Bricks of Camelot Review

Written by: David Laprad Published: March 24, 2005 In this age of speedy Internet access, it's easy for broadband users to forget about the many people stuck with dial-up. Accessing the Web via a pencil-thin 56K pipe requires Zen-like patience even when downloading a 10 MB shareware game. Fortunately, companies like Arcade Lab are packing plenty of fun, good looking gameplay into tinier packages. Bricks of Egypt, an Arkanoid clone Arcade Lab released in March 2004, is one example. Weighing in at two megs, it offered unique gameplay and artwork that would've made King Tut feel at home. Most notable among the game's novel features were the fiery bricks that spread across the screen and the water drops players would hit to douse the swelling inferno. What's more, the addition of switches that lowered impenetrable walls gave rise to some ingenious level design. Bricks of Egypt must've sold well, because Arcade Lab has released a sequel that skips forward to an age of legend and magic. Bricks of Camelot replaces the hieroglyphs, pyramids and ornate sculptures of its predecessor with dungeons, swords and sorcery. For the most part, the gameplay remains intact, although several new features draw on the medieval theme. In standard Arkanoid fashion, you move a bat along the bottom of the screen and hit a ball toward various objects in an effort to clear the stage. Now and then, the things you hit drop powerups and bonuses; catching them gives your bat special powers or boosts your score. The gameplay mechanics of Arkanoid are so simple, they're hard to screw up, although bad physics and sluggish controls have ruined more than one release. Thankfully, that's not the case with Bricks of Camelot. Arcade Lab nailed everything, from the smooth movement of the bat to the accuracy with which you can aim the ball. You can even slip your bat off-screen, giving you more room in which to work when the ball heads for a corner. Arcade Lab makes good use of the era in which Bricks of Camelot is set. The game comes with five episodes containing three levels packs each. From dank dungeons to dark forests, the artwork is beautiful. I only wish the images were more vibrant, as the backdrops and foreground elements sometimes blend together due to the slightly dull color pallet the game uses. All of the pickups from the original game return, including multiball, magnetic bat, extra lives and so on. New pickups include a potion that generates a magical shield along the bottom of the screen, another potion that conjures a second bat and treasure chests that burst into a shower of gems. The cannon, popular in the first game because it allowed you to unleash your wrath upon the fiery bricks, now shoots arrows that do an equal amount of damage. Most of the interactive elements from Bricks of Egypt are back, too. The centuries that passed between the heyday of the pharaohs and King Arthur did nothing to change the fiery bricks, water drops and switches, all of which return in their original form. Arcade Lab did alter a few things to fit the new theme, such as the guillotine, which is now a spiked wrecking ball that swings across the display. My favorite addition is the lightning bolt that strikes from the top of the screen; it replaces the fireballs seen in the original game. Additional interactive elements include a torch that ignites nearby bricks, an axe that explodes into several smaller hatchets when hit and eagles that take wing across the display, dropping gems from their talons. Bricks of Camelot also irons out the niggles players had with the original. For starters, all of the level packs contain eight stages, something those of you who had trouble getting through the longer episodes in Bricks of Egypt will appreciate. In addition, once the current level is almost clear, the spiked wrecking ball will swoop in and smash the remaining objects. This means no more trying to eliminate a final pesky brick. Although Bricks of Camelot retains the enjoyment of its precursor, the levels feel more generic than those in Bricks of Egypt, creating a sense of sameness from one stage to the next. Still, the sequel offers ample gameplay for a small download, and Arcade Lab makes wonderful use of the medieval theme. With these things in mind, it's worth the price of admission. What's next in this series? Perhaps Bricks of the Wild West!