Popcorn is one of seemingly thousands of Arkanoid or Breakout clones that were made available in the late eighties and early nineties, following the rampant popularity of the originals. Popcorn was developed by Lacral and was released for play on the personal computer running the MS-DOS operating system in 1988. On top of the already fun and fast-paced excitement of the game, Popcorn also features a game editor and construction set, which will allow more creative (or bored) users to design their own levels and play them.
For people unfamiliar with games like Popcorn and its inspirations, this is a ball and paddle style of game. The user controls a flat paddle on the bottom of the screen and will strike a bouncing ball into a series of bricks that are arranged along the top of the screen. The game involves good use of physics and angles in order to correctly gauge the angle of the ball and the speed at which it will return to the paddle. The goal of the game is to continue putting the ball back into play and bouncing it off the bricks at the top of the screen, hence destroying them. When all of the bricks on a screen are destroyed,
the gamer is advanced to the next level. If the ball goes past the gamer’s paddle instead of being returned toward the bricks, the player will lose a life.
There are all sorts of obstacles to hinder the user’s progress and power-ups to help him. Some bricks will have to be struck numerous times in order to be destroyed. Others will be hidden behind bricks that are indestructible, requiring some precise bouncing angles in order to strike them. Power-ups are numerous, interesting, and really add a cool dimension to any game of this nature. The are usually gained by destroying a special brick that has the power-up hidden inside. The power-up will fall and the gamer can collect it by striking it with his paddle as if it were a ball. Popcorn features several, some being quite standard for Breakout style games, and others being somewhat more inventive. Some of the more classic power-ups included will make the gamer’s paddle longer, will award an extra life, and will cause the ball to stick to the paddle for the user to fire back at will. Others will slow the speed of the ball, create a floor to prevent the ball from falling for a limited time, or freeze all enemies on the screen.
This is a fun game that belongs to a genre that really can’t go wrong, even if it offers nothing really revolutionary.
