Virus Jigglin' Fever

Although at first glance the game may seem like your standard Breakout clone, the mechanics of switching colors and collecting power-ups add an extra element of chaos to the game. There's something satisfying about firing off multiple spiked balls at once and watching them tear through the waves of viruses. The NES-style music and deliberately silly story are a nice touch as well. It's a little on the simplistic side, but if you're in the mood for a puzzle game I'd say it's well worth its price.

Fun little Breakout clone, like the horizontal framing and fun little cutscenes. Good sprite work too, color twist on the whole breaking blocks thing is appreceated. It's only two bucks, well worth the cost.

With the theme of Dr. Mario, but the gameplay and patience needed to play Break Out! I like the look and music, but I have to play it in small quantities or else my patience wears thin from waiting to get the right color and angle (and item, GIVE ME MULTIBALL OR MINES, dangit!) to clear out the viruses. It's cheap, so I can recommend it if the look fits your fancy and you have the patience for it.

The definition of a "If you're bored, why not" game. Upon booting it up, you are struck with a charming little cutscene and are kicked into a horizontal Breakout/Doctor Mario combination. The first couple rounds are fun, and the mechanics are introduced organically. The story is placeholder, although a fun one, but not the real draw. For the record, Virus Jigglin' Fever is a mobile game, and not the worst one at that. It was designed by only a few people, but even with the fact that this is probably their first game, there is an impressive effort here to make this game more than just a Breakout clone. The animations in particular on the sprites are eye catching, and every new enemy introduced can spice up the tedium just enough to make the tedium potentially more interesting. However, this does not take away from the poor design decisions that can ultimately bore the player to death, which if done slightly differently or a bit more polished, they could've made a solid little game. Sadly this is not the case. One of the most infuriating aspects of design comes from the base game itself; every enemy is a specific color, and the only way to remove them from the board is to hit them with the same color ball. In the early stages this is not an issue, but when I was deep into the 8th stage, the randomized monster placement and ball color (which changes every time it makes contact with your paddle) meant there were multiple bounces where I hit a number of hard to reach monsters without effect, and the colors I would be given in succession always seemed to match the viruses surrounded by the colors I never got. This doesn't help the fact that you can't even change your ball color, or manipulate the ball in any way. Even though there is a colored button saying "next" to indicate what is coming next, clicking on it does nothing. This doesn't help the fact that even when you do get the color you want, getting it to where the virus you want to hit is another matter entirely. While this would'nt really be a problem in regular breakout, the fact that you have line up so many variables just to get the viruses in your way removed isn't a good time. There are power-ups, most of which if landed correctly can make a masochist round a breeze, but like the rest of the game it is purely determined by luck, and the ones that you'll see the most are worthless. Also, there isn't an actual end to the game, it just keeps going. I got to the 8th level and decided to stop and com back later. You can't go to any level past 6. That is not okay. More proof this is simply unfinished. All of this is further damaged by the fact that some of the colors, (specifically orange, red, pink, and purple) are almost virtually indistinguishable on the ball. The viruses are fine and the art design is varied, but there were plenty of times where I genuinely thought one color was the other. Only when the ball is blown up massively by a power up I never fully understood could I make out the color, but the sprite is generally so small that I often found the ball hitting something just a shade darker and not doing a hint of damage. This combined with all lack of control makes it a truly depressing, demoralizing experience. What could've saved this from being so frustrating would've been an implementation of a basic health system, in which certain colors cause higher or lower damage. Match the same color; instant death. Similar or almost identical? Massive damager. Opposite? Almost negligable. It would at the very least save the player from feeling like every match is futile. This isn't helped by the fact that there is no score system. As a breakout clone, how this wasn't implemented is beyond me. It has all the components, all the power-ups, and all the clear indicators that it should have one, and yet there is not a single one to be seen. This is a breakout game without a score system. I don't even know how that was over looked. Oh, and there is a decent tune in this game, but it's the only tune. Another thing that just peeved me. No steam achievements, no trading cards, no leaderboards; nothing to motivate anyone to pick this up, even on an impulse buy for 10 cents or something. For all its cute skipping hazmat wearing scientists and charming sprite work, is ultimately an unfinished product. It has the ground work for something fun, even the more important components to keep someone hooked, (I played this way longer than I should've) but ultimately still feels like a work in development. I really did want to give this a positive review, but all I can do is be remorsefully negative. Do yourself a favor and don't buy this game.