At the end of my previous review of Brickbreaker, I mentioned a coworker of mine:
There are some newer versions out. My coworker got his Blackberry upgraded and claims to have over 50 levels and upgraded graphics; when I get that, I’ll have to see how it does. But for now, I spend even more time than I do in MMOs playing the same seven levels over and over and over again.
I noticed that when the review was posted the screenshots didn’t match what I had on my Blackberry. Very shortly after that, my whole company got new Blackberries – and mine had the new version of it.
Some of the levels are still similar, though the graphics are noticeably improved, such as the bricks actually looking like bricks, and not abstract blocks. There are a couple of fairly big changes to it, though.
First off, there are a lot more levels. 34, in fact! It looks like almost all the old ones are back and there are a lot more.
Second off, there’s the gameplay – it’s markedly different. And in that, I will elaborate.
For one thing, in the old version, the same brick would drop an item on each level every time. That’s no longer the case; instead, it’s much more random. That can be a bad thing, when you just can’t get a drop or can only get “bad” items, but can also be good.
There are new items. For instance, there’s one that’ll let you scroll off one side of the screen to the other. That’s not necessarily a good thing – more than a few times I’ve missed a ball by inadvertently scrolling through the side of the screen. There’s also a “bomb”.

The balls also bounce slightly different. The angles seem more random; you can’t “memorize” a level as easily in order to get through them. I thought I’d mastered Brickbreaker in the previous incarnation; it ends up that I’d just memorized a series of actions. I’ve admitted, on video now, that I’m really not very good at Brickbreaker.
Editor's Note: The particular video SeanMike is refering to aired on CNBC on February 22 during Squawk Box. Congratulations, SeanMike, on a great interview.
The biggest thing, in my opinion, is the “drop” effect. Basically, the more the ball bounces, the more the bricks will drop, up to a certain point.
That can be a HUGE pain in the butt. For instance, on some levels, I will actually let my ball drop off the screen rather than hit it and have the levels start to drop.
Finally, RIM has set it up so that you can upload your high score to a website. I’ve tried to do that… but couldn’t get it to work. I’m not the only one with that problem either.
All in all, the upgrade is pretty darn worth it. The game provides hours and hours of fun, as thousands of bored Blackberry owners can probably already attest to!
Editor's second note: For those who might have missed it on CNBC this morning, here's a link to the video on CNBC's website. SeanMike's Interview on CNBC.