If you own a modern PlayStation gaming device, whip out your paddle and get ready to break some bricks. Our giveaway this week, courtesy of Beatshapers, is the excellent brick-breakin’ PlayStation Minis title BreakQuest: Extra Evolution. Check out our recent review to see why you’re going to want to win a code–and if you don’t win, you should buy it any way!

We’ve got PlayStation Network codes for both North America and Europe, so enter now if you’d like a chance to win. Here are the rules:

Contest Details:

Prize: 4 download codes for BreakQuest: Extra Evolution, including 2 for the U.S. PlayStation Store and 2 for the European PlayStation Store. Game is valued at $3.99 and is compatible with PS3, PSP, and Vita.

How to enter: Tell us which regional PSN version of the game you would like to win in at least one of the following ways:

1) Leave a comment at the bottom of this post.

2) Follow VGBlogger and Beatshapers on Twitter @vgblogger and @Beatshapers and RT your entry with this message

3) ‘Like’ us on our Facebook page and then ‘Like’ and comment on this post

4) Email us at contests@vgblogger.com with the subject line “BreakQuest Giveaway”

Only ONE form of entry is required, but entering through multiple channels will increase your odds of winning. Please remember to include the PSN region you are vying for in your comments/entries.

Entry Period: Monday, November 12 – Friday, November 16 at 12:00 PM EST. 4 total contest winners will be selected at random and announced after entry deadline on Friday, November 16.

In late 2009/early 2010, Beatshapers released the first BreakQuest PlayStation Mini. I played it briefly, but remember the controls being a bit too squirrelly for my tastes, and after a few attempts at trying to play even the first level (out of 100) I regrettably dismissed the title. Beatshapers has followed up its bite-sized brick breaker this fall with an extra evolved sequel, and this time I wasn’t going to make the same mistake of casting it aside. Turns out, being stuck on a 4-hour plane flight with not much else to do provided the ideal circumstance to load up BreakQuest: Extra Evolution on my Vita. I was immediately hooked.

The concept to brick breaking games hasn’t changed much over the decades.  You’re still just moving a paddle left and right across the bottom of the screen to deflect a ball up and break floating brick patterns.  Add in special modifiers that drop down and enhance the paddle so that it is wider, is magnetic or can shoot bullets, and any given board can go from being a boring slog to an experiment in how quickly the area can be cleared.

BreakQuest: Extra Evolution adds some neat twists to the base concept.  Similar to the first title, you are presented with 100 new boards to clear, which are displayed in a ten by ten grid.  The first board in each row is unlocked and as each additional board is completed the next one unlocks.  In addition, at the end of each row, the 10th board then provides a bonus boss level to complete.  Some boards resemble a very traditional brick pattern, while other boards are more abstract and the objects being “broken” are flower petals or simply little pellets that are consumed à la Pac-Man as the ball travels over them. The constant change of audiovisual styles is one of this game’s main draws.

Any fan of brick breaking games will tell you, the worst part of playing any board is trying to get that last brick.  BreakQuest: Extra Evolution offers a wonderful solution to this.  If the level seems to drag on for a set period of time and no additional bricks are destroyed, a random enhancement will drop allowing a GPS missile (or scatter gun) to fire up at the lone brick that has managed to escape destruction.  This is a wonderful helper feature that kept me playing more and more levels as I never felt frustrated by not being able to finish a board.

One other new feature that has been introduced is a shield mechanic.  The moment the first ball is launched from the paddle, a small line is drawn across the bottom of the screen.  Once the line is drawn completely to the middle, the L1 and/or R1 buttons can be pressed to shift the line up a space and then a secondary line begins to draw across the bottom again.  Once the first line has shifted up to the second space, the line acts as a protective shield capable of deflecting two hits before being destroyed. Managing the shields and utilizing the various modifiers that drop, combined with the wonderful, constantly changing levels, makes BreakQuest: Extra Evolution a Mini with a surprising amount of depth and variety, despite its sub-100 MB size.

While Minis don’t offer Trophy support, there are in-game achievements which add to the addictive nature of the game. Achievements are earned by taking down the bosses at the end of each row, as well as by earning various point totals (which are added cumulatively over the course of the game).  Obviously the game doesn’t offer leaderboards either, but one thing I wish that the Vita would allow is at least the option to take screenshots while playing Minis.  At least that way I could take a screenshot and Tweet the pic from my Vita instead of having to brag and not be to back up my claims.

