Why can't anyone making a breakout clone get the physics "right"? In the original[1], the ball bounces vertically off of the first brick it encounters and continues through all of the others until it hits the paddle or the ceiling; this changes the feel of the game substantially and makes the ball more predictable, which lets the entire game run at a faster pace.

[1] I don't really know about the original, but I am quite familiar with the Atari 400/800 Super Breakout cartridge.