Break It

Break It is a Breakout variant for one or two players that more or less closely sticks to the original rules. The objective of each level is to clear the playing field of all destructible bricks with a ball that bounces off a paddle which the player moves horizontally at the bottom of the screen. Should the ball fall off the screen, a point is subtracted from the number of "lives" or "tries" that player has (starting with five) and a new ball appears to continue playing.

Bricks range from those broken as soon as the ball hits them, to those which take more than one hit to break (changing their colour as they're hit), to completely indestructible obstacles. Some bricks drop bonuses which fall down, and if the player "catches" such a bonus with the paddle, it might yield a temporary advantage, including a weapon that may be fired from the paddle to destroy bricks, increased paddle size, extra life, etc. However, certain pickups have an adverse effect (reversing the left and right controls of the paddle, discolouring the playing field or even taking one life point). Typical for the genre, the game does not explain which bonuses do what, leaving it for the player to discover on their own. Moreover, sometimes bricks drop surprise bonuses that look like question marks, the effect of which can be only discovered after picking them.

What makes Break It stand out from many other similar games is that temporary advantages cannot be stacked: whenever a new bonus is picked up, any current (dis)advantage that is in effect will expire. So for example, if the player obtained increased paddle size but then picks up the missile weapon bonus, the paddle will shrink to the original size. This may limit the player's resources, but also allows to cancel any negative effects by picking a new bonus.

Two users can play on the same screen, with their movement restricted to the left and right sides of the playing field. A joystick is necessary for the second player, as the first player's paddle can be only controlled with a mouse, not with the keyboard.

Break It was distributed as shareware. Registered users would receive additional 100 levels and a level editor for the game.