But overall, BreakQuest: Extra Evolution is a wonderful game with addictive brick-busting gameplay and a dynamic presentation that changes visual styles and sound themes with each new level unlocked.  With over 100 levels to play, and at a price of less than a large caramel latte, this Mini is a smashing success.

Pros:
+ Great audiovisual style changes with each level
+ Improved ball and paddle handling doesn’t feel squirrely
+ In game achievements

Cons:
– I know it’s a Mini, but no online leaderboards is still a drag
– Can’t capture screenshots

Game Info:
Platform: PlayStation Minis (PS3, PSP, Vita)
Publisher: Beatshapers
Developer: Beatshapers
Release Date: 10/16/2012
Genre: Brick Breaker
ESRB Rating: Everyone
Players: 1
Source: Review code provided by publisher

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Having already cast his nostalgic charm spell on PC and Xbox Live Indie gamers, the wizard capable of transforming into a magical orb and swatting himself about environments ripped straight out of an 8-bit console role-playing quest is now doing his ball and paddle thing on all three modern PlayStation platforms. That game is, of course, the aptly named Wizorb, and you can download it to your PS3, PSP and/or PS Vita right now for a paltry $3.99. Well, you can download it to your PS3 and then transfer it to your Vita later, but for some reason you can’t buy and download it directly onto your Vita just yet (at least not from the U.S. PSN Store).

This is a shame, because the Vita is the best of the three devices for this game to be played on. Not that the other two Sony systems don’t run it well, but on the Vita the load times are peppier by at least a good five seconds on average and the retro sprites just plain look cleaner and crisper on that gorgeous OLED screen. On the PS3, the graphics look nice but are a touch too saturated for my liking; on the PSP they’re darker and muted and just don’t have the same pop, even after bumping the brightness button to the max setting.

Broadening the platform comparisons, while the Vita version’s colors are more vivid, the presentation is sharper and I personally prefer the convenience of portability with a pick up and play style of game such as this, the PC version continues to rule in all-around content thanks to online leaderboards and Steam Achievements. As a PlayStation mini, these features sadly are not available, which is a knock to overall replay value but not a major one considering the game sells for less than a fiver. Whichever system you choose to play it on, just know that you’re getting a fun-in-short-bursts game that puts a clever twist on one of gaming’s oldest design models.

Branching off from the Breakout / Arkanoid family tree, Wizorb is a mostly traditional ball and paddle game that has you bouncing the wizard–in orb form remember–with a small wand that scrolls horizontally across the bottom of the screen. Like the games it derives from, the objective is to clear all blocks from the play area by repeatedly ricocheting the orb into them like a chainless wrecking ball. If at any point the ball slips by your wand defending the screen’s lower edge like a goalie, a life is lost.

Breakout and Arkanoid may want to pay a visit to the Maury Povich Show for a paternity test battle, though, because someone here has obviously been fooling around with a certain Hyrulian hero. (Hey, Link gets bored when Zelda’s not around!) While Wizorb’s pixelated presentation and old-school themes are reminiscent of many RPGs from the Nintendo Entertainment System era, The Legend of Zelda’s influence is felt the strongest. You see, you aren’t just hitting a ball at simple block formations; you’re also defeating enemies, slaying bosses, discovering treasure chests and secret doors, hitting switches, avoiding infection from status ailments, and collecting gold coins and gems, all in an effort to rescue the 4 Sacred Children and save a kingdom from demons.

On this mighty quest, you’ll battle through roughly 60 levels staged in a slime-infested forest, a village overrun by werewolves, a rotten mine teeming with flying beholders, and a castle haunted by transporting ghosts, before ultimately confronting the undead on their home turf in the Netherworld. As you collect treasure, you’ll be able to periodically drop by the demolished Tarot Village to donate your earnings towards the town’s rebuilding effort. By doing so, you’ll earn rewards and eventually gain access to a shop offering extra lives (represented by hearts, of course), potions and special charms to augment your game with multi-orbs, orbs that deal double damage and wand enlargement–it’s like Viagra for magic users!

The other twist to the brick-breaking formula is the addition of spellcasting. As the orb is pinging to and fro, Cyrus (that’s the wizard’s proper name) can launch fireballs for added destruction or summon gusts of wind to shift the ball’s trajectory mid-flight, either for last-second saves or to give the orb an extra nudge into a tight opening. Casting these spells at the point of contact between the orb and wand adds other more powerful arcane properties at the expense of more magic juice, including a magma coating that sends the ball barreling through everything in its path without bouncing and a set of wings that sprout so you can directly guide the orb where you want it to go for a short time. Because magic power is limited, there is some strategy to conserving spells and knowing appropriate times to use them. It may save precious time, but lobbing a couple fireballs to pick off a lingering block or two at the end of a stage can leave you in a tough spot without mana to burn later on.

