Bustin’ Out
Shatter is split up into three modes: Story, Boss Rush, and Bonus. Only Story is available from the start and this mode is comprised of 10 levels, each with 7 waves (or stages), a boss battle, and a bonus round. The only exception to this is level 10, which has eight waves.
After beating your first boss and opening up the first bonus round, the Bonus mode is unlocked from the main menu. In Bonus Mode, it’s simply you against three orbs; there are no objects to break or bounce off of, except you and the walls. The idea is to keep the three orbs in play as long as you can. The more contact you make with the orbs, the higher your score. As long as you have at least one orb in play, you will continue to earn points. This isn’t as easy as it sounds, but it’s fun to play, and doing well here can make a big difference in your score as you play through the Story.
Boss Rush Mode is only available after being the Story. In this mode, players square off against each boss in order, one at a time, with a clock situated in the lower right hand corner of the HUD. Your goal is to defeat all of the bosses as quickly as possible. The number of orbs you have and your power meter carry from one boss fight to the next. The better you perform, the higher up on the online leaderboard you will go. This mode is also a great way to develop strategies against these bosses to use in Story mode, where you will earn your most points.
The Leaderboards are Shatter’s sole online capabilities at this point. Leaderboards are maintained for overall score as well as Boss Rush and Bonus mode scores. Filters make it very easy to keep an eye on your high score and those of your friends. Players can also monitor their scores on a per-level basis too; so while my best overall score was ranking about 3100 last night, my performance on some of the levels put me in the top 500, which was cool to see.
Each of the ten levels advance the story of BAT1138, a slave machine that broke out of his containment unit during an anomaly at the energy farm he was enslaved at. Outside of the opening and closing cutscenes, it’s up to the level names and stylistic background to advance the story. In short, BAT1138 sets out to destroy the empire that enslaved him on his way home, which takes him through various empire controlled zones and facilities, all with cool names and gorgeous backgrounds.
Re-imagining
Shatter would still be enjoyable without the story, and without several other cool ideas Sidhe included. These additional mechanics are all introduced to you within the first ten minutes of the game via a simple pop up screen that tells you what the mechanic is, and how to use it. There’s nothing left to do after that but master them and play. It’s a very accessible game in that regard and I see it appealing to a wide audience because of it. That said, controls couldn’t be much friendlier; players slide BAT1138 with the d-pad or the left analog stick. You fire out an orb with X, and you put up your shield with Square. Triangle will unleash the Shard Storm if your power meter is full. Lastly, R1 and R2 are used to Blow (Push) objects and your orbs back into the field of play, while L1 and L2 are used to Suck (Pull) them and other objects towards you. Additionally, there are five spots on BAT1138 where orbs can bounce off of; knowing what side to use to make contact with an orb is key. Contact made head on with the orb sends the orb back in a straight line, while hitting it with one of your edges sends the orb in a sharp diagonal angle. In between the center and the edge are two other spots (one on each side) that make the orb react accordingly.
Barring any obstructions that might pop up along its trajectory, it’s not too hard to predict where the orb will go after you hit it. The physics in Shatter are very logical in terms of what you would expect whenever the orb hits an object, wall, or you. Still, Sidhe provided a handy element that shows you exactly where an orb is headed. A thin sliver of light about an inch long appears whenever an orb is in motion. To be honest, I didn’t even notice this indicator until about thirty-minutes into the action, but it’s there. Most of the time, you’re too focused or already comfortable enough knowing where the orb is going to worry about looking at this indicator. However, the indicator becomes very helpful when you’ve almost got a wave cleared but there are just one or two objects still out there that need destroying. Using the indicator and the Push/Pull mechanics, it’s much quicker to destroy these objects than just eyeballing it.
Knowing how to best use the Push/Pull or Suck/Blow mechanics in Shatter is vital for success. With these abilities, putting that extra after-touch or spin on your orb is possible and it can make all the difference in hitting just the right object or getting past a boss’s defenses. In fact, some bosses require the use of these abilities to thwart their defenses. Additionally, using Push/Pull helps you in a lot of other ways; it can save your orb from getting past you, i.e., going out of the field of play. You can also pull in certain objects and destroy them with your shield, and you can even pull in Powerups and power fragments.
Powerups, Orbs — More On Gameplay
Powerups in Shatter are all positive, meaning there are no bad pickups. There are several types, too: 2x, S, Unstopaball, Maneuverable, 1Ups, and Power increase. The 2X powerup increases your multiplier, which is used in relation to your power meter. The S pickup is for doubling the available power fragments; pulling in more of these means that your power meter fills up quicker, which means your Shard Storm is accessible sooner. Unstopaball means that your orb is more powerful and can smash through some objects it ordinarily would bounce off of. The Maneuverable pickup, as far as I could tell, made BAT1138 move a little quicker, making those last second shifts easier to pull off. 1Ups are obvious, and it’s always a great feeling seeing one of those coming towards you. Lastly, a crosshair-looking pickup gives you a big boost in your power meter which is positioned in the top left of your hud, next to your orb or life count.
