Arkanoid 2 : Revenge of Doh

Copyright : Imagine | Reviewed by : Malc Jennings

That nasty evil guy called Doh is back again raging terror on the galaxy and its up to you to stop him before the world is destroyed - the only way to do that is to battle wave after wave of challenging "breakout" style action in this sequel to one of the most memorable arcade classics.

Graphics

Arkanoid 2 is without a doubt one of the most colourful arcade conversions ever to grace the Amstrad CPC, staying very faithful to the original arcade unit there is very little to complain about in this game in terms of graphics. The only thing we would pick up on is the slight decrease in speed over the fast paced original arcade unit but it?s not overly dramatic and the game is still very playable indeed.

Sound

Sound is also spot on in this conversion, Imagine have converted both the awesome arcade theme music and the pumping sound effects over to the CPC with only a few items being removed. This is certainly a game you will want to play with the sound turned up and is a great example of how games should be done on our beloved Amstrad machine.

Gameplay

Those that have ever played the original arcade or any of the many "breakout" clones will absolutely love this conversion as it?s one of the most playable games in this genre to hit the CPC, if you?ve completed the original game you?ll love the extra levels and options this game offers you.

Controls are easy enough even when using a joystick (younger readers may be used to playing this game with a trackball or mouse on the Amiga/ST conversions) and it certainly doesn?t cause any problems enjoying the game, as we mentioned earlier it?s not as fast paced as the arcade unit but it?s certainly as good looking and sounding as it?s father. Unlike other breakout clones Arkanoid 2 offers the player some great power-ups and downs which in turn make the game easier and harder, for example your bat can shrink and grow in size as well as shoot bullets at the bricks above you.

It?s not an easy game though but if you practice enough and keep hitting the fire button to start again you?ll quickly get the hang of each level and progress quickly. We would suggest you hunt out a cheat however as this arcade conversion has many many levels on offer and with only 3 lives to complete the game you might be hard pressed to do it.