A Penny For The Ferryman

Games From The Depths Of Hell

Night Life

Posted October 10, 2009 at 23:55

Created By: David Miles Carter

Genre: Arcade

Download Size: 1.92 MB

System Requirements:
Windows

Night Life is a cute wee Break Out style game, with some very unusual graphics. As with Break Out, you have to use your paddle to break all blocks on screen, before moving on to the next level. The difference is, Night Life is loosely based on a rock band in Tokyo, which gives the game a unique twist. Instead of the paddle, you have a rock band, which you can move left and right using your mouse. Instead of a ball, you have a music note to bounce around. And the standard bricks have been replaced with stars, ufos, coins, cocktail glasses, bugs, aliens, and so much more. Each stage is more bizarre than the previous one. The last stage even has birds eggs, with the birds gradually hatching with every hit!

The game has 5 stages, and each stage has multiple levels. At the end of each stage, you must face the End Of Level Boss. These are: a moon playing saxophone, a female rabbit singer sitting on a piano, a dj octopus, a fox stockbroker (I think. To be honest, I'm not sure what this one is), and a giant female peacock. The End Of Level Bosses can only be destroyed with a laser, which can be collected as a power-up (yellow cassette tape). Simply use the Space Bar to fire your laser.

You start the game with 3 lives, which are shown as hearts at top of the screen. If you drop a ball... erm, sorry, I mean note... then you lose a life. But lives can also be collected as power-ups. Power-ups are in the form of different colour cassette tapes dropping down, and each colour represents a different power-up. As well as Extra Lives, you can also collect Slow Down, Laser, Points, Multi Ball, Safety Top (a funny lid on top of the band, preventing the note from dropping down any further), and Giant Note (it's really quite funny seeing the giant note bounce around). An MP3 player, complete with super-hero style cape, flies past every so often, and you get a nice round of applause if you can hit it with your music note. As blocks are destroyed, you see a satisfying 'POW' on screen, which is a nice touch. As with all Break Out games, some 'blocks' need multiple hits to destroy them.

Music is what I would describe as cheerful elevator music, but I like to think that the band themselves (the characters in your paddle) is playing that music. As for sound effects, you are greeted with a satisfying 'BIP' whenever you hit a note. Blocks make a variety of 'BEEP', 'BOP', and 'POP' sounds when they are hit, which is fun to hear. Like I said earlier, you can also hear applause when you hit the super-hero MP3 player, lol. End Of Level Bosses give a painful 'OOOWWWWW' when you hit them, until finally you hear a 'POP POP POP POP POP', as they are destroyed.

Your music note will occasionally get stuck in an up-and-down, or left-to-right loop. Don't panic. Simply wait a few seconds (keeping your paddle ready), and the note will soon bounce itself out of this loop. One thing I did find quite annoying, is that sometimes, your note will 'sink' into your paddle, and get stuck there for a while, before dropping down to the ground, making you lose a life. Still, it's a fun game. Why not give it a try?