Tri Breaker: A Sacred Symbols Odyssey
PC/Xbox/PS/Switch
12/12/2024
Lillymo Games
They say that if at first you don’t succeed, tri tri again, but what happens if you sort of half-heartedly succeeded the first time? Well, I guess you keep trying anyway, or at least that’s what Lillymo Games is doing with the sequel to 2020’s Twin Breaker: A Sacred Symbols Adventure. The next installment, entitled Tri Breaker: A Sacred Symbols Odyssey picks up where it’s predecessor left off in both story and gameplay, but this go around you’re not just brick breaking through space; you’re brick breaking through time If you live under a rock like me, Sacred Symbols also happens to be the name of a Playstation-themed podcast run by Colin Moriarity, Chris Ray Gun and Dustin Furman. It’s one of many shows under their Last Stand Media banner. If you recognize Moriarity’s name, good or bad, it may be from his time at IGN, Kinda Funny Games or, ya know, teaming up with Barry Johnson of Lillymo Games to create these goofy brick breaker titles.
But Does Tri Breaker try too hard to stand out from the crowd, or is it an out of this world brick-breaking experience?
Tri Breaker: A Sacred Symbols Odyssey picks up about 10 years after Twin Breaker left off. Colin and Chris are summoned out of a comfortable retirement when it is uncovered that their last adventure led to concrete evidence of time travel, and this information just might have fallen into the wrong hands. Now, with the help of Dustin, a high-clearance government liaison, they must prevent possible paradoxes by hopping back into Greetings and Salutations, the tongue-in-cheek name of their ships, to save the world as we know it— again.
If you played Twin Breaker, you already know that it’s no ordinary space battle in store. Instead, Tri Breaker plays more like a classic arcade game on performance enhancing drugs. Instead of a single-paddle brick breaker, you’ll have two ships which you control independently with the left and right sticks, as well as a ball launcher, or “bouncer”, which grants you additional control of the ball’s trajectory post-launch. Speaking of balls, the ahem appearance of the bouncer makes for a phallic joke early on in the game, but it’s such low-hanging fruit I barely even mustered a chuckle. Pun fully intended, by the way.
Moving on, it takes a few attempts to get a feel for stretching your brain in three different directions and, much like that dick joke, never quite lands for me. I could get a handle on the left and right stick controls pretty quickly, but it always felt clunky controlling the bouncer in mid-flight. The action itself is performant by hitting the left or right bumper on your controller, but for some reason I would often find myself veering in the opposite direction I intended to go. Regardless of how you feel about this mechanic, you either become competent at controlling the bouncer or you ignore it unless you reach a level that all but requires it–you’ll still make it through Tri Breakers 40 levels of gameplay. And if you’re in the latter pool like me, fear not. There are not 40 levels of pure, brick-breaking chaos. Tri Breakers does attempt to shake things up a bit by implementing levels inspired by other arcade classics like Snake, Pacman and even Frogger. Not only that, but you’ll even encounter some boss levels, which can REALLY throw you for a loop.
I’ve always been a casual brick-breaking fan, not bad at the genre by any means, but certainly not an expert and, with a good deal of patience and an even greater deal of attempts, I was able to struggle my way through all 40 levels with moderate success. Ok, maybe success isn’t the right word (at least according to my rankings on each level), but I made it through, damn it and you can, too. If you happen to go through your allotment of hearts on a level, you are typically able to purchase additional ones by sacrificing some of your hard-earned points. The first heart you purchase is a bargain at just 100 points, but the more lives you lose, the steeper the price becomes. And now you know why my scores were so abysmal.
Ironically, my favorite levels ended up being either the most traditional brick-breaking levels and the ones that departed from brick-breaking entirely. Unfortunately, the three ship controls never ended up clicking with me the way I wanted them too and left me feeling more confused and frustrated than anything else. I credit the developers for attempting a new twist on classic gameplay, but it ended up making these levels a lot less fun.
And, of course, there’s the game’s story, which just wasn’t for me. Again, credit where credit is due– i appreciate a brick-breaker having any kind of story at all. It provides some degree of depth to an otherwise pretty shallow gameplay style. However, the whole “I wrote this game, so my friends and I are wealthy, futuristic heroes who saved the world…. again…” was a bit cringey. Not only because it seems a little self-indulgent, but also because it’s silly. It’s kind of a retread of the first game, except this time the boys are travelling through not just space, but time. Often, this involves the characters becoming separated and trying to find their way back to the others. In my heart of hearts, I have to believe Tri Breakers doesn’t take itself too seriously and this over-the-top story is intentionally wince-worthy but take that with a grain of salt. The humor is either going to click with you or it’s not, and this one wasn’t my cup of tea.
On the bright side, Tri Breakers does sport some snazzy pixel art graphics that lend themselves well to this style of gameplay. Bold, retro-tastic color schemes, stylistic portrait art and tons of arcade influences combine to create of visual style that doesn’t quite look like it belongs in an arcade but definitely pays respects to the golden age of gaming. Some levels aren’t the prettiest to look at with busy foregrounds and muddy backgrounds, but there’s something authentic about that chaos that makes sense in the context of this title.
And nothing feels more authentically retro than the soundtrack, with perfectly crafted gritty, chippy tunes, complete with farting basslines and a full head of synth. The sound effects are equally satisfying and crunchy as you break bricks and play pong with a prehistoric beast. The sound design was by far my favorite aspect of this title.
All told, Tri Breaker: A Sacred Symbols Odyssey does TRI hard, but doesn’t quite succeed in being a fun game. It’s not broken, and it does have some original ideas and unique twists on classic arcade gameplay, but the twists don’t always make the gameplay more fun. The story may cause chronic eye-rolling, but the graphics and sound design make for a decent nod to the heyday of arcade games. If you’re a fan of brick-breakers and you’re desperately searching for something to add complexity to your favorite genre or if you’re just a die-hard fan of the Sacred Symbols podcast and you want to spend some more time with your favorite hosts, this might be a decent option to add to your collection.
MEDIOCRE
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