Another VIC in the Wall

The Good
Someone at Bug-Byte must have like one of Cat Stevens’ songs, and thought that was a good idea for a title of a game. Another VIC in the Wall has you patrolling a paddle at the bottom of the screen, and using it to reflect a ball off into a set of bricks. When a ball hits one of these bricks, it will destroy it.

The bricks are arranged in sets, and each set of bricks is different. One minute you are dealing with blue bricks, while the next set after that are yellow ones with rounded corners. Yet, there are bricks that even have words inside them. Some of them don’t even look like bricks at all. Unlike Atari’s game, these bricks seem to fall down from the top of the screen every ten seconds.

There is little sound in the game. There is one standard tone when you hit the ball with your paddle, and another if the ball connects with a brick. The “connect” tone is different depending on what bricks you hit. It’s even better when the bricks are so close to the paddle, because it’s like playing music!

The game can be played with joystick or keyboard, with the former far easier for me to play with. Leaving the game idle for a few seconds triggers the attract mode, where you get to see the computer play by itself. It is also a great way to see what the bricks look like.

The Bad
There are some graphic issues with this game. I have seen the ball going right through the bricks many times instead of being ricochet off them. But the worse of these glitches are the multiple paddles, which occur when your main one flickers for a bit, then stops.

The Bottom Line
Despite all these graphical issues, Another VIC in the Wall is another timeless Breakout clone. The graphics and sound is well done, and it is based on a timeless classic that will have you playing for hours.