Welcome to the game review corner!
Time for another "Achievements on the Cheap" review.
Today's game: Ballotron.
Ballotron Man, Ballotron Man.
The World is waiting, Ballotron Man.
Ballotron is a simple, yet complex puzzle game where the main objective of this game is to make the blue ball hit the green one in the fastest time and lesser number of bounces possible. To do this, you can rely on three shots before being forced to restart the level or quit the game. While the game mechanic looks simple, you have to calculate the angle and even the speed and force used on the small balls (projectiles) because you might be relying on them for correct the ball's trajectory, but that's only for desperate measures. You will be using the level restart button to correct the aim and angle until you find that perfect shot and that's the key to clear the levels; finding the right angle, trajectory and speed to make that fortunate shot, just like the NES Lunar Ball/Lunar Pool game. You also need to learn how the blocks behave as they have their own variations with their respective physics, like the soft blocks which can bounce your ball or even be used as a projectile when they're hit by the small orbs, and there's the hard blocks which will just bounce the blue ball. There's also the option of picking the gold coin/medal, which adds an extra challenge element, but in the end is basically useless, along with the star rating system. There's 50 levels with a total of 150 stars, but to get all the achievements you only need to play 10 of them, that's 20% of the game.
The graphics of this game doesn't ask too much. Simple 2D colorful blocks in a purple space environment with parallax scrolling tiles passing by, while the music is a simple New Age-Ambient Kraftwerk-esque calmed pace which is easily forgettable.
CURIOSOTRON
- The Nexus-I Ball looks exactly like a PokéBall (Hope Nintendo doesn't get upset and sue Cool-Two Interactive for this).
If you say so, Nina.
I only played this for the quick achievements.
It's not "Trash", but is not the masterpiece of puzzle either. Ballotron has plenty of ideas and the concept of playing with physics is always interesting. As a small mini-game will be fun enough and brain-breaking without being frustrating.
Only the most hardcore puzzle fans will play this game to the end. Anyone else would pick this game, play until Stage 10 is cleared and then uninstall the game once the last achievement is obtained.
If you're up to spend 5 bucks for 1000 Gamerscore points and 10 achievements, go ahead. It's a decent deal (compared with Breakthrough Gaming's abominations).
Lea and Shizuka agree with the review.