all sense of consistent and predictable physics goes right out the window when the ball hits a block, a paddle, or the sides of the screen, with the ball bouncing in seemingly random directions, dragging against the backside of the screen before seeming to be pulled by a sort of gravity, or even pushing its way through multiple blocks rather than bouncing off.

A game that did a good job combining Arcade Brick Breakers and Pinball could have been interesting. Bricks Pinball V is not that game. The useless flippers and broken physics are a non-starter. This game should be avoided at all costs.

tl;dr – Bricks Pinball V is an Arcade-stye Brick Breaker with some Pinball mechanics thrown in. Unfortunately, the flippers in this game are useless, and the physics are atrociously bad. Do not get this game.

Grade: D-

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