Hot damn!  This game (PSN) is like Arkanoid mixed with Lumines. 

http://www.shattergame.com/

The trailer was fairly impressive, and at the price they're asking ($7.99), how can you say no?  I put in a good hour with this last night and came off on a gaming high.  It's got some great physics, including manipulating the balls with bursts of air and a sweet soundtrack to boot.  Perfect driving techno to go along with the hectic gameplay. Oh, and it has bosses.  IT HAS BOSSES!! 

Trophy support, looks great in HD, and a dirt-cheap price.  I recommend everyone grab this one.

I do dig the quote from IGN:  "It took 23 years, but Arkanoid has been bested."

*edit* Apparently you can download the soundtrack from the site!!  It's $9.99.  I'll post impressions later.

I haven't played the game but what an awesome take on a retro concept.  When the slim PS3 finally comes out someone please remind me to get this.

I really need a PS3. But....they took out SACD support. Bastards.

I can't get over the whole "game costs less than soundtrack" thing.

But the soundtrack is awesome. Oh, and so is the game.

I have a review for the game coming to Gameosaurus.com tomorrow, and soundtrack review on OSV soon after.

I'd love to have that soundtrack on vinyl.

Ramza

soundtrack is absolutely awesome and i'll get the CD release. i have yet to play the game though, im sure it'll be even sweeter once you've played the game.

Is there a planned CD release?

oh wait, there is.

http://www.module.co.nz/blog/post/shatt … -feedback/

Tracks 3,5,7 are my faves on a first listen, some nice modern Electro-Rock with nods to classic Kraftwerk too. 

http://sidhe.bandcamp.com/album/shatter … soundtrack
Full 8 minute streams of all the songs are there.

(this game needs a better modern title though, as the first thing that popped into my head was that crappy NES game Shatterhand.)

Definitely.  Some tracks I'm getting a "Daft Punk" vibe, and others have a wonderful ambient feeling.  Definitely some great music..  Currently my faves are 1, 2, 5, 7. 

The entire album clocks in just shy of 80 minutes.  That's great, but it does make for a daunting listen (if you're trying to go straight-through).

Very, very Daft Punk, indeed. So cool that the whole thing is free streaming.

My fav track presently is track 6 because of the voice sampling. Sounds so awesome.

http://www.gameosaurus.com/?p=667

For those interested, there's my review of the game proper. Soundtrack review will be on OSV soon, followed shortly thereafter by an interview with the composer, wherein I beg him to release the music on vinyl.

Ramza

Don gave the album his seal of approval in a review here. I've only listened very casually so far but I love what I hear too!

Downloaded the game tonight, and got through to the third world Granular Extractor.  Seriously, who would've thought the Arkanoid/Breakout formula could be this in-depth and compelling?  It really is a lot of fun, providing a surprising amount of twitch-based gameplay.  Just the sort of gameplay that I love.

Anyone remember the old Atari Trak-Ball?  How cool would it have been if Sidhe made the game compatible with modern-day trackball mice?

Glad you like it Angie!     Made it through the fourth world last night.  I think this is when the difficulty starts to ramp up.  Alot of free-floating blocks that eventually come at you.  I'm having to re-think my strategies and play a little more conservative.  Still a great game.

Just a little heads-up, anyone who buys the soundtrack (I believe) gets a code for an unreleased track: Hyperspace (Bonus World) Extended Edition. 

It's nice to see that they're getting alot of support/sales!

agree, that's also my favorite right now.

OSV review is up.

http://www.originalsoundversion.com/?p=3885

We have an interview with him, will be posted Tuesday. He reveals the secret to the voice samples in Amethyst Caverns, among other things. Seems like a chill dude.

(He's also on facebook and is active with replying to people. Just become a fan of "Module" and you can communicate with him).

Ramza

I just noticed that at the bottom of the screen it compares your scores with those of your friends.  Looks like you're superior to me on a number of stages Angie! 

