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Smash Hit

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This article is about the 2014 video game. For the British music magazine, see Smash Hits.

Smash Hit
A cracked piece of glass with a silver metal sphere in the centre
App icon
Developer(s)Mediocre
Publisher(s)Mediocre
Designer(s)Henrik Johansson
Programmer(s)Dennis Gustafsson
Artist(s)Henrik Johansson
Composer(s)Douglas Holmquist
Platform(s)
Release
6 March 2014
  • Android, iOS
  • 6 March 2014
  • Oculus Rift, Samsung Gear VR
  • 2015
  • Oculus Go
  • 2018
Genre(s)Rail shooter
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Smash Hit is a 2014 rail shooter game developed and published by the Swedish indie game studio Mediocre. Through the game's 11 levels, the player takes a first-person perspective, shooting metal balls to destroy glass obstacles. Additionally, the player can increase their rate of fire by smashing a consecutive sequence of crystals and gather power-ups that are activated for a limited amount of time. The game also features a one-time in-game purchase that allows the player to start from any unlocked checkpoint.

The game's development began in 2012. Dennis Gustafsson programmed the game and created its physics engine and acoustics, while Henrik Johansson designed its levels. Douglas Holmquist was hired to compose the soundtrack and sound effects. The game was released for free on iOS and Android on 6 March 2014. A virtual reality adaptation of the game was released for platforms in 2015 and 2018. Smash Hit received positive acclaim from reviewers, who praised its physics engine, graphics, music, and sound effects. CNET and Apple Inc. listed it as one of the best mobile games of 2014. After Mediocre closed in 2017, Gustafsson and Holmquist worked on the 2022 video game Teardown, which incorporated unused sounds from Smash Hit.

Gameplay

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Metal balls smashing a glass pane in Smash Hit
To progress, the player has to shoot metal balls at glass obstacles.

Smash Hit is a first-person 3D rail shooter and endless runner video game in which the player travels forward and must shoot metal balls to destroy glass obstacles while conserving their supply, as the game ends when the limited ammunition runs out.[1][2][3][4] Any collision with an obstacle results in the loss of ten balls.[1] The player can also shoot at crystals, which give the player a certain number of balls depending on the crystal's shape.[1][5] As the player advances, dynamic music plays in the background.[1][6][7]

By default, the player shoots one ball at a time but can shoot up to five at once by smashing a consecutive sequence of crystals. Regardless of the amount, the player will only lose one ball of ammunition per shot.[1][8] Missing a crystal or sustaining damage breaks the combo mechanic and resets the number of balls to one.[4][6] The player can also gather power-ups and activate them for a limited amount of time.[9] Each power-up gives a special effect when activated, such as providing the player an endless supply of balls, making all their balls explosive—which causes larger chunks of glass to break—or slowing down the game's speed.[2][10]

Smash Hit has 11 levels, each with a different appearance.[3][4][10] As the game progresses, the levels become more difficult.[1][11] The game covers the player's distance as their score.[8] By default, the player starts at the beginning of the first level; however, a one-time in-game purchase allows the player to start from the beginning of any unlocked level and sync progress via a cloud system such as iCloud.[1][7][12][13] After its release, Smash Hit introduced three different game modes, including a training mode, as well as two multiplayer modes: versus, where two players compete on the same device, and cooperative, where two players complete the game together on the same device.[14][15]

Development and release

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Smash Hit was developed and published by the Swedish indie studio Mediocre, co-founded by Dennis Gustafsson and Henrik Johansson in 2010.[6][16][17] The studio previously developed the Sprinkle video game series and Granny Smith.[1][18] Gustafsson programmed the game, while Johansson was its artist and level designer.[19] Douglas Holmquist composed the game's soundtrack and produced its sound effects.[19][20]

Gustafsson and Johansson began developing the game in 2012, and Holmquist joined the team in January 2013. Mediocre tasked Holmquist with creating an electronic soundtrack and listed Gold Panda's Fifth Ave, Shigeto's Look at all the Smiling Faces, and Robot Koch's Water and Solutions as reference tracks.[20] Gustafsson helped Holmquist by working on the game's acoustics. Instead of using OpenAL or OpenSL audio application programming interfaces, he opted for creating a custom mixer to fully control the game's surrounding effects and audio processing. Gustafsson implemented the game's reverberation and echoing systems,[21] and the game's camera is harmonised with the dynamic music.[22]

