Spectraball

I picked this game up from a Groupees bundle. It was the first game I ever saw on Steam and it looked so cool! You play as this little ball and you have to get through the level and all of the obstacles it offers. There are ten levels in total I believe and each is focused on a certain scenery. For example, the first level is in a tropical area, whereas the second level is situated in a desert with pyramids. These sceneries are very well done and it was probably the first thing that got my attention about this game. What I really liked about this game is that every object and obstacle used fit the overall level. In the level “Sky Ruins” there are turbines, windmills and large ramps that provide lots of air time. It all felt in place and nothing stood out like a sore thumb in a negative manner. The levels themselves are quite difficult at certain parts. I recall getting stuck on the mission “Sky Ruins” for quite a while due to how spaced how certain platforms were.

Although the game has keyboard controls, they seemed kind of shaky to me, so I played using an Xbox 360 Controller instead. Those controls felt much better to me and they were much more fluid. You move with the Left D-Pad and change your angle and view with the Right D-Pad. Pressing the A button makes you jump and B activates your ability. The ability you have by default is the Power Brake which, when pressed, causes you to immediately stop moving wherever you are. This is useful if you overshot a jump and you’re right above the platform because you’ll just drop to the ground like a dead weight.  Other abilities include teleport beacon which lets you set a teleport beacon anywhere that you can teleport to once before it disappears, or double jump which is pretty much self explanatory. Upon beating a level in Spectraball, you unlock the skin for that level. It’s just a cute little way to add some replay value to the game and make the game just a little bit more appealing to some people.

The game also offers a few mini games for the user to play. The first one is simply called Arena. You are situated on a circle platform and are attacked from four corners of the level by other spectraballs. They try to knock you off the platform and you have to fend them off and survive as long as you can. The platform tilts and turns so you can easily slide off, or slide your opponents off, it is quite fun. The next one is called Laser jump. You are in a large room that is reminiscent of Portal 2 and a laser glides across the floor. Your goal is to dodge the laser for as long as you can, and it gets quite tense as the laser speeds up and is quickly whirring across the floor. The last mini game provided is Crate Chaos, which I found the most enjoyable and frustrating. You are dropped from a height and you have a single crate below you which you have to land on. The crate turns out to be a TNT bomb, and you are launched back up into the sky while a new crate respawns somewhere else. You essentially have to crate jump from crate to crate as long as you can and survive. These mini games provided a little bit of enjoyment for me, but there weren’t as addicting as I thought they would be.

Surprisingly enough, the game has a lot of replay value. I re downloaded this game to the review since I beat this game upon receiving it and I found playing it again fun and relaxing… almost. A great feature this game has in the in game custom map downloader. Fans can make custom maps and publish them for others to play, thus extending the life of the game and how long you play. Although a lot of AAA games such as Counter Strike: Global Offensive, Garry’s Mod and Portal 2 have custom maps and gametypes, it was really cool to see a lesser known game such as Spectraball have it. The game uses an in game map building mode that is a mix of Halo 3’s Forge and the map building feature that appears in the Super Smash Bros. Brawl. The pieces resemble Brawl, but it is in 3-D and works better. Even in the stage building mode, you still appear as the little Spectraball with an object above you that you can place down at anytime. Within a couple of minutes, I was able to build my own map and test it out. Spectraball offers a lot of cool features and is well worth the five dollars it is available for on Steam.