Okay, so I like weird games. Bestri is a Breakout/Arkanoid type game with some sort of weird organic thing acting as the paddle. It's colorful, inventive and challenging and really odd.
In Bestri, you use the joystick (as opposed to a dial or paddle) to control the left and right movement and have a button to jump (as well as a button to launch the ball). That's correct, jump. You see there are many, and I do mean MANY different types of power-ups and hidden bonuses to collect in Bestri and jumping is the way you get most of them. What happens is that when your ball (after being hit by you, the paddle) collides with certain bricks or characters they release these power-ups and other items. The power-ups then hover just above your paddle, wiggling up and down and back and forth - essentially teasing you like your older cousin at Thanksgiving. So you have to jump to collect them. In the meantime, the ball is still bouncing around, so you can't lose sight of maneuvering underneath it to make sure you hit it. In fact, if you jump as you are hitting the ball, that impact makes the ball travel faster/farther.
The level design is interesting, there are tons of widely varying screens. One interesting aspect of play is that all adjacent bricks of the same color disappear when you hit them. So screens that look full of bricks actually disappear pretty quickly when you hit one brick and a whole block of colors goes bye-bye.
Ball and paddle action aside, this game is all about all the unusual things that happen while you are playing. The ball changes, the bricks change, the paddle dude gets bigger & smaller... you get the idea. There are lots of little cartoon characters roaming the screen you can hit, and I have absolutely no idea what you get for that or what they do when you hit them - the game is from Korea, and I am not.
Bestri is a VERY obscure game, there is almost no info about it on the web, KLOV or CAESAR. That's some of the reason I don't know more about what is happening with the details of the gameplay.
But, ignorance is bliss - It's good fun and a nice change of pace from shooting spaceships and airplanes all day.
Bestri (abbreviation of Best Trio) is actually 3 games in one.
ReplyDeleteThe game you're reviewing is the sub-game called 'Die Break'
There are also 2 'Go' style board games included, which is the option you get after inserting a coin.
'Jumping Break' (jmpbreak) is the sequel to the 'Die Break' game included here.
Thanks for the info. That's interesting, have to check out the sequel.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, the website statistics for my blog tell me that many of the fact-checking/game knowledge comments on my posts originate from a server in Derby, United Kingdom. Who is this anonymous guru with the encyclopedic knowledge of arcade gaming? Unmask thyself!