If there were a prize for Least Appropriate Use of a Nude or Scantily Clad Female on the Cover, then The Brick would win it hands down (Ishido for the Atari Lynx would probably get the second prize). The connection of the other depicted items with the game remains mysterious as well.
The Spectrum version of The Brick is a very fine example of what can be done graphically on this platform. That is, until you try to actually play it. Then the drop shadows of the blocks become less impressive than the fact that it is near impossible to discern the ball on the patterned background. A monochrome ball on a black background would have looked less good, but been a lot more playable. As it is, I never got far enough to test its one addition to the Arkanoid concept, the laser.
If you want to try it out anyways: If you choose keyboard (teclado) from the menu, P will move the bat right, O left, while M launches the ball. Q moves the laser up, A down. I have no idea which key fires it. If you choose Kempston, left-right will move the bat, and up-down the laser. The exact keys depend on the configuration of your emulator of course. I found a gamepad the best interface, it's still difficult because of the low visibility of the ball.
I have not tried the Amstrad CPC version. It does not have the invisible ball problem, but has far less appealing graphics. If we can trust CPC Games Reviews, it wasn't exciting as a game either:
Of the many Breakout clones I have played, this ranks as one of the worst. Twenty levels are there to be played, but after a few minutes of playing the second level, you'll switch off and play something else. It's that old favourite, the indestructible brick, and on the second level, the other bricks are enclosed inside three walls of them so that it's very difficult to reach them. In addition, the ball moves too slowly and the aliens that move about the screen get in the way. It would probably take hours to complete the second level! The graphics are terrible, too, and your bat is very difficult to see.
The DOS version is missing in action, and no details are known. The CPC title screen features the well known colors cyan, magenta, black, and white and was thus probably identical with the DOS title screen. This would indicate that the DOS version ran in CGA, which is highly probable for a Spanish game of this time anyway.
