Arkanoid Live is a HD version of the classic game, you control a bat at the bottom of the screen and you bounce a ball into blocks on the top half of the screen. The idea is to clear the screen of all destructible blocks without letting the ball fall past your bat. For some obscure reason a story has been put to the game with you piloting a ship to save everyone from invaders, with a bat and ball? To help you along the way and defeat these cunning alien invaders that put blocks in your way you can earn power-ups like a "catch the ball", bullets to shoot some blocks, a smaller bat and the mad multi-ball that shoots a load of balls onto the screen and it's up to your quick reflexes to keep as many on screen as you can.

 

 

At the start of the game you are able to customize your play experience by selecting if you want to have lives or a barrier at the bottom of the screen. You can also choose to turn on enemies, these guys will float around the screen and everytime your ball hits them it will alter it's trajectory so you need some quick reflexes.

 

The simplicity of the game is also it's downfall as there are times when it is impossible to get the right angle to hit the final elusive block, causing some real headaches, plus even though there is a high scores table, when you look at Taito's other release Space Invaders Evolution it does not have the same revamp on the combo's and feels a little hollow.

 

The Live aspect of the game allows you to play against another player in a split screen mode, this offers more of the same as the single player with a Bust All in which you clear the screen and a Bust Colour mode where you have to get rid of a specific colour, however I feel it missed a trick by not having more attack orientated power ups like extra blocks for the other player.

 

It feels strange doing such a short review for a game but there really is hardly anything to this game. Fans of the game will enjoy this but there are hundreds of clones out there on the net, so I really can't recommend this title as it is just too light.