Super Ccatch

Although Super Ccatch is getting a lot of hype as a new riff on the Breakout genre, we're not entirely sure this is a fair summary of its super simple, super slick gameplay.

There's a little something about Super Ccatch, which makes comparisons surprisingly difficult. Indeed, this tricksy little game is probably hard to compare because it's so very minimal. And we do love minimal, when it's done right.

Taking shape

There are three basic shapes in Super Ccatch. Pink triangles, yellow squares, and blue circles.

You're in control of a paddle at the bottom of the screen, which is probably what's solicited the Breakout comparisons. Although as far as we're concerned the similarities stop there (it might as well be compared to Pong for the same reason).

Those geometric shapes rain down from the top of the screen, and your happy task is to quickly position the paddle beneath the correct ones and catch them. Simple and classic.

Which are the right ones? Well, that changes from time to time, and therein lies the game's brilliance. It's pretty obvious that a blue paddle means you need to catch blue circles.

As you pluck them out of the air, the bottom of the screen bumps up a little. You'll move on to the next level if you can hit a line near the top of the screen.

Once you reach the line, you drop back to the bottom and begin again. This all happens immediately, however, so don't expect any respite between rounds.

In fact, don't expect any dallying of any kind at any time in Super Ccatch. This is a game that's ultra-fast in every respect.

Neither do you have to worry about dropping the occasional shape. Collecting them isn't the goal, so much as keeping the game going for as long as possible. Even a well-played game won't take up more than a couple of minutes of your life, though.

Should an incorrectly-coloured shape hit your paddle, a serious chunk of the ground falls away, and if you fall off the bottom of the screen it's game over.

If you've got enough ground to survive the mis-catch, your paddle changes to match the icon that hit you, and suddenly you're chasing yellow squares instead of blue circles. So you can recover from a cock up, if you're quick.

To give you a small leg up, hearts also occasionally fall from the sky. These add a protective line to the very bottom of the screen. This protects you from one faulty catch, so it's always worth snagging them when they drop.

Super Ccatch isn't fancy to look at, but the animation is smooth, and the tangible smash of the ground crumbling beneath you gives it a style all of its own.

All of which is beautifully bolstered by an intense techno soundtrack that hits its notes perfectly.

Admittedly there's nothing in Super Ccatch beyond its core gameplay. No other modes, and no other way to refresh the action. But what little it does, it does extremely well.