Fizzball marks the start of a gaming franchise. Sure, you could argue that Grubby Games' excellent Professor Fizzwizzle was the start, but I say one game does not a franchise make. By following the quirkly educational Professor Fizzwizzle up with the engaging and entertaining Fizzball, Grubby Games has a franchise. I'm sold. I will continue to eagerly await the next adventure for the Professor.

Fizzball is, at its core, a brick-breaking game. However, like all quality gaming titles, it goes above and beyond to provide something new. For those console gamers familiar with the smash hit Katamari Damacy, you'll know what's up for Fizzball. The Professor has discovered that the animals in the area he's conducting his research are hungry and scared. He must protect them. To do so, he employs the Fizzball. This device is a flexible bubble that will grow in size as it collects objects. The goal is to get the ball to grow large enough that it can absorb animals on each level, prepping them for transport to the good Professor's sanctuary.

Each level is populated by tons of objects for the Fizzball to bounce off of, forcing the Professor to keep up and maintain the ball bouncing in play, this is done through the standard brick-breaking, Arkanoid-style gameplay. As the Fizzball bounces off of trees and breaks boxes of produce, though, it will pick up objects on the ground and grow in size, enabling it to break things even faster and to pick up the increasingly large creatures that populate each level. The Professor's rig also comes with a set of fans that can be accessed for a time (using the right mouse button) to blow the Fizzball around the level. This is a nice touch to the gameplay that can allow the gamer to tweak things to their advantage.

Power-ups are plentiful as well and will affects tons of gameplay variables. You can increase the size and speed of the ball, increase or decrease the size of the Professor's bumper car, rain items on the ground of the level, magnetize the bumper car to stick grab the Fizzball, make the Fizzball an unstoppable breaking machine, give yourself a Destructo-Beam to break items on the level and more.

As plentiful as the power-ups are, the unlockables in the game are even moreso. There are about 38 trophies to unlock in the game, some of which will be hard for even the most hardcore of gamers to unlock (completing a level without breaking anything? Madness). The game is also peppered with bonus levels that mix up the action and give goals such as breaking as much as possible in a time limit, breaking objects in a particular order, collecting as much food or money as possible and, again, the list continues.

Fizzball is, like Professor Fizzwizzle before it, full of charm. The art in the game is awesome. The cartoon graphics are clean and smooth as a dream and EVERYTHING is animated in the game. Each time you hit an animal with a Fizzball before the ball is large enough to absorb it, you get an animation and a sound effect from that animal (so far I've rescued 56 species of animal and I'm only about 50% done with the game). They're all fun an interesting to watch and give the levels a lot of life (my fave animation is the camel, you'll see why). Adding even more to the character of the game, gamers can visit their animal sanctuary at any time to check up on the flock who, by the way, are being fed via the money the gamer collects in game. And they continue to eat whether you're playing or not, so keep making that cash to keep your refugees in good shape.

Okay, I could go on and on about this game in the body of the review, but let's get to the categories so I can break down why I like it so much effectively.

Graphics:
The look of Fizzball is clean and crisp. The animation is excellent and it runs very smoothly. There's also a lot to look at. The levels cover a variety of terrains types and there are simply tons of animal models in the game. Environmental effects like rain and snow are nice touches as well.

Sound:
The quirky happy music of Fizzball is a perfect fit for the feel of the title. Anyone familiar with Professor Fizzwizzle will notice recognize the main tune immediately. And again, just as there are tons of animal graphics, there are tons of animal sounds, each triggered every time an animal is bumped with the Fizzball. It's as engaging to listen to as it is to look at.

Gameplay:
This is a classic formula with a new twist. The addition of the growing ball and the fans make this a fresh-feeling experience. It controls smoothly and without many problems at all. From time to time, trees and objects in the foreground can obscure ball movement, but for the most part it's not an issue. The game is even kind enough to, when you return from pausing the game, start the Fizzball's movement back up slowly, so you have a moment to try and locate it on the screen. Now that's good game design.

Concept:
This piggybacks on gameplay… the addition of new gameplay elements make the concept behind Fizzball a winner. It's a new way to play an old classic, much like Little Gods was earlier this year. The fact that Fizzball is also both supremely kid friendly (in Kid Mode you never have to worry about losing a ball, it's made just for little kids to be able to play and enjoy) and has a quirky environmentalist message to take away from it is just icing on the cake.

Value:
Fizzball is $20 and worth every penny. The game is well made, full of unlockables for replay value, chock full of content and a blast to play. I've been playing the game regularly (say, an hour a day?) for a couple of weeks and haven't barely passed 50% of the content. Awesome.

Overall:
This is a buy 100% of the way. I've played a lot of games this year, and I think Fizzball might be the best one so far. Great for kids and adults alike. Highly recommended.