D+PAD Magazine reviews new DSiWare title AlphaBounce, from Mad Monkey Studio.
Remember the story in Super Mario Sunshine where Mario convicted for a crime he did not committed on Isle Delfino. His punishment is to clean up the entire island, which Mario is happy to do, he is saving the residents of Isle Delfino and Yoshi after all. In AlphaBounce the story is actually the opposite. You’re playing a prisoner, the higher the difficulty the lesser the sympathy towards the character you’re playing as. The punishment is to clean up the entire galaxy and unlike Mario’s acceptance; you must help the prisoner escape the ordeal by finding the coordinates to Earth. Finally, instead of a platformer, AlphaBounce is an action RPG with a disguise as a block-breaking genre.
Pocket Gamer: The Breakout genre is in dire need of a good old gaming burial – a sending off into the heavens of video game past.
The fact that the concept's roots can be traced back to Pong, one of the earliest video games ever, should be an indication that it's time to move on.
GameKult: Heir to the timeless breakout, AlphaBounce incorporates a suspected shooter and role play to the basic formula.
