It's also weirdly strategic in the way that blocks can be intentionally cleared out to create paths to other spots where balls might get 'trapped,' thus bouncing all over the place and whittling down a bunch of blocks before returning to the bottom of the screen and ending the turn.
I really enjoy this approach to brick-breaking, as it allows me to take my time while aiming and plan out how to approach a given setup. The blocks never stop coming.Įach block has a number on it that indicates how many times it needs to be hit in order to remove it, thus making prioritization quite easy and obvious in most cases. Each turn ends after the ball has been launched and then touches the bottom of the screen - after which every block still in existence moves down one space and a new row of blocks appears at the top. You have to launch a ball towards the blocks at the top of the screen in an attempt to clear them one turn at a time. Yeah the name is kind of eyebrow raising, but it turns out the game itself is quite the interesting twist on the classic 'brick breaking' genre popularized by Breakout, Arkanoid, and so on.īallz is essentially a brick-breaker that's been turned into a physics puzzle game. Ballz ReviewĬall it a holdover from the 90s, but I tend to be wary of anything with a name that replaces 'S' with 'Z.' It makes me expect over-the-top Rad and Tubular imagery that's often used to distract from mediocrity. It's good stuff, and it's well worth checking out. I went in expecting something simple and dull but found a really interesting (and fun) approach to a genre I haven't touched in years. This isn't a bad thing, but it is something worth accounting for as it may help you in the long run.īallz really took me by surprise. This means that you're probably going to end up clearing whatever you're initially aiming at before all of them have hit, which will cause any balls that are still on that original path to hit things a bit differently. As you get further and further you'll find yourself firing off more and more balls in a single shot. If you're lucky or can aim accurately enough, you can potentially get all the balls 'trapped' back there and they can wreak all kinds of havoc. Unless you've got a situation with blocks being really close to the bottom, it's never a bad idea to try and aim your shots behind the mass of squares. That way they'll (hopefully) bounce multiple times along the same row and can clear out high value blocks in a single go. It can be tricky to get the angle just right sometimes, but if the situation is dire you should try to launch balls as close to horizontal a the wall as you can.
If you can't clear a block with a large number in one turn you can certainly weaken it so that it'll be easier to get rid of later. The higher the number - and oh goodness do the numbers get high - the more work it'll take to get rid of it. The number on a block shows how many times it has to be struck in order to be cleared. The more you have the easier it is to create a tidal wave of destruction that can clear multiple blocks in one shot. Unless things are getting too close for comfort, you're likely better off grabbing as many extra balls as you can as often as you can. You have plenty of time to decide where you want to focus your fire, and as much time as you want to aim. The rows of blocks won't move until every ball you've launched returns to the bottom of the screen.