When the power meter is full, you can unleash a Shard Storm by pressing Triangle. The power meter is drained anytime you fire up your shields, so use them sparingly. That said, when you press Triangle, the shards start flying and the game and music slow down for about five seconds. During this time, you’re pelting out some potentially major damage, depending on how you use it. This isn’t an ability that you can just start and stop — once you press Triangle, you’re committed to using your full power meter. It can take several waves to fill up a power meter, so you generally only get two, possibly three per level.
It’s important to keep in mind that Shard Storms aren’t always the magic bullet for bosses; latter bosses require a lot more orb bouncing skill, and Shard Storm won’t damage them much, if at all. Shard Storms are most useful in the middle of a wave. It’s not uncommon to destroy so many objects during a Shard Storm that suddenly you have one, two, even three on very rare occassion, powerups released. Knowing what powerup to go for when, even when there is just one released, is another strategic part to Shatter that make it all the more special. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone for a powerup only to let my orb fall through while I was chasing after the powerup. Heck, I’ve even found myself caught in the middle of a 1Up and my current orb, and in a split second of indecision, lost both instead of getting one or saving both.
To this point I’ve primarily talked about ‘my orb,’ as in singular. It’s entirely possible to launch more than one orb into the field of play, but that obviously makes things a hell of a lot more hectic. Since the number of orbs equals your number of lives, I played conservatively and only very rarely went with a second orb. Players generally won’t have more than three or four total orbs anyway, and I found the experience engaging and challenging enough with just one orb to rarely use a second or third.
When all of your orbs/lives are gone, it’s possible to continue at the current wave that you just died on (including boss fights). By continuing, players start at the current wave or boss fight, rather than starting the whole level over again. When all three continues are expired, it’s game over. Fortunately, players can restart at any level they’ve unlocked (and levels only become unlocked by beating the previous level). Sidhe also made it easy to just restart the current chapter rather than continue, if you so desire.
This reminds me of another outstanding part of Shatter: its difficulty. It goes without saying that some waves and bosses are tough, and there were several occassions where I had to restart a level. That’s fine and just part of gaming. However, there were also a lot of instances when I was on my last orb, facing elimination, and a 1Up comes popping out of an object I just destroyed. I’ve even had several occassions where it looked like all was lost, but thanks to some good hits and a bit of luck, I managed to earn a pair of 1Ups and just like that I was right back in the groove of the action. It’s that type of design — allowing players to mess up and yet still have a great chance at mounting a comeback, that I really appreciated in Shatter. Anything that allows the player to keep playing and spend less time restarting, loading, or redoing things is always the sign of great game design.
Closing Thoughts
So, how do you go about losing orbs anyway? The only way that you lose orbs is by letting them get past you. Think of it as game of air hockey, where anything behind you is your goal. If an orb slips past you before you can bump it back into the field of play, you have to relaunch an orb. Actually, that reminds me of another cool design decision Sidhe made; an orb will automatically launch from BAT1138 within about five seconds, but players can also just press X whenever they are ready to launch. This bit of timing can make a big difference with boss fights and all of the moving objects you encounter. That said, these moving objects can wreck havoc on your orb’s trajectory, too; the orb will smash most objects in one hit, although others require multiple hits. Regardless, unless you have the Unstopaball powerup, after contact, the orb will bounce off accordingly, and very possibly in a direction that will get past you. I still occasionally lose orbs simply by losing track of them amongst all of the graphical explosions and colors that are released when objects are destroyed. Other times, BAT1138 is momentarily unmovable because I got struck by an object that was floating towards me; these objects can be destroyed with your shield, but it’s not too hard to forget to do this when the action is at full tilt on screen or when you don’t have any juice in your power meter.
As far as presentation goes, Shatter is a beautiful game powered by the PhyreEngine that was used to bring Gripshift to the PSN back in 2007. Several other titles are born from the PhyreEngine which is a SCE development tool who’s limits have yet to be reached. Shatter is one of the most colorful titles I’ve played in a long time and it features plenty of effects and eye candy, all while maintaining a silky smooth framerate. I can’t say enough about the soundtrack, which is comprised of ninety minutes of electronica created by a New Zealand DJ named Module. The music is perfectly fitting to the entire feel and play of Shatter and perhaps we’ll see the tracks available separately in the PS Store someday. All sound effects are also well done, making the entire presentation an impressive package.
Having now completed the story, I’ve been spending my time in the Boss Rush mode and in re-playing the story to try to improve my high score. My friends are starting to get on board with Shatter as well and the friendly, but sincere, competetion between us is starting to heat up. To this point, I’ve put in about ten hours into Shatter, which is already well worth the $8 price. Shatter will have a permanent place on my PS3, just like Gripshift, and I predict I’ll be playing this one for a long time to come.