Tower of Balloons - Otterrific Arcade (PlayStation 4)

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Sturmvogel Prime
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Joined: Sat Oct 11, 2008 4:23 am
Location: Autobot City, Sugiura Base

Tower of Balloons - Otterrific Arcade (PlayStation 4)

Post by Sturmvogel Prime »

Can't catch a break with all these bad shmups.

Time to play Tower of Balloons.



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No Budget's Sky.

Looks like Breakthrough Gaming/Project: Summer Ice is not the only one who makes the "anything for a buck" trash games done on the cheap. Otterrific Arcade is the responsible of this game, and another few of them released on the PlayStation 4 at expenses of who fells for them thinking they've might be good. So, let's start with the review so you don't have to suffer what I've suffered wasting a dollar on this disgrace of a game.
To begin with, there's no main story in Tower of Balloons, aside from being a dragon named Testdra whose reason to exist is to destroy balloons for an unspecified reason, along with killing other dragons in the process, none of these lore-enriching details are explained throughout the game.

That's the gameplay of Tower of Balloons in a nutshell, while its an horizontal shmup where you can only aim your dragon's breath to either right or left, you'll have to pop balloons to regain your altitude which kinda resembles the classic NES game Balloon Fight, but in this case, if you go down offscreen you'll die and the game will end. You can glide by holding the glide button and slow your falling speed, giving you a chance of landing on a balloon and go up once again. So the best strategy here is to use the fireballs against the dragons and hop on the balloons to remain airborne.
Occasionally a golden ballon will appear. If you pop it, you'll be granted the temporary ability to go up pressing the glide button. You are granted 5 hit points before you die, there's no extra lives or continues if you lose those hit points. I could complain about that but with a bad game such as this, I think it's for the better since it shortens the agony of playing this game.

Like Breakthrough Gaming's trash catalogue and many of the trash shmups I've played, this game is another "Platinum for Granted" game where all the trophies are extremely easy to get, making it a complete waste of money, time and space.



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Recipe for the background: A few silhouette mountain and dragon layers in photoshop.
All done in 2 or 3 minutes.


Graphically its a complete display of "Done-on-the-cheap" exercise as the game features very, very simple shadows supposed to be mountains and a black dragon. For the sake of detailing, the game adds an optional fog filter for the background which was done poorly since we can see a "line" moving across the screen as if it was badly rendered.

The sound department, a repetitive note that attempts to sound like the prologue of an epic film, but becomes boring as it becomes the only thing you'll be hearing the whole game.


TOWER OF CURIOSITIES
- The top score phrase "A winner is always you!" is a reference to "A winner is you!" from Nintendo's Pro Wrestling.



Tower of Balloons is the poor man's version of Balloon Fight with a simple shooting element which has nothing to offer. Don't bother buying it or playing it, unless you're starving for Gold and Platinum trophies, but you should better stay away from this game, giving a dollar to Otterrific Arcade will only encourage them to release more trash games.



*Sing "Trash shooter" to the tune of "Moonshadow" by Cat Stevens*

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Again I'm playing a Trash shooter.
Trash shooter, Trash shooter.
A gaming disaster, it's a Trash shooter.
Trash shooter, Trash shooter.

I feel I'm gonna lose my brain.
Lose my head, lose my mind.
Oh, crap, I'm gonna lose my brain.
Oh, cra-aaaaa-a-aaaaap, I won't have to play no more.


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I felt I've wasted all my cash
Even if it was a buck.
Yes, I felt I've wasted all my cash
Oh, cra-aaaaa-a-aaaaap, My money on the trash, Oh, God!

Again I'm playing a Trash shooter.
Trash shooter, Trash shooter.
An abomination, it's a Trash shooter.
Trash shooter, Trash shooter.


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And who the hell called this a "game"?
Who the hell?, Who on Earth?
Oh, who the hell called this a "game"?
Oh, da-aaaaa-a-aaaaamn, I needed to ask, Oh, Lord!

And who the hell I have to blame?
For releasing this trash game
Yeah, who the hell I have to blame?
Oh, da-aaaaa-a-aaaaamn, someone has to talk.


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Stupidity is what this game is!
I call this "A piece of trash"
Oh, stupidity is what this game is!
I'm gonna uninstall this game.


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Again I'm playing a Trash shooter.
Trash shooter, Trash shooter.
A gaming disaster, it's a Trash shooter.
Trash shooter, Trash shooter.

Trash shooter, Trash shooter.
Trash shooter, Trash shooter.
Fan of Transformers, Shmups and Anime-styled Girls. You're teamed up with the right pilot!
Bringing you shmup and video game reviews with humorous criticism.

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