Jolt: Neon Breaker Review

Jolt: Neon Breaker may look like a typical brick breaker—style game, but there is a lot of strategy here. Developed and published by Kawobi Games, this game is different from your traditional brick-breaking titles as you take direct control of the ball. Using the "Jolt" ability, you can alter its trajectory mid-bounce to hit precise targets. This is a roguelite experience, where you can upgrade your ball in between runs to upgrade its stats to help you on your future runs.

On your run, you will hit blocks to break them and collect the shards to fill the gauge on the bottom to level up your ball. Once full, you level up, and you choose which reward you want from the three options; if you are feeling lucky, select the random reward option and see what you get. Some of the rewards include things like a +1 Jolt Pad upgrade that increases your reach and breach, or the ball upgrade that makes it hit harder, dealing an extra 25% damage. 

Blocks are constantly falling, filling up the stage. These aren’t all plain bricks; some have logos on them, like a bomb that, when you hit it, explodes and takes out neighbouring pieces. If you can’t break the tiles fast enough, you will get taken over by blocks, and your run ends. At this point, we see the results page showing the level you reached, how many bricks you destroyed, the amount of damage dealt, and how long your run was, along with items that you collected. Based on these stats, you are given a grade out of three stars.

The fragments you collected from broken bricks can be used to power-up your ball, and after your first run, you unlock the upgrades tab. Any of the upgrades that you purchase can be refunded at any point in time. The first one you are required to buy is the Propulsite Coating, which doubles the speed of the ball. These improvemtns work like a skill tree, so now that you purchased this one, four other options appear to buy. The Scaling Velocity Matrix caught my eye, as it increases the speed of the ball with every level you reach. 

Besides upgrades, you can unlock abilities that you can use during your run. When you learn something new, it will be assigned to a button so that you can easily use it; for example, the bottom-face button is Jolt, which uses stored energy to redirect the ball’s trajectory on demand. Another useful ability is the Splitter that shoots off multiple smaller balls that bounce around, taking out any block that they hit. 

The look of the game is simplistic, almost like it is straight out of a Tron movie with a wireframe grid and bright neon colours. Accompanying the visuals, we have a high-energy soundtrack that fits perfectly with the fast-paced action. Jolt: Neon Breaker starts off slow but ramps up quickly; once the blocks start falling, it feels like I have to move fast to keep up.

There are 14 stages available to play; with names like Atom Square, Byte Park, and Ion Garden they sound very small, but there is a lot more room for blocks here than you imagine! When you are playing, if you find it too easy, you can turn on hard mode. As you progress and unlock new stages, you can always go back and rechallenge ones that you have challenged to collect more items and unlock more upgrades and abilities. If you survive long enough to reach level 30, you will have to defeat a boss, all while you are trying to manage the invasion of blocks on the stage.

When you start playing Jolt: Neon Breaker, your ball feels like it is moving incredibly slow. So I made sure to select any of the power-ups that would make the ball faster to make it easier to get around the stage to take out the blocks that were constantly falling, as the game warns you that the invasion is Critical as they fill all the empty space in the level. While playing, you can see the percentage of the stage that is filled; the closer it gets to 100%, the more hectic it gets. Once it’s totally full, your run will be over. 

Since Jolt: Neon Breaker is a roguelite title, I felt like I was constantly getting stronger, making the next run a bit more manageable. However, it does take a lot of time and failed runs to get everything powered up, especially when there are specific items required to get the next upgrade. So chances are you are going to have to go back and replay some of the stages again to get the supplies that you need and improve your grade to earn stars, as you need them to learn new abilities and unlock gadgets.

There is a lot to do in Jolt: Neon Breaker, so it will keep you busy for a long time, especially if you are a completionist and want to collect everything. In the beginning, it feels like you are moving incredibly slowly, but if you stick with it and keep upgrading, your ball becomes more powerful and destructive as you unlock all the different abilities. If you enjoy brick-breaker-type games, this title is a new spin, making it a roguelite title that keeps you coming back for one more run.