Has anyone looked at the trophies?  They seem doable except for the 1,000,000 score in bonus mode.  The highest I got was like 200,000.   Anyone have any suggestions?

Yeah, I thought that was a pretty nifty feature they implemented.  And it's cool that once you surpass one friend's high-score, it moves on to the next.  (Herrkotowski's got a leg-up on me on a couple of stages.) :)  But it really gives you the incentive to want to one-up your buddies. :D

Hate to break it to ya, man, but that ain't 1,000,000 -- it's 10,000,000. o_O  No real tips I can think of, except to bone up on those reflexes.  Not that I'm even close to reaching that point mark myself, but damn..... shouldn't this be a Silver achievement rather than just a Bronze?

My highest is 6 million, and I really didn't feel like I was trying that hard. Can't be that bad.

Also, composer interview (Module, aka Jeramiah Ross) found here!

http://www.originalsoundversion.com/?p=3936

Sorry for all the link-whoring. Thought y'all might enjoy the info.

8.The Argon Refinery is possibly the best thing I ever heard in my life.

I also like 4.The Krypton Garden and 6.The Amethyst Caverns.

5.Freon World is also killer at 3:18.

The soundtrack as a whole reminds me of Salamander Pro Fusion I don't know why... It's certainly the best soundtrack I've heard since Falcom's 2002 VM Japan.

This seems to have just enough variety that everyone is picking different tracks as their favorites, which results in everyone having a different reason to love the album.

I don't know much, but I know I am IN LOVE with this soundtrack!
Haven't had the time to listen to it in full yet, but damn, Kinetic Harvest in itself is so awesome this is already an absolute winner. Contender for Soundtrack of the Year, methinks.

Thanks for the recommendation every one, I would never have found out about this myself!

What's really crazy is that this composer really just came out of nowhere. He did some work on Sidhe's last game "GripShift" and it was okay, but nothing truly WOWIEZOWIE impressive.

If he can keep up this level of quality and put out a decent soundtrack once every year or two, "Module" could be the next big thing for non-Japanese VGM. And he's from New Zealand, which just makes for instant coolness.

I'm really happy I wasn't just crazy, or in the minority opinion, when I decided this music was freakin' rad. People all around the world wide Internetz are saying the same things. Which is great news for the composer, and great news for me and my sanity.

Finally checked this out this morning.  On first listen my fave by far would be
2. Aurora

Followed by
6. Amethyst Caverns
1. Kinetic Harvest
12. Homelands

I actually wish the vocals on Amethyst Caverns were a bit less synthy and a bit more natural but they still work quite well as they are.  Homelands might not necessarily be better than all the others but it makes for excellent credits music.

Also props to the composer, the studio, and the site Bandcamp for "getting it" when it comes to digital music distribution.  On-demand streaming for the entire album, multiple download formats (including lossless), high quality cover art - this is what all the record labels should have been doing for years now.

Yes, I was similarly impressed by the variety of digital format options and quality options available for the digital purchases.  And the all-full-tracks-streaming really helps everyone discover which tracks to love about it, so this is certainly a role model for all online albums to follow.  "A+" digital release for all the options.

finally downloaded the game yesterday. made it pretty far in already, 2-3 levels to go.

naturally, hunting for scores is lot's of fun and it's nice to get handy in-game info about the next best person on your friends list. even got to beat a few of angelas scores

if anybody else wants to add me: ID = username.

UGH.  Finally beat that 10,000,000 bonus mode score.   The good news is that it's the accumulated points of all 3 bonus rooms (horizontal, vertical, and spherical).  So, you should average like ~34 bounces per room to beat it.

same here, walked out with 11,200,000 yesterday and got the trophy

Great interview Ramza!  Definitely sounds like the guy has a good head on his shoulders.  I'm hoping he can maintain the energy and consistency that he had with the Shatter OST.

behind the scenes: sound

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCbzekI9 … p%3A%2F%2F

Physical release of the OST is available over at CD Baby!

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/module

woooot!