Familiar yet fresh and different at the same time, Wizorb is proof positive that, even after all these years, the simple joys of topping your best score and adventuring through colorful fantasy worlds made of sprites never go out of style and still have evolutionary potential. Other than the occasional difficulty spike, where out of nowhere one stage tosses a maddeningly tricky brick layout at you without the expected gradual build of difficulty from level to level, there is a lot to love about this game and really nothing to hate.

Not to sound all sadomasochistic or anything, but if you enjoy paddling balls for high score pleasures and long to return to the glory days of console RPGs, you’re going to get a real kick out of Wizorb. The new PlayStation minis versions are missing that little something extra offered by the Steam version’s leaderboards and achievements, but the price is right and the gameplay is a retro smash no matter which gaming machine it’s played on.

Pros:
+ Clever hybrid of two classic genres
+ 8-bit graphics and chiptune sounds lay on the retro charm
+ Pay once for continuous play on up to three different devices = convenient transportability

Cons:
– Currently can’t be bought and directly downloaded to the Vita
– Lack of leaderboards and trophies cuts down the replay incentive offered by the Steam version
– Occasional level will frustrate the hell out of you

Game Info:
Platform: PlayStation Minis (PS3, PSP, PS Vita)
Publisher: Beatshapers
Developer: Beatshapers/Tribute Games
Release Date: 7/24/2012
Genre: Arcade/RPG
ESRB Rating: Everyone
Players: 1
Source: Review code provided by publisher

After achieving indie success on PC/Mac/Linux and as an Xbox Live Indie Game, Tribute Games’ mash-up of Breakout block busting and NES-era fantasy JRPG adventuring is bringing its nostalgically refreshing brand of ball-and-paddle arcade fun to the North American PlayStation minis library.

Starting next week on Tuesday, July 24, you’ll be able to download and enjoy Wizorb on your PS3, PSP and PS Vita for a mere $3.99. Yes, a new game that actually plays across all three PlayStation platforms (yet we still can’t get functional versions of PSP games like Unchained Blades and Gungnir working on the Vita… argh!!!).

Check out our review of the PC version from earlier in the year to see why you’re going to want this in your PlayStation digital collection. If you don’t have a PlayStation system, the Steam version is currently on sale for less than two bucks.

When Sony first announced the addition of PlayStation minis downloads for the PSP and PS3 back in 2009, I was excited to see what sort of games would be released.  Since that time, the selection of minis has been a mishmash of titles ported over from iOS games, remakes of previous PSN/XBLA titles and a smattering of original content.  Partially due to the decline of a large number of new titles released for the PSP but also combined with higher prices than what is commonly accepted for downloadable gaming, minis have only been marginally the hit that was first hyped.

Every once in a while though a title comes along that truly shines as an example for what the minis program could be.  Such is the case of Die Gute Fabrik’s Where Is My Heart?.  Initially offered to PlayStation Plus members for free back on November 8th, WIMH is an allegory for family and the differences between each member.  That translates into gameplay by having the player control creatures who are diverse (Orange, Brown and Gray) family members trying to work together traveling through caves to find a new tree to call home.

The actual gameplay seems like it would be simple to describe, as it is basically a platformer with puzzle elements.  However, what gives the game a distinct feel beyond basic platforming is how the levels are presented.  Typically each level is broken into smaller screens displaying the whole level, but each smaller screen is not necessarily placed in the correct layout. Think of the multiple camera cuts displayed in an episode of 24.  Now think of trying to move a monster across the multiple views only to find that the path isn’t straight, and that should give you a good sense of what to expect throughout the entire game.

I am reminded of the movie Memento as I play through WIMH.  I can’t place exactly why, but the tone that oozes from each of the monsters as they chirp or cry when another monster dies (only to quickly respawn at the starting point) seems almost a loving indifference from each family member.  Adding to that indifference, a crisp 8-bit, line-drawing art style similar to Superbrothers Sword & Sworcery subtly brings out the danger of the environment and the emotions from the monsters.  I think when you mix the art and tone with the rewind-like respawn along with the various monsters’ heightened abilities, the game just starts to click.  Click in the same way that Memento clicks when the sudden realization of how a puzzle works sets in.  It’s the same “Ah ha!” moment I guess.  But that works for me.

