Wallbreaker 2 Reloaded – The Diamond Of Zorg

With one of the longest, most descriptive titles for a game we've seen for quite some time, Wallbreaker 2 Reloaded – The Diamond Of Zorg is a clever reinvention of a classic and very playable arcade game.

So, yes, at its very heart Wallbreaker 2 is little more than an update of Breakout – destroy bricks on a basic grid with a bat and a ball, by bouncing the latter off the foremost, via the, erm, middle-mentioned bat – but there's been more than enough thought and care put into the game's development to ensure you'll want to keep playing through all of the stages.

For starters, it's even got a plot. Two young archaeologists, the perfectly named Phillip and Harriet, find a map that reveals the location of the giant diamond Zarg… except they end up on the island of Zorg.

As luck would have it, though, there's a giant diamond here, too, albeit with the small matter of a genie guardian that won't give up the sizeable precious stone without a fight. And by fight we obviously mean a cunning Adventure mode.

Bypassing the more straightforward Quick mode, then, here you play through 50 stages (conveniently split up into five varied sections, each with a boss battle) in order to obtain the diamond.

Each stage offers you the chance to win three gems by passing a series of randomly generated tasks. Collect all three and you get access to a bonus stage where you need to grab bouncing coins in order to earn extra lives.

Once into the game itself, it's possible you may be initially disappointed to find it's just a Breakout clone. It's the wrong reaction, though. Breakout remains a classic because of its pure gameplay, meaning that even if stripped of graphics, sound and colour, it remains deeply playable. So when you add all those elements back into the mix, as Wallbreaker 2 does so convincingly, it's an addictive combination.

There's also a definite strategic element to the game, as you can play as either Phillip or Harriet and each comes with their own supply of balls. On numerous occasions we got to the end of a section of levels, only to find that we didn't have enough balls to continue, and so had to replay previously completed stages to earn extra lives. It may sound like a chore but isn't – it simply adds interest to the game and much-welcomed longevity, too.

To round off the package, the presentation of Wallbreaker 2 is faultless throughout. There are intro animations, fine cartoon-style graphics and more bells and whistles than a lengthy conversation with R2-D2.

As mobile phone games develop, it's clear that 3D graphics will become more and more mainstream. That said though, it is refreshing to find an example that relies on pure gameplay and stunning presentation rather than technical merit to captivate its audience.