Cocoto Alien Brick Breaker Review For Nintendo 3DS

The devilishly cute Cocoto returns to defend five worlds against the evil Xillians and collect the crystals that they’ve stolen in order to raise the planets’ shields to render the Xillians’ attacks useless.  Armed with his little shield, Cocoto turns the Xillians’ weapons against them to save the day!

Cocoto Alien Brick Breaker is, as the title implies, a brick-breaker style arcade game with a little Space Invaders thrown in to boot.  The premise is simple: maneuver Cocoto underneath the enemies’ incoming fire to deflect it back at them with his shield.  There is a bit of a twist, however, for if you let one of the enemy shots hit the ground, it’ll damage the planet you’re standing on.  Take too much damage in an area and the planet explodes.  No pressure there!

Once a screen of bad guys is cleared, arrows will point you in the direction of your next battle to move to.  When enough crystals have been cleared, the round ends and your points are tallied.  Depending on the number of bonuses you nabbed, the time it took you to clear the level, and the amount of damage sustained, you’ll be awarded a bronze, silver, or gold medal.

Each world contains nine levels, a boss level, as well as bonus rounds that are more Space Invaders than brick-breaker in the sense that you’ll be given the super-shield weapon to fire at the Xillians as they rain down on you.  If they make it to the dotted line at the bottom of the screen, it’s lights out for Cocoto.  Additionally, at the end of each world, a level boss must be defeated.  This massive purple orb has a number of capabilities depending on what world you’re on, such as firing a laser beam that can quickly blast a hole in the planet’s crust, tentacles that come out to try to swipe Cocoto off the map, and more.  These boss levels and Space Invader-esque levels change up the game’s pace, keeping it from getting too repetitive – and they’re spaced evenly enough through the game to stay effective.  The variety of monsters you’ll encounter and their different attacks also breaks the monotony, but not as much as the different levels.  14 different Xillian types are in the game, and once you start running into multiple types on the same screen, things can get pretty hairy rather quickly, forcing you to change up your tactics on the fly.

Along the way, assorted power-ups are randomly dropped from Xillians as they poof away, which aid you in your quest to defend the planet.  Extra-large shields, splitters that fire two projectiles for each one deflected, bonus points are just some of the common fare.  More rare items such as wrenches that will repair damage done to the planet, and a super shield capable of firing your own projectiles occasionally make their way to the ground for you to use.  The effects are temporary, but welcome in the oftentimes frantic battle on your screen.

The story is fairly simple and doesn’t have any dialogue to move it along per se, but cutscenes in between worlds do help to move things along and are often amusing.  The cartoony graphics are delightful and full of color, and surprisingly, aren’t jagged or grainy on the 3DS XL’s screen like many games out there.  Enabling 3D for this game offers no benefit except to cause frame rate drop, and I even found the controls to be more sluggish with it on, so it’s best to just leave it turned off for this one.

Beyond the Story mode, you also have Arcade and Classic modes available to play.  Classic mode is unlocked after clearing the first world in Story mode and goes back to the old brick-breaker rules of a single ball that must never touch the ground while you use your shield to eliminate the stationary Xillians.  This mode goes on indefinitely until you run out of lives.  Arcade mode is unlocked after completing the second world in Story mode.  This game type is like a simplified horde mode where you must survive wave after increasingly difficult wave of incoming enemies without a break.

For the adult player, the game does seem at times to get to be too easy, especially with the fact that only one alien at a time will attack, and no other will fire until the first shot is deflected.  On top of that, when you get to the final enemy on a screen and you’re having trouble lining up your ball to take it out, a chibi fairy will come out and outfit Cocoto with a power-up that can quickly cut through just about any bad guy.  This makes sense as a means to accommodate the younger gamer with underdeveloped motor skills, but perhaps a difficulty setting to ramp up the enemy firepower and take away the fairy godmother would have been appropriate to give to players seeking a bit more challenge.

For $4.99, Cocoto Alien Brick Breaker is an exceptional value for the price.  The over 50 levels in the Story mode alone make the game a great buy, and the Arcade and Classic modes are sure to keep up the entertainment for hours on end.  It’s a highly addicting game that gamers of all ages can really enjoy.

Cocoto Alien Brick Breaker will be available in the Nintendo eShop tomorrow, January 24th.

Cocoto Alien Brick Breaker receives a 4.25/5.0.