Otoko Cross: Pretty Boys Breakup! review

Breakout, but with a bunch of lovely lads

Breakout, but with a bunch of lovely lads

Since its debut nearly a half-century ago, the brick-breaking genre has gradually evolved. The original Breakout tasked audiences with using a rotating controller to keep a ball in play, bouncing it against rows of destructible blocks. A decade later, Taito’s Arkanoid added power-ups to the core formula, lengthening your paddle or allowing it to fire lasers at the bricks. In 2009, Sidhe Interactive’s Shatter offered another invaluable appendage, giving your control over the game physics.

Otoko Cross: Pretty Boys Breakup’s most conspicuous feature is the nine gender-bending characters that cheer you on from the left side of the screen. New personalities like Dakota, the Canadian artist with an enthralling blood-red mane, and azure-eyed, super kawaii Brazilian skaterboi Faren join returning characters. Interestingly, their nationalities were influenced by the countries where the Otoko Cross series sold the best.

Let’s Get You Out of Your Work Clothes

This time out, the gradual titillation of characters changing into increasingly sexy attire is gone. It’s been replaced by a Dressing Room that lets you spend in-game rewards on different outfits for the characters.  Enjoyably, it comes with a diorama component where you can adjust the location of a boy as well as the background. However, there are no group pics or alternate poses available. And while I’m not upset that I can’t spam my Twitter feed with the Otoko Cross models, the lack of social media integration seems like a missed opportunity for the publisher.

But we’re here for the play, rather than to be a publicist, right? Fortunately, Pretty Boys Breakup! brings a few novelties to the genre. Instead of controlling a generic paddle, you’re moving a twin-tailed sprite wielding a lightsaber. Here, you’re not just reflecting the ball back toward the top of the screen, you’ll need to time returns with the swing of your sword. And here, Breakup is extraordinarily generous. There were numerous times when I thought a ball might have slipped past me but the collision detection detected a hit. You won’t argue with the game.

“Pretty” Useful Power-ups

With the inclusion of timed swings, Pretty Boys Breakup feels a bit more like tennis than the average Breakout clone, especially as you have forehand and backhand swings. Catch the ball with the end of your saber, and it turns green. In turn, this increases the speed of rebounds on the left and right wall, accelerating the speed of play. Of course, power-ups help the pace too. These perks make the ball bigger, add a safety net, add another ball or explosive mine, or a laser gun. But when those last few bricks elude the trajectory of your ball, Breakup doesn’t offer any assistance, which will be mildly irritating if you ever played Shatter. Another inconvenience is that the game starts the action by launching the ball automatically. This removes the opportunity of targeting a specific object at the start of a stage.

But largely, these nuisances are balanced by solid stage design. Early on, you’ll encounter reinforced bricks that require smacking more than once. Levels occasionally have bulky blocks that have to be hit up to 10 times, so you’ll occasionally have to prioritize targets. But Pretty Boys Breakup’s biggest novelty is the inclusion of enemy creatures. These scamper around the playfield until you’ve hit them enough times to deplete their health. Sporadically, they’ll shoot at you. But pleasingly, you can rebound these shots right back at them or any remaining bricks.

For completionists, there’s a decent amount of substance, with each character offering four stages across three different ball speeds. Most levels last about a minute or two, resulting in roughly three hours of brick breaking. Sure, that might not seem expansive, but Pretty Boys’ is launching at less than six dollars, continuing eastasiasoft’s reasonable pricing.