Gustafsson also worked on creating the game's physics engine, wanting the glass shattering system to be "fully procedural" and reliable. He was satisfied with the end result but admitted that it was not realistic, considering that the glass shatters at the point where it is hit instead of shattering at its most unsteady point.[22][23] The game's obstacles are procedurally generated and were written with the Lua programming language, while shadows were based on the ambient occlusion rendering technique.[22]

In November 2013, the developers announced the game to the public.[24] It was released for free on iOS and Android on 6 March 2014.[1][25] The game's music initially had 33 tracks that were combined in various ways; Holmquist composed seven more in May 2014 and three after the introduction of new game modes in July 2014.[20] Smash Hit was the most downloaded video game on iOS in March 2014, while on Android devices, it was the sixth most downloaded.[26][27] The game was downloaded more than 280 million times by October 2024.[16]

Reception

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Smash Hit has received "generally favourable" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic.[28] CNET and Apple Inc. rated Smash Hit as one of the best mobile video games of 2014.[31][32] Smash Hit received honourable mentions for the Independent Games Festival's 2015 Main Competition.[33]

The game's physics engine and gameplay were praised by reviewers.[a] They have, however, commented that the game does not offer much beyond its shooting mechanics, which Tommaso Pugliese of Multiplayer.it  [it] considered a negative aspect of the game.[9][10] Denis Zaichenko of the Shpil  [ru] magazine described the physics engine as flawless and noted that the game differs from other rail shooters because of the engine and rate of fire mechanics.[30] Common Sense Media praised the game as mesmerising with "a therapeutic experience".[29] Pocket Gamer named Smash Hit as one of the hardest mobile video games.[3] Writing for Gamezebo, Nadia Oxford also said that the player's hitbox could be hard to track down.[5] Harry Slater of Pocket Gamer saw the game as entertaining but irritating; according to Alex Beech of AppSpy, the checkpoint system ultimately undermined the endless mode scoreboard idea.[4][10] In a review for MacLife, Andrew Hayward added that initial levels could be toiling to players without the in-game purchase when constantly replaying the game.[8]

Reviewers also commended the game's visuals, music, and sound effects.[b] Michelle Starr of CNET described the glass-shattering visual effect as impressive,[1] while Pugliese viewed them as detailed and naturalistic.[9] Hayward commended the game's minimalist looks as well as the glass-shattering effects.[8] Starr also said that the game's graphics and mechanics were refined in contrast to Sprinkle and Granny Smith.[1] Chris Carter of TouchArcade hailed the game's graphics as fable-looking.[2] Charlie Miller of 148Apps saw the shattering sounds as pleasing while describing the game's music as fitting its ambience.[12] Pugliese also noted that the game's music was well adapted to its graphics.[9]

Legacy

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Mediocre released an adaptation of the game for Samsung Gear VR, titled Smash Hit VR, for free in 2015.[34][35] Gustafsson commented that the idea for a VR version was brought up before the game was initially released for mobile; once the virtual reality headset gained popularity, the developers thought it was a "good fit". He also revealed that the levels had to be partially redesigned due to the revamped shooting system. Ian Hamilton of UploadVR said that the virtual reality adaptation of the game is an enjoyable presentation to virtual reality.[6] The game was also later released for Oculus Rift and Oculus Go headsets in 2015 and 2018, respectively.[36][37] Computer scientists Margherita Antona and Constantine Stephanidis reported that no differences in difficulty were seen between the mobile and virtual reality versions of Smash Hit.[38]

Mediocre developed another video game involving balls, PinOut, and released it in October 2016.[39][40] The studio was closed in 2017, after which Gustafsson began working on creating a game using destructible environments with voxels.[41] He hired Mediocre's additional designer, Emil Bengtsson, to work on his game, Teardown.[42] Like Smash Hit, the gameplay of Teardown was modelled around the game's technology.[43] Holmquist composed its music and sound effects; he used placeholder sounds from Smash Hit that were ultimately unused in the game.[44] Teardown was released in 2022.[45]

An Apple Arcade version of the game, titled Smash Hit+, was released by Mediocre on 3 October 2024. The version removed the in-game purchase option and ads from the game and made all game modes available to the player from the beginning.[16]

