Walls & Balls
by RU0
Games, Price: $6.95
Reviewed October 2003 by Tony Peak
If someone was to come up to me and ask
what I would like in a traditional, yet solid breakout game,
my answer would be quite similar to Walls & Balls. Developed
by RU0 Games, W&B doesn’t seek to break the mold,
but instead delivers a great experience with its solid gameplay.
The game will be instantly familiar to
any fan of breakout or Arkanoid. The basic goal is to simply
bounce the ball off your paddle into the bricks above. Clear
the field and move on to the next. Both helping and hindering
you is power-ups and power-downs hidden in the field. Catch
one of these labeled capsules and the magic begins. Your
single ball could instantly split into 5, or become super
charged. Catch a power-down and your paddle might shrink,
making things all the more difficult.
There are two main things that determine
how fun the gameplay in this game will be, to me: the layout
of the levels, and the thrill of the power-ups. Thankfully,
Walls & Balls offers plenty of both. The 100 levels are
each quite unique and well thought out. Some offer fun themes,
while others have clever traps and challenges to overcome.
You won’t simply be fighting through drab random blocks
time and time again. The power-ups keep things very entertaining,
and there are a few surprises along with the standard crop.
My personal favorite is the M capsule. This will cause the
ball to split into three, but the twist is that whenever
one or two of the triad is missed, the remaining ball will
clone itself to keep three in play at all times. Little surprises
like this keep things fresh and add strategy to an already
tried and true game concept.
Another area W&B really shines is in
the options. The game is extremely flexible, and the control
schemes are no exception. With four control methods, it’s
very easy to find a control method that fits your style of
play. You can either control the paddle via customizable
hardware keys, or with the stylus. They offer the choice
between drag, tap, and even “fast tap”, which
will instantly move the paddle to where you tap. While some
may say fast tap breaks the spirit of the game, I’m
glad the developers decided to include it nonetheless.
The graphics of Walls & Balls are quite
solid, though nothing eye popping. In yet another bit of
flexibility, you can even select the amount of particles
that spark when you smash a block, and tweak the FPS for
smooth gameplay. The effects are amusing to watch and things
flow nicely even when the action heats up on screen. The
ball effects are really fun, especially when you have 5 or
6 on screen at once and chain a few power-ups. Attention
was obviously paid to detail, as little animations such as
the paddle initializing at the start of each round show the
effort that went into this title.
The sound is quite solid and about what
one would expect -- arcade like, yet subtle. The music won’t
exactly have you tapping your foot, but nonetheless it’s
really quite good. I like the fact that both the sound and
music volume can be adjusted separately. In the end the sound
is rather average, but still only adds to the experience
rather than doing it any harm.
Whether you’re new to the breakout
genre or an old pro, Walls & Balls has the solid gameplay
needed to deliver to such a diverse crowd. It sticks close
to the original formula, while making small but precise
improvements. W&B is by far the best Arkanoid clone
I’ve played in ages, quite possibly since the original.
Playing Hints and Tips
Since the gameplay is rather straightforward,
I’ll cover a few of the powerups you’ll see
along the way. It may not be a complete list, but it’ll
give you a start. I have no idea what they stand for, but
I’ll guess a name so that you can remember them easier:
B: Bail – The exit will open and
you can head for the next level.
C: Control – Catch and hold all balls that touch the paddle for a few
moments.
D: Duplicate – Going one step beyond Multi, this one splits the ball
into 5, but only once.
E: Extend – Extends your paddle a notch. More E’s mean an even
larger paddle.
L: Laser – Fire dual lasers from your paddle to break the bricks above.
M: Multi - This handy power-up will split a ball into three, and constantly
keep 3 balls in play.
O: Omnipotent – All balls on screen become super charged and can bust
through anything without stopping.
P: Player – Extra life
S: Slow – Slows the speed of the balls a little
R: Reduce – Shrinks your paddle down a notch.
?: Random special effects – Random
special effects such as a huge paddle or a tiny paddle.
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