Feeling "Freaked" About the Top 50? Don't Fret!

The Basics

The game is very similar to an old-school game that many of you have already played, but TNT made sure to mix it up a bit with some dastardly potions, pesky Korbats, and scary spyders.

Basically you move a small “bat” along the bottom of the screen left and right in order to keep a ball bouncing so that it can break all of the blocks in the current level.

Important- You can type “spiderbite” between levels to gain an extra life.

Controls

The controls for the game are incredibly difficult to get the hang of. Are you ready for them? You have to press the space bar to release the ball and then use the left and right arrow keys to prevent it from hitting the bottom of the screen and thus ending your current life. All right, maybe the controls aren’t that hard after all. :P

Though I don’t have a shiny Korbat’s Lab trophy in my cabinet or the right to brag of my score sitting securely on the high score table, I was able to get the avatar fairly easily and I think that you can get it too. So without further ado, here are a few of my personal tips to get a decent score that can earn you that special avatar that so many are after!

Tip #1 – Practice, Practice, Practice!

Though an obvious suggestion, my first tip is to practice. Practice is key in this game because it helps you to enhance your overall gameplay ability. Some things to watch for while you are practicing are:

How the ball bounces. Look at the way it bounces off of surfaces and try to predict how it will move next. After a few games you should able to slightly coax it in the direction you would like it to go and be able to closely predict where it is likely going to land so that you can prepare your bat to send it back up and break those boxes!

Another thing to pay attention to during practice is where you make the majority of your errors. For example, are you just hitting Korbats and getting your share of bad luck or are you doing something that you can work to improve on?

Tip #2 – Play early in the Month

I strongly advise you to wait until the first of the month to play for the avatar. This is because game scores reset at the first of each month, meaning that the score required to make the top 50 at trophy time will most likely be much lower than later on in the month when many more people have had an opportunity to play and send their scores.

And since the first of the month is already over, you can use the time until next month begins by working on tip #1. ;)

Tip #3 – Resist the Impulse of Falling Items

“Is the Risk worth the Reward?” The answer is no. I too was guilty of moving out of the direct path of the ball just to grab a falling coin worth fifty points. However, immediately after, I threw my hands into the air in frustration.

One thing to realize is that you start with three lives (four if you type in the previously mentioned code) and each of those lives can get you a few hundred to a few thousand points. To my knowledge, there is no item in the game that is worth losing a life trying to get. This is simply because there isn’t an item worth the points that a single life can earn you.

Tip #4 – When the Going Gets Tough, The Tough Skip the Level!

This tip actually correlates well with tip #3 in the fact that an entire level could have more risk than it’s really worth. At any point in the game you can simply type “skip” to skip the current level and move on to the next. There are many levels in the game that only offer you a few points to offer or have very low blocks and pesky Korbats that make the level a big risk. Remember, a single life can earn you thousands of points, so if you deem the level too risky, skip it. Though if a level has a lot of points to offer, but seems dangerous to play, then type “destroy” to send out a mass wave of balls and don’t press space to release and risk your original one. Something to remember, though, is that you can only play fifty levels, so if you are getting close to the end and still have a few lives to spare, you may as well play the risky level you’re on because there is no bonus for maintaining your lives until the end of the game.

Tip #5 – Play in Peace

If you’re easily distracted, like myself, then it would certainly benefit you to limit the distractions around you. In order to get a high enough score, you could be playing for an hour or more. That’s why it’s best to sit somewhere comfortably with little distractions. Maybe try some music that’s easy to listen to instead of the games sound effects; after a while they can get a little repetitive and start to drive you insane as a mad scientist!

I really hope that you took something away from my guide so that you can proudly see your name on the high score table and earn yourself that curious looking avatar. Good luck and have fun breaking those blocks! :)