Maze Breaker 3

Genre: Arcade Brick Breaker

Players: 1

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Review:

Maze Breaker 3 is an Arcade-style Brick Breaker released on Nintendo 3DS in 2020. Rather than the usual way this game works, with player trying to break blocks by hitting a ball into them using a paddle while trying to keep the ball from falling into a pit, this game does away with the pit and instead gives players a time limit, along with more convoluted level geometry to try to work around.

I should note that this game plays exactly like Maze Breaker, just with a different camera perspective. It even uses the same levels! As such, since this game basically copies that game, I will be copying over the contents of my review of that game and only changing the parts that have changed.

The presentation here is simple, but not bad, featuring colorful, simple 3D visuals and backed by an energetic synthesized soundtrack. Unfortunately, the 3D visuals only take a bad game and make it worse, with the odd perspective making it difficult to judge the ball’s position, and difficult to see objects farther away from the screen.

Players in this game control two paddles – one on top and one on bottom, each controlled simultaneously. 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 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. 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.

I could see some potential in an Arcade Brick Breaker that mixes things up by making the ultimate enemy a ticking clock rather than a hole in the floor of the level. However, Maze Breaker 3 takes a game that is so poorly constructed that any potential that idea had was wasted, and then manages to make it worse with a horrible camera angle. Do not get this game.

tl;dr – Maze Breaker 3 is an Arcade-stye Brick Breaker where players are trying to break the blocks in a level within a limited amount of time. Unfortunately, the physics are atrociously bad to the point where this game just is not fun to play, and the shift in camera perspective is so disruptive that it actually makes the game worse. Do not get this game.

Grade: D-

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