The Nerdy Type

As a kid, my summer vacations to the British seaside always featured two things: Rain, because this is England, and the weather is never what you expect it to be, and hiding from that rain with some video game or other. While the type of games regularly varied, one that repeatedly made a comeback is brick breakers.

Nothing too high-tech, of course; this was he 90s, after all. I’m talking about brick breakers that were part of a handheld knock-off that ran on AA batteries and boasted “100 games in one!” despite there only being 25, and only three of those functioning in a way that made them playable. Many would choose to play the rip-off Tetris, but for me, the choice was always clear: Brick breakers. 

Now, this is all a very nostalgic and long-winded introduction to something that is the indie games equivalent of an earworm: Kabonk!, by Spark of Chaos. It takes everything I love about those brick-breaking games of old, throws them into the 3D realm, and turns it into a strange (and surprisingly challenging) adventure of bright colors and techno music. 

When did I become old?

I’m willing to admit that I went into this at a bit of a disadvantage, considering I launched Kabonk! at 8am, pre-caffeine, and without my glasses on. 

What followed was a squint-filled and panicked rush to reduce the sensitivity of my mouse because I felt like I was going through life on fast-forward, only to realize I’d made a terrible mistake as soon as I got into an actual level because my little ball-bouncing platform felt like a slug trying to chase after a hummingbird.

Needless to say, I left my desk, got a cup of coffee, and put on my glasses before returning to try again. 

The second attempt was far more successful, and I found myself doing well. All those memories and long-dormant brick-breaking skills started coming back to me. It was fun, just as any game should be, and the colors and sounds (each tap of the ball on the platform sounds like a tennis ball meeting a tennis racket) swept me along until an hour had passed without me noticing. 

3D competitive makeover

In Kabonk!, your “character” is the little puck used to bounce the balls towards the bricks above, and you can wander around this blacklight space to look at and pick different levels, with more unlocking as you complete previous ones. Unlocked levels appear in corridor-type spaces, and you can glide through the space to pick the one that you feel most able to complete. 

Each level has a small leaderboard next to it, displaying the three quickest times for completing that level. I’m on quite a few of the early ones (this is likely NOT true by the time you’re reading this), and I’m pretty proud of myself for even grabbing the top spot on a couple of them. There are also more long-term leaderboards out in the main ‘lobby area’ where the themed levels are divided into separate zones. 

That competitive side of Kabonk! is likely to make people want to play more, to either take or keep the top spot, and it’s something that I didn’t know was missing from the brick-breaking genre.

Power-ups for days

As with any brick breaker game, old or new-school, some bricks that you break with your little bouncy ball will result in power-ups dropping down for you to catch with your moving platform. All the usual suspects are there, from multi-ball to giant ball; everything that you’d expect to be on offer is present and obtainable. 

There are, of course, some that are more sought after than others, and perhaps even worth dropping one of your three balls for if they come up. Sticky pad, guns, and able-to-break-through-anything power-ups (do these have designated names?) are worth risking losing a life to make things a little easier. 

The giant ball is wonderful for my aging eyes, while the multi-ball power-up is not the blessing it used to be because it does nothing except make my brain temporarily stop working due to sensory overload. With that said, even during those moments where my brain slows down and the balls start flying, Kabonk! is utterly mesmerizing in the most bizarre and unexplainable way.

Frustration comes with the territory

There are some frustrating moments that you’ll experience while playing Kabonk!, but none of them are unique to the game in any shape or form. The biggest of them is the age-old “one brick left and I can’t quite get my ball to fly off at the right angle” dilemma, resulting in you taking bigger and bigger risks only to end up losing your ball. 

But, like I said, that’s not unique to Kabonk!, it’s just a problem that everyone who has ever played a brick-breaking game has faced at least once, and it’s present here too. To balance those issues out, there are also moments when you get incredibly lucky and the level is over almost as quickly as you can blink, with no recollection of how you managed to do it.

Kabonk! will be available to download and play on PC via Steam on October 10, and it’s a must-play for anyone who loves a bit of nostalgia or retro-themed gameplay. There’s also a demo available in the meantime.