As the levels progress, the splintered perspectives also become more complex.  Monsters have to work together despite how they may titter when one dies.  Working together allows each monster to unlock their super power required to conquer later stages.  Orange has the ability to rotate the entire view of the puzzle, which allows for moving to spaces that wouldn’t be accessible otherwise.  Gray radiates a glowing light to illuminate hidden pathways and Brown can double jump.  New stages unfold as the monsters discover their powers and puzzles force the monsters to use them.  However, trying to figure out some of puzzles and the use of the super power is not always obvious.  Trial and error or trial by death is almost essential as the last stages are presented.

Minis are games that can be played on both PS3 and PSP. Playing a mini on a full size TV tends to highlight the fact that the games can only be 100 MB or less, with textures that aren’t necessarily meant for display anywhere other than the PSP.  WIMH is the exception.  Because of the smaller views and the minimalist 8-bit style, the game looks really good on a large screen.  Controls between both DualShock 3 and PSP are equal.

Where is my Heart? is one of those experiences that shouldn’t be missed. Following the free PlayStation Plus release from a couple weeks ago, today sees the release to the rest of the PSN store at a price of $6.99.  Fans of puzzle games and quirky art should definitely pick this up, as the minimalism goes a long way to create a rich experience. Rarely are minis this good.

Pros:
+ Beautiful minimalist art
+ Fun, quick puzzles
+ A mini that looks great on PS3

Cons:
– Later puzzles can be challenging

Game Info:
Platform: PlayStation minis for PSP and PS3
Publisher: Die Gute Fabrik
Developer: Die Gute Fabrik
Release Date: 11/22/2011 (Free to PlayStation Plus members since 11/8/2011)
Genre: Puzzle Platformer
ESRB Rating: Everyone
Players: 1
Source: Free PlayStation Plus Download

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Have you ever been bored in school, passing the time by doodling in the margin to make it look like you’re taking notes like a good little student when in reality you couldn’t be any more oblivious to what’s coming out of your teacher’s mouth? I know I’ve been there and done that…many, many years ago.

In my time, I remember drawing plenty of stick figure battles, which would often turn into full-scale wars with bunkers and bases and tanks if I was in a particularly unproductive mood. And if I happened to have a red pen or marker handy, I’d draw in blood and stick figure entrails for comic violence. Ahhh…those were the days!

If you fondly recall similar times in your life or simply want a quick dose of mindless paper-on-paper violence, rush on over to the PSN Store and download the PlayStation Minis (an iPhone/iPad port also just came out this week) title Paper Wars: Cannon Fodder, iFun4All’s self declared “worst game ever.”

Paper Wars is a tower defense game stripped down to its most basic form. Enemy soldiers march across the screen from right to left, and it is your mission to keep them from crossing the battlefield and exiting at the left side. If a certain number of soldiers survive the bombardment, you fail the mission.

To hold these doodled warmongers at bay, you have but one ‘tower’. A stationary tank placed in the bottom left corner of the screen is your one and only line of defense, and as forces begin to march across the field of play in waves, you aim the tank’s cannon crosshair with the analog nub (or d-pad if you prefer) and unleash hell by holding down the Cross button. The longer you charge the cannon before firing determines the impact of the explosion.

Variation is introduced through three different campaign themes – the Classic Campaign with a standard military style, the Winter Assault campaign set on a snowy battlefield, and a Cyber Wars campaign with futuristic neon visuals straight out of Tron. Beyond the artistic differences, each campaign has unique power-ups and other subtle twists. In Winter Assault, for example, you get special missiles that freeze soldiers into little ice cubes, and in Cyber Wars the soldiers are color coded, meaning you have to cycle back and forth through three different colored bullets – red, blue, and green – and match your attacks to the color of the target.

Other than that, there isn’t much strategy to Paper Wars at all, and if you intend to play the game for long stretches, you will get bored quickly. However, the game is loads of absurdist fun in bite-sized chunks of no more than five missions at a time, and the pencil-drawn graphics and cheap-sounding music and sound effects give the game an endearing amateurish quality that ties everything together.

Paper Wars: Cannon Fodder is by no means a great game, but it is a great time waster, and that’s all it needs to be. It’s an ideal game for quick doses of fun when you have time to kill or just want to let off a little steam, and with over 80 missions, three difficulty options, survival play and built-in achievements, there is more than enough content to make the $5 buy-in worthwhile (and the iOS versions are even cheaper, as usual).

