Drop Off Review (TurboGrafx-16)

Drop Off is a paddle and ball game like Atari’s classic, Breakout. There is nothing bad about making a game like Breakout, games like Arkanoid did an excellent job of just that. The innovations in that game made for an addictive game experience. It’s a shame that the same cannot be said of Drop Off.

Rather than blocks you’ll be destroying fruit. Yes, fruit! You’ll be up against all sorts of fruity foes like strawberries, apples and melons. The storyline has never been the most important factor for this sort of game so we’ll move on! Unlike breakout when you hit the fruit often it will dislodge some fruit below which will fall towards your paddle, you’ll have to dodge this to avoid losing a live.

The fruit descends towards you slowly. As a collision with the fruit would be devastating to your paddle you’ll have to deal with it in a timely fashion. There are power-ups you can pick up to rewind the progress of the barrage of fruit which at times you will need to use.

The paddle in Drop Off has a very small hit area so sometimes hitting the ball can be frustrating. You can however move vertically as well as horizontally so it’s possible to catch the ball on the side of your paddle. To compensate for the small hit area of the paddle there is a row of blocks at the bottom of the screen to help prevent you from losing your ball. Each time the ball hits this it will take damage so you’ll have to try and avoid using it too much or gaps will appear.

After the ball touches the barrier at the bottom it turns red and you will get no points for the fruit you hit. You can reset this by getting a hit in with the paddle. There are boss fights as well which break up the endless battle against fruit.