Soviet software developer SPB (known primarily for their Palbum image file viewer) has released a breakout game by the name of Arkaball.  As the title indicates, the game makes no pretense about being anything other than a simple Arkanoid clone.  That's actually a good thing in this case, since it allows the game to focus on what makes breakout games fun: keeping the ball in play, collecting good power-ups and avoiding bad ones, and losing yourself in a Zen-like trance while you “break out” the barrier.  (Incidentally, one of the first breakout games, Super Breakout for the Atari 2600, got its name from the “plot:” you were an astronaut using your ship to “break out” of a wall of bricks that suddenly formed in front of you.)

          You won't find much in the way of settings--the only thing you can really do is turn the sound off and on.  The game also lacks save options, and there’s no way to restart a level without beginning all over again.  One nice feature that some of its competitors lack is the ability to use the directional pad to control the paddle.  Control is crucial here, and I found the movement to be neither too slow nor too jerky.  The only issue I noticed with the game was that there appeared to be some odd slowdowns during game play.  These may be caused by frequent access to my storage card, which is fairly unusual in a game which takes up relatively little space.

          SPB chose to release a breakout game for a platform that doesn't need any more games of this type.   Still, this game has a quality construction that many of its lesser brethren lack.  Arkaball doesn't add anything new, but it performs its job well enough.  B+