Pros:
+ Great time-wasting fun in small doses
+ Plenty of missions to keep you busy
+ Charming doodled graphics

Cons:
– Gets old very, very quickly when played in long stretches

Game Info:
Platform: PlayStation Minis and iPhone/iPad; Reviewed on PSP
Publisher: iFun4All
Developer: iFun4All
Release Date: PSN – 2/22/2011, iOS – 3/28/2011
Genre: Tower Defense
ESRB Rating: N/A
Players: 1
Source: Review code provided by publisher

Gameloft has become infamous for blatantly ripping off popular franchises for its generic downloadable mobile game offerings, and at this point the company almost seems prideful in doing so. Just look through the developer’s website and you’ll find unashamed knock-offs of Grand Theft Auto, Uncharted and Modern Warfare, to name a few. However, by most accounts these games have been fun despite their beyond-the-point-of-flattery mimicry, so the lack of originality and inspiration generally gets forgiven. But sorry, Gameloft, that isn’t happening this time.

N.O.V.A. (Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance), first developed as an iPhone game in 2009, has been ported to the PlayStation Minis platform for PS3 and PSP, and from the moment the game begins the developer’s attempts to copy Halo are readily apparent. In similar fashion, N.O.V.A. is a generic sci-fi FPS in which you take up arms as a super-soldier and fight to rescue humanity from the brink of annihilation, an eerily familiar female AI helping you out along the way.

I have to say, for a low-budget $4.99 production, N.O.V.A. deserves high marks for the scope of its gameplay and the technology behind its graphics engine. The game’s 13 missions take a good three hours to complete on average (that isn’t a whole lot shorter than any of the recent Call of Duty games!), and there are built-in Trophy-style medals to go back for and an unlockable hard difficulty setting. The game is also quite impressive graphically (when running on the PSP at least), featuring detailed weapon models, varied level environments, and special effects touches that bring immersive depth to the game world, particularly in the jungle settings with flowing waterfalls and ‘God rays’ shining down through the canopy.

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Unfortunately, that’s where the compliments end, as the rest of the game just isn’t any good, no matter how hard you may try to use the cheap price point to quantify and forgive its shortcomings. N.O.V.A. runs on the familiar PSP shooter control scheme of using the face buttons to move/strafe and the analog nub to aim (or vice versa if you prefer), but even with aim assist on and the sensitivity slider adjusted, the targeting controls are so slow and imprecise that you have to work far too hard just to get an enemy lined up inside your crosshairs. The interface is also cumbersome, particularly later in the game when you’ve collected every gun and find that you can only cycle through your arsenal in one direction and there isn’t some form of radial selection menu to make the process more intuitive.

The game is technically flawed as well — it even crashed my system one time, which is an extremely rare occurrence for a PSP game in my experience. Sure, the graphics are nice, but the engine is so shaky that the rest of the game suffers. The targeting controls are already sloppy, but when the shootouts get heated and the stuttering frame rate begins to noticeably slow down your rate of fire and cause sound effects to delay or misfire completely, the gameplay goes even further down the toilet. Don’t even try to play the game on the PS3 either, because the graphics don’t scale well to the big screen at all and Gameloft didn’t bother to provide alternate controls to make use of the DualShock’s two analog sticks, so the game handles even worse than on the PSP.

No matter how you slice it, N.O.V.A. is a barebones, by-the-numbers FPS, with no sense of personality or distinguishing characteristics to individuate itself from other games in the genre. I really don’t fault the developer’s efforts, it’s just that the FPS genre simply does not lend itself to the type of scaling back that’s inherent in developing for the Minis platform, and this game is proof of that.

I had five bucks sitting unused in my PSN account for what had been at least a year, so I didn’t see any downside to using it up on this game. But as soon as I got the game downloaded and began playing, I immediately regretted my purchase and wished I had my money back. Please, don’t make the same mistake I did.

Pros:
+ Nice graphics…for a $5 game
+ Lengthy campaign mode…for a $5 game

Cons:
– Lousy controls
– Unstable frame rate directly impacts gameplay
– Audio bugs and system crashes
– Looks and plays even worse on PS3
– Downsized, oversimplified gameplay just doesn’t work for FPSs

Game Info:
Platform: PlayStation Minis (PSP and PS3)
Publisher: Gameloft
Developer: Gameloft
Release Date: 12/21/2010
Genre: FPS
ESRB Rating: Teen
Players: 1
Source: Game purchased by reviewer