Notes

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  1. ^ Attributed to the following reviews:[1][2][4][11]
  2. ^ Attributed to the following reviews:[1][2][9][12][29]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Starr, Michelle (11 March 2014). "Smash Hit Brings the Thrill of Destruction". CNET. Archived from the original on 13 November 2022. Retrieved 27 June 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Carter, Chris (27 March 2014). "Smash Hit Review – Madness with Marbles". TouchArcade. Archived from the original on 12 May 2022. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  3. ^ a b c Van Oirschot, Allison (26 March 2023). "Top 10 Hardest Mobile Games". Pocket Gamer. Archived from the original on 18 August 2024. Retrieved 18 August 2024.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Beech, Alex (11 March 2014). "Smash Hit Review". AppSpy. Archived from the original on 18 August 2024. Retrieved 18 August 2024.
  5. ^ a b c Oxford, Nadia (24 March 2014). "Smash Hit Review". Gamezebo. Archived from the original on 3 April 2014. Retrieved 18 August 2024.
  6. ^ a b c d Hamilton, Ian (9 October 2015). "Mobile Success Smash Hit Is Even Better in VR". UploadVR. Archived from the original on 26 January 2022. Retrieved 26 November 2017.
  7. ^ a b Savov, Vlad (7 March 2014). "Smash Hit for iOS and Android Turns the Act of Destruction into Art". The Verge. Archived from the original on 18 August 2024. Retrieved 18 August 2024.
  8. ^ a b c d e Hayward, Andrew (6 March 2014). "Smash Hit Review". MacLife. Archived from the original on 28 July 2014. Retrieved 18 August 2024.
  9. ^ a b c d e f Pugliese, Tommaso (15 March 2014). "Palle d'acciaio" [Steel Balls]. Multiplayer.it (in Italian). Archived from the original on 9 January 2015. Retrieved 18 August 2024.
  10. ^ a b c d e Slater, Harry (11 March 2014). "Smash Hit". Pocket Gamer. Archived from the original on 26 January 2022. Retrieved 18 August 2024.
  11. ^ a b Nichols, Scott (18 March 2014). "Mobile Reviews: Surgeon Simulator, Smash Hit, The Perils of Man". Digital Spy. Archived from the original on 18 August 2024. Retrieved 18 August 2024.
  12. ^ a b c d Miller, Charlie (11 March 2014). "Smash Hit Review". 148Apps. Archived from the original on 26 January 2022. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  13. ^ Thomas, Lucas M. (7 March 2014). "App Store Update: March 7". IGN. Archived from the original on 18 August 2024. Retrieved 18 August 2024.
  14. ^ "Three New Game Modes Released!". Mediocre. 10 July 2014. Archived from the original on 22 September 2024. Retrieved 29 August 2023.
  15. ^ Bengtsson, Emil (27 November 2015). "Smash Hit Multiplayer Game Modes Released". Mediocre. Archived from the original on 18 August 2024. Retrieved 18 August 2024.
  16. ^ a b c Botadkar, Tanish (4 October 2024). "Smash Hit+ Is a New Iteration of the Popular Title on Apple Arcade". Pocket Gamer. Archived from the original on 4 October 2024. Retrieved 4 October 2024.
  17. ^ Lee, Patrick (5 November 2019). "Teardown Tasks Players with Planning the Perfect Destruction-Filled Heist". The Escapist. Archived from the original on 12 October 2024. Retrieved 12 October 2024.
  18. ^ Jordan, Jon (29 May 2012). "Mediocre Takes a Bite Out of Platform Racers With Physics-Heavy Granny Smith". Pocket Gamer. Archived from the original on 21 October 2024. Retrieved 21 October 2024.
  19. ^ a b Mediocre (6 March 2014). Smash Hit (iOS). Mediocre. Scene: Credits.
  20. ^ a b c Holmquist, Douglas (19 September 2014). "Writing the Music for Smash Hit". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on 18 August 2024. Retrieved 18 August 2024.
  21. ^ Gustafsson, Dennis (28 May 2014). "Hail to the Hall – Environmental Acoustics". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on 22 September 2024. Retrieved 15 September 2024.
  22. ^ a b c Gustafsson, Dennis (3 April 2014). "Smashing Tech". Voxagon. Archived from the original on 26 April 2022. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
  23. ^ Gustafsson, Dennis (13 May 2014). "Cracking Destruction". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on 22 September 2024. Retrieved 15 September 2024.
