• $15

• Good price
• Endless levels

• Requires free space on the handheld to run
• Not many power-ups
• Ball appears blurred on monochrome models

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Atom Smash is one of Red-Mercury's finest games, and is many people's favorite. It offers loads of features packed into just over 150k.

The remodeling begins before you even launch the program. Both of the main icons have been redesigned, and the start up screen is just gorgeous. The game itself has also been enhanced with new graphics and backgrounds.

Like any version of Breakout, the idea of the game is to hit all of the bricks without dying. But with Atom Smash, there are several features that make completing this task either easier or harder. For one, there's the power-ups.

Power-Ups and Bricks
Atom Smash has six main power-ups, and each one is very different. There's a multi-ball option which allows you to have three balls on the screen at once. A power-up to make your paddle larger, as well as one which makes it smaller. The hydrogen bomb - a useful power-up which allows you to go through any block type. There's also a pink S which slows down your ball a bit. And, of course, who can forget the one that gives you free paddles?

Another neat thing about the game is the bricks. There are the normal, multi-colored ones and a few other types. One of them is a black brick which needs to be hit twice in order to disappear. There's also bricks that you just can't kill, and another type that always reappears after a couple seconds.

Level Editor
One of the things that sets Atom Smash away from the competition is the ability to create and run multiple level packs. You can instal nearly limitless level packs (the only limit is your Palm's memory) and even modify them to customize the difficulty. When you create your own levels, you can either keep them to yourself, beam them to others, or even post them on a web site. With the level editor, you can choose power-ups and name the levels. The level packs are limited to 100 levels, but you can certainly fit a lot of action into that amount of space.

The Beta Process
So how exactly did the beta process work? A month and a half ago Red-Mercury sent out a notice saying they needed beta testers to help get version 2.0 ready for its final release. They were expecting to have just fifty participants like on their prior software, but they were quickly flooded with e-mails. They weren't able to get an auto-response up until after nearly 200 entries had been sent.

Out of that number, over 150 people participated in the beta test with over 400 responses about bug reports and suggestions. After six beta releases, nearly two hundred fixes were made resulting in a final product.

The Competition
So how does the new version of Atom Smash compare to its main competitor, Ababall? Well, it really depends on what aspect you look at. If you are looking for the best graphics possible, Ababall is definitely going to win out just like if you want lots of unique power-ups. But if you want long term playability, Ababall's 32 levels will soon bore you whereas Atom Smash has the possibility for near infinite levels for endless enjoyment.

Conclusion
Atom Smash provides hours of fun for only $15. It doesn't matter if you own a color or a monochrome device, either way this game will be just as fun. At just $15, I would definitely say Atom Smash is well worth the money.

I hope Pepper won't mind if I add a couple of comments. I tested Atom Smash on a Sony N610C and it looks awesome. Atom Smash has built-in support for the Clié's hi-res screen and you can move the paddle with the Jog Dial. -Ed