Ark: Superball Arcade Mania [by Cheeky Monkey]

Superball Arcade Mania comes across as a game that could be great but misses a few of the finer points of what makes a game truly great.  The game certainly has its moments.  The first time a cow drops from the sky onto one of your bricks, or you fire up the monkeys at the bricks you'll have to laugh.  However, the game seems to suffer from the problem of doing too much. 

Superball Arcade Mania attempts to offer you not just arkanoid, but also pinball, a sort of asteroids concept, and also end bosses.  The problem is that while the arkanoid idea is ok, the other parts of the game left me wanting them to stick with what they did well instead of covering all bases.

Graphics are ok, ranging from amazing to terrible.  The problem with them is that Cheeky Monkey seemed to have trouble determining a graphic style for the game.  Some graphics have a clearly 3D look to them with multiple lighting and shadow effects.  Others are very flat 2D graphics with black borders that don't look great against the different backgrounds in the game.  Though the graphics have their good points, the variety in styles helps ad to the feeling of the game not being very professionally done.  This is not a highly polished presentation, and while the humor will likely get some fans, one cannot help but think that if the graphics were better that many more people would have enjoyed the game.

The sound is certainly nothing to complain about as it is very well done and fits the theme and feel of the game quite well.  The game play is where the biggest problems come into play.  For most of the game the physics are pretty good.  The ball bounces in a fairly predictable way.  However, on the pinball boards the physics are terrible.  While adding these extra game types, it is clear that the same amount of time has not been spent on each, so instead of a fun experience with different types of game play the user is left waiting to get past those different types of boards so that they can get back to something more interesting. 

The power-ups in the game are some of the most inventive and humorous that I've yet seen in a game.  Firing monkeys out of a barrel, and watching dogs fly across the screen taking out bricks as they go are both highly entertaining.  However, the sheer number of power-ups tends to make the player lose track of what is going on in front of them.  I found myself moving everywhere with a seemingly endless parade of power-ups dropping at several different times.  There was unfortunately little time to see what I was doing.

Overall this is a pretty decent game.  If the game had a bit more polished look and feel it would be up there with the best arkanoid games available.  However, with the current state of the game, I think it will only appeal to those who are big arkanoid fans looking for something different to play.

Added: November 8th 2003
Reviewer: Russell Carroll
Score:
Hits: 2236
Language: english