  24. ^ "Announcing Smash Hit". Mediocre. 1 November 2013. Archived from the original on 22 September 2024. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
  25. ^ "Reviews: Smash Hit, Castlevania, Calculords, and Threes!". The New York Times. 18 March 2014. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 26 January 2022. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
  26. ^ Takahashi, Dean (30 April 2014). "Supercell, GungHo, King Dominate March Mobile Game Revenue. What Else Is New? (Lots)". VentureBeat. Archived from the original on 18 August 2024. Retrieved 18 August 2024.
  27. ^ "App Annie Index: Games – Smash Hit Lives Up to Its Name". App Annie. 30 April 2014. Archived from the original on 26 August 2014. Retrieved 18 August 2024.
  28. ^ a b "Smash Hit". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 29 November 2023. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  29. ^ a b c Morris, Chris. "Smash Hit". Common Sense Media. Archived from the original on 13 November 2022. Retrieved 13 November 2022.
  30. ^ a b Zaichenko, Denis (8 November 2015). "Рецензия на Smash Hit" [Smash Hit Review]. Shpil (in Russian). Archived from the original on 30 April 2018. Retrieved 18 September 2024.
  31. ^ Starr, Michelle (21 December 2014). "Best Mobile Games of 2014". CNET. Archived from the original on 18 August 2024. Retrieved 18 August 2024.
  32. ^ Fitzpatrick, Alex (8 December 2014). "Apple Says These Are the Best Apps of 2014". Time. ISSN 0040-781X. Archived from the original on 19 September 2020. Retrieved 18 August 2024.
  33. ^ Hall, Charlie (7 January 2015). "IGF Announces the 2015 Main Competition Finalists". Polygon. Archived from the original on 18 August 2024. Retrieved 18 August 2024.
  34. ^ Suckley, Matt (1 December 2015). "Mediocre's Henrik Johansson on Not Worrying About Asia, Keeping Faith in Premium, and Shunning Indie Elitism". Pocket Gamer. Archived from the original on 30 September 2024. Retrieved 19 August 2024.
  35. ^ Priestman, Chris (25 September 2015). "Have a Look at the Range of Games Heading to Samsung Gear VR". Pocket Gamer. Archived from the original on 19 August 2024. Retrieved 19 August 2024.
  36. ^ "Oculus Rift Is Taking Minecraft and Classic Games to a Whole New Level". TechRadar. 24 September 2015. Archived from the original on 19 August 2024. Retrieved 19 August 2024.
  37. ^ Hamilton, Ian (8 May 2018). "Smash Hit: One of Gear VR's Best Games Comes to Oculus Go". UploadVR. Archived from the original on 19 August 2024. Retrieved 19 August 2024.
  38. ^ Antona, Margherita; Stephanidis, Constantine (9 July 2018). Universal Access in Human-Computer Interaction. Virtual, Augmented, and Intelligent Environments. Springer. p. 95. ISBN 978-3-319-92052-8.
  39. ^ Amaris, Lian (2 November 2016). "PinOut Review: Play This Silver Ball". Gamezebo. Archived from the original on 18 August 2024. Retrieved 18 August 2024.
  40. ^ Funnell, Rob (27 October 2016). "Endless Neon Pinball Game PinOut from the Developers of Smash Hit Is Finally Available Worldwide". TouchArcade. Archived from the original on 18 August 2024. Retrieved 18 August 2024.
  41. ^ Lee, Patrick (10 September 2019). "Looking into the Future of Game Physics with an Indie Dev at Its Forefront". The Escapist. Archived from the original on 7 November 2020. Retrieved 18 August 2024.
  42. ^ Wiltshire, Alex (6 January 2021). "How Teardown Made a Great Game from Destruction". Rock Paper Shotgun. Archived from the original on 6 January 2021. Retrieved 18 August 2024.
  43. ^ Gustafsson, Dennis (5 November 2020). "Teardown Design Notes". Voxagon. Archived from the original on 10 April 2022. Retrieved 18 August 2024.
  44. ^ Holmquist, Douglas (27 November 2020). "Teardown". Holmquist Tonalitet. Archived from the original on 30 November 2020. Retrieved 18 August 2024.
  45. ^ Volk, Pete (5 April 2022). "Destruction Simulator Teardown Smashes Its Way to a Full Release This Month". Polygon. Archived from the original on 5 April 2022. Retrieved 18 August 2024.
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