I love them Breakout games and I never miss any chance to try out a new one. If you’re just like me, read on and find out more about Panic Breakout, a free flash game by Gamedesign that keeps it simple to the bone, but quite entertaining for a few minutes.

At first I loved the fact that Panic Breakout comes with a different type of paddle – a big, round, panicked face that spits balls and deflects them with its head. Apart from that, there is a decent time limit since the blocks you have to destroy come down towards you, there are also lots of power-ups (unfortunately, you will have to learn what they do using the classic “trial and error” technique) and… that’s it! You have a breakout game.

Unfortunately, Panic Breakout is far from a perfect game. Except for the fact that you have to learn on your own skin what the power-ups do (and I still have several that are still couldn’t figure out their purpose in the game), the game isn’t challenging at all. There is no score whatsoever – you could still get on the leaderboards if you have awful amounts of time and reach level 80 or so and beat the competition, your lives come and go as they please with no explanations and the blocks are all the same: one hit, one destroyed. Indeed, Panic Breakout delivers bonus levels in which you test your aiming and gain lives – but what’s the point since the lives disappear anyway and you earn no points in the bonus levels?

Either way, if you haven’t played a breakout game for a long time, this little flash game could do the trick, especially if you like to chill out rather than compete. You can play it by clicking on this link.