Daily iPhone App: Wizorb turns Breakout into an RPG
Wizorb is a title that originally came out on Steam, but it just recently arrived on iOS, and it's a nice one to have in our gigantic library. The game is a mix of breakout and the old 8/16-bit RPGs, and the combat is essentially the old Breakout game. You use a paddle at the bottom of the screen to knock a ball up into bricks and enemies above.
Wizorb wisely never backs down from its 16-bit RPG style, so the graphics, the spells, and even the music are delightfully retro, and should be familiar to anyone who played similar RPGs during that era.
The Breakout side of the game is solid as well. It can be a little unclear just what you're earning as you collect potions, coins or gems after breaking blocks, and the addition of spells like fireballs and an "alter" spell (which will push your ball in a different direction) can make things even more confusing. But as long as you keep the ball from falling offscreen, you'll be good.
The controls on PC were probably a little better for this kind of gameplay. Swiping your finger across the screen constantly isn't the most fun thing to do. It's strange that the game doesn't have tilt controls, but that's probably a consequence of its PC heritage.
All in all, Wizorb is a well-made retro game, and it combines these two seemingly disparate game genres in very interesting and fun ways. If you missed it on Steam, it's worth picking up on iOS, and there's plenty of content to bounce your way through. It's US$2.99 in a universal version, available right now.
