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3DS

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Cocoto Alien Brick Breaker

by Daan Koopman - January 27, 2014, 6:00 pm EST
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In the emptiness of space, no one can hear you shou... I mean, shoot!

Neko Entertainment's very own Cocoto is staring in his own brick breaking game for the Nintendo 3DS. Instead of bricks though, the weird creature will have to duke it out against alien life forms that certainly don't have the best of intentions in mind. Now the critter, known for his many titles on various platforms, will have to set foot on various planets to stop the dastardly foes in Cocoto Alien Brick Breaker. Is it an entertaining ride? Not really, sadly.

In Cocoto Alien Brick Breaker, you’re tasked with reflecting bullets from a horde of mean aliens. By reflecting them, you protect the ground that you are standing upon. The big difference between Cocoto and other games of its type is that bullets only stay for a limited amount in the game, so you will have to keep using the constant stream of new bullets that come in. Some bullets later in the game become trickier as you have to hit them a couple of times before they are on your side.

While that sounds really interesting, there’s not much else to the gameplay. There are power-ups to make the journey somewhat entertaining, allowing you to shoot enemies or let the balls stick to your reflection shield. After releasing them, you will be able to destroy a bunch of enemies in a single sweep. But even those moments, can't save the game’s overly static feeling. It is never awful or poorly put together, but the repetitiveness will break you.

The controls don't exactly help. It is rough to tell if you are even close to reflecting objects sometimes, though you will learn the ropes eventually. Be prepared, however, to feel frustrated when things do not fully go your way, as it will impact your grand total in a level. At moments, you also walk around with Cocoto to move to new screens with more enemies. You will have to deal with some small platforming challenges and using the jump button here is somewhat fishy. The physics aren't exactly the best and it once again takes a while before you will be able to grasp it.

When it is all said and done, the game has a lot of content going for it. There are trophies to collect in each of the levels and all of them require specific goals. A quick click of the pause menu will give you an idea of what to do and this adds some replayability to the game. Next to the story mode, there are also two other modes offered. With Classic mode, Cocoto's jumps are restricted and you will lose a life if you miss one of the projectiles. Then there is Arcade mode, where you play an endless mode version of the main adventure and have to keep going at a rapid pace. While these are just simple variants, they stray away from the main game enough to be at least be worth a go.

Cocoto Alien Brick Breaker is not an experience that you will remember for long or will give much thought to. The simple brick breaking world has found a new extreme in the title, but it does not work out all too well. The controls are a bit awkward and it takes a while to learn them properly. While it introduces some interesting elements here and there, these moments don't last long and it is mostly filled with the same repetitive stuff. The game is not badly put together nor broken in any way, but in these kinds of experiences, variation is king.

Summary

Pros
  • Good amount of content
  • Nicely put together
Cons
  • Repetitive nature breaks the game
  • Shield mechanics are a bit awkward
  • Various levels don't change up the adventure

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Genre Puzzle
Developer Nacon
Players1

Worldwide Releases

na: Cocoto Alien Brick Breaker
Release Jan 24, 2012
PublisherNacon
RatingEveryone
eu: Cocoto Alien Brick Breaker
Release Dec 12, 2013
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