Shatter review

All you need to know about Shatter is that it’s essentially 3D Breakout in space. And, like everything else in space (except juggling and using a urinal), it’s much better than normal. The basic setup is familiar – your spaceship is tasked with smashing up collections of cosmic blocks by deflecting a shiny disc into them over and over, making sure the disc doesn’t ricochet off-screen.

What makes it different from the much-copied original are incredible visuals (it has the same kind of fizzing HD sparks and neon that made Super Stardust HD a hit) and some smart twists on the ages-old gameplay. Now as well as bouncing your galactic wrecking ball all over, you can pull and push it mid-flight using the shoulder buttons (the suck/blow effect also drawing in or repelling power-ups), and there are boss battles at the end of each one of the ten stages. Smart, smoothly playable and super addictive. Another great PSN title.

Aug 20, 2009