Poing! PC Reviewed by: DeathDude Positive Points: Different twist to breakout Quite addicting Level editor Negative Points: No level music Genre: Arcade Size: 4.54 MB Requirements: Microsoft Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000 or XP DirectX 7.0 or above 500MHz processor 32MB RAM 800 x 600 display resolution in 16-bit colour Sound card (optional)   Questionable Content: None Editor rating: 4.8 Homepage: http://www.firestormproductions.co.uk/poing/index.php Download location: http://www.firestormproductions.co.uk/poing/index.php#download Believe it or not there are a lot of breakout titles out in the freeware community. It’s not a surprise to see such a title being popular, there is something about the little paddle and bouncing ball, with the goal of trying to destroy all the blocks in a level, all the while, earning powerups to aid you. However, the concepts have changed in this game, and let’s just say it’s a refreshing one to see. Not only do you get a bunch of levels all with different designs, to try out this new breakout concept, you get great graphics and effects, and addicting game play to boot, all this make a unique game that shall keep you entertained. Once you load up the game, you can start right away, tweaking some of the games options, from graphics, to sound, to just different effects. Once you are done that, you may have to restart the game, in case you changed any of the graphical settings. Once that is done, pick your level and you’re on your way. Now the goal of this game is “not” to break every block in the level, in fact sometimes the blocks will reappear as the level progresses. What you have to do this time around, is break the far right wall, by bouncing the ball towards it. Once you accumulate enough hits at the wall, it will break down and once you maneuver your ball past it, you move onto the next part of the level. The levels get more complicated and more challenging as you move along. Another new element that also changes the games mechanics, is whenever you lose a ball, you do not lose a life if you’re on a later part of one of the stages. What I mean is if you’re on the 3rd part of a level and you lose a ball, the ball will instead head into level 2 where you will be able to stop it, if you can, and thus save your ball, very cool feature. The game itself looks quite nice. From the different environments, and the designs that some of the developers made, they all look quite interesting, some of them are quite challenging, while other levels are pretty easy, each one should give you a challenge. This new concept to the breakout style of game play also just enhances the game, making it quite addicting. Once you start playing this game, it should hold your interest, even if you’re a veteran of this type of game, this game has new challenges and elements that will keep you on your toes. Also included in the game, is a handy level editor, should you choose to make your own levels, which is a very nifty feature to have, should you choose to dabble in creating some crazy creations. There really are not much negative comments to say about this game, short of no level music. There is title music, and there is ending music, whenever you end up losing your balls, but no in game level music which was a shame. Granted that’s easily solved by playing music from whatever media player you use, and your set. Nevertheless, this was an excellent game that I really enjoyed playing, and I highly recommend you check this one out, even if you’ve played some of the breakout games, this one will change your whole idea of those games. So check out Poing! PC and see it for yourself.