Welcome! This is the first installment of the Icaros Flyer Tips and Tricks Series. Today, let’s discuss the Brick Breaker game mode and how you can increase your score!
The first thing you need when attempting to get a good score is a good set up. First, set the machine to the proper difficulty level using the dial on the bottom right side. Next, as you get on the machine, make sure to use the appropriate pegs for your height. Using pegs too far up or too far down can make the machine uncomfortable and awkward to use. Following this, ensure your shins and forearms are sitting comfortably against their respective rests. Now, go ahead and turn the small “switch” on the machine, allowing it to move freely not just forwards and backwards, but also tilting side to side. Once you have done this, go ahead and select the appropriate game mode for you: easy, medium, or hard. Finally, make sure you calibrate the machine properly when prompted. If you don’t take care to do this well, you may find it difficult to control the paddle, especially near the edges of the screen.
Basic: Game play is fairly straightforward in this version of brick breaker. Hit the ball with your paddle into the bricks to gain points. You have a layer of protection below the paddle, but be wary, once destroyed, you risk your ball falling through. Having no balls left means you lose a life, so try to always keep one ball in play.
Boosts: When you break bricks, they will occasionally drop different boosts. Four of them are positive, and one is negative. The blue boosts are good: the star gives you extra points, the arrows give you a bigger paddle temporarily, the cannon shoots straight up, potentially destroying bricks and the “2x” doubles the number of balls you have!
The red boost is bad, it actually shrinks your paddle temporarily, making it much more difficult to keep the ball in play. Try to dodge this when possible.
Movement: Do your best to keep movements short and controlled. If you try to go too fast, you will lose control and likely make mistakes. Depending on what mode you choose, the paddle will move differently. On easy, only side to side movement affects the paddle. As you increase difficulty, the paddle gets up and down movement and tilt.
Clear the Bricks!: Clearing all of the bricks grants bonus points! Make sure you clear all of them in order to maximize your score!
Now that you know how to play, it’s time to get in there and do it for yourself! There are plenty of things that weren’t included in this article, so just mess around with it and develop your own way of playing. After finishing a round, make sure you rehydrate and take deep breaths before going again!
If you are interested in checking out the Icaros Flyer for yourself, make sure to schedule an exclusive membership tour! Want to learn more about what thrivXR has to offer? Click here to learn about the thrivXR experience and how gaming and extended reality can help you achieve your fitness goals.
by Jacob Smith
