The one-trick game has gotten pretty popular lately; short simple games that have one real mechanic and a fairly short playtime that can be tackled in a couple of play sessions and usually put more emphasis on atmosphere and artistry. Portal is probably the big hit of this âgenre,â although acclaimed arcades games like Braid and Limbo have seen some success as well. They are great ways for indie developers to show off their skills and get some real funding.
The Ball exists in the same realm; small independent team, one mechanic to learn and abuse, atmospheric gameâ¦but a few technical missteps and problems with difficulty make this a pill thatâs hard to swallow. While it can be enjoyable and clever, it has a hard time standing up against its console brethren.
Read the rest of the review after the jump.
The Ball has a very simple premise. You are an archeologist investigating some ruins near a Mexican volcano when you suddenly fall through some boards and manage not to break your legs. Instead of waiting for your comrades to get a rope ladder, you walk deeper into the ruins, find a creepy device and the titular Ball, a huge, indestructible ball adorn with glyphs and a scary face. The device can either deliver a strong hammer shock which will proper the Ball, or a retractor which will draw the Ball towards the device. For reasons not very well explained, you guide the good explorer and his murderball through the ancient corridors, unlocking doors using puzzles and eventually running into a crapload of mummies and an ancient king who you can only defeat by introducing them to the Ballâ¦as it moves towards them at high speeds.
There are about six levels, and you slowly learn just why the Ball has been activated and what lurks beneath the surface, which takes about six-eight hours of play. The game only takes this long because screwing up a particular puzzle, either by falling into a pit of spikes or getting eaten by zombies, will kick you back to the last save point, which are spaced about ten minutes apart, which is a bit frustrating.
Itâs all the more frustrating by the perspective. When I first started playing, I couldnât get over the fact that everything looked so huge in scale that my vision appeared to be no more than 3 feet off the ground. The small ferns that littered the levels came up to the bottom of the screen, and at one point a patch of crabgrass obscured my vision. This and the ferns occasionally arguing with my graphics card and making them flicker made play a bit disorienting.
There are also some issues with moving your character. No amount of falling will ever hurt him, no amount of velocity will harm him, only spikes, fire, and zombies can scratch him. He also can jump about a foot, which is a problem when you need to jump onto ledges or over spiked pits. It just controls so stiffly and languidly, that sometimes youâll fall just because you arenât approaching a jump correctly.
But the setting is immense, as you constantly get swept deeper and deeper into the volcano and the ancient ruins, and constantly get floored as you continue to explore. In one case, you get swept downriver into a natural open cavern with a small village on an island, over which an ancient pyramid towers, and it looks awesome. They also tried to make the areas seem organic, with hallways that branch off naturally that are eventually blocked off, and even whole set pieces that you donât directly interact with, like a giant fan system in the first level. Itâs an interesting way to present atmosphere, but becomes a little distracting when you find yourself having to turn around for the sixth time after investigating the wrong hallway.
The puzzle aspect of the game is fairly well executed, with puzzles simple enough to eventually get, but tough enough to require some thought of how to manipulate the limited number of moving pieces. The Ball is a bit weird to work with, as you constantly feel youâre on an escort mission, keeping the Ball nearby in case a bunch of mummies come charging around the corner, but once you get the feel of the controls itâs not too hard to keep it nearby. There are some frustrating puzzles where you are under attack while the Ball is out of your control, requiring you to run quickly and hope you donât get killed, but otherwise it speaks to the merits of the concept, the clever manipulation of a giant ball of death.
Itâs just too bad that the Ball feels a bit slippery, with a lot of fluff added when there didnât need to be, long hallways where there is nothing to do but roll the ball, whole minutes spent just sitting in a minecart and watching the scenery, achievements that sidetrack from fun objectives (such as killing all the monkeys, or finding secret notes), and various other problems that cause a break in the already slow pacing of the game.
Itâs just not a game that holds up well compare to similar games. With its high-end graphic requirements and PC-level cost, it canât be considered a cheap romp, and the extra features put a lot of emphasis on the part of the game that isnât that fun, the combat. While itâs a cool idea for a game, and the story gives an intriguing atmosphere, it will take some commitment to get through it.
