Ark: Ball Attack [by Archgames]

Ball Attack is a game that I instantly loved.  This Breakout game has what must be called the most inventive power-ups in any breakout game to date.  Of interest are the laser ball that for a brief time fires lasers out of each side of the ball as the ball spins, the rail gun was another favorite.  Instead of just firing away, you have to hold down the left mouse button and wait for the gun to warm up before it starts firing. 

The game also offers a variety of bricks, with exploding bricks and mines placed on levels in a way that makes it very advantageous to hit the bricks in a certain order.  The game also how power-up generators.  These little boxes will release a power-up if hit.  After being hid, the boxes will recharge for about a minute before you can hit them again to get another power-up.

The graphics in Ball Attack are quite well done.  While not at the top of the genre, the effects are very nice and the explosions are great to look at.  Unfortunately there isn't any soundtrack that goes along with the sound effects themselves, but the sound effects are good in and of themselves.  The only real down side of the game is the Play Control.  As I mentioned, upon first playing the game I was quickly drawn in.  However the more I played, the more frustrated I got.  The pace of the game is too fast and leads to the player watching balls fly off the screen time after time.  When you get two balls you'll likely not keep both for more than a couple of bounces.  That leads to even more trouble as one of the multi-ball power-ups gives you a second ball that only lasts for about 25 seconds.  If you lose your first ball during that time, then you're other ball will disappear leaving you, well, dead!  The worst part of that situation is that you cannot tell which ball is the phantom ball and which is not.  I twice pinned the ball against the corner of the screen which also worried me in regards to the physics of the game.

On the flip side, the developer did add one major thing that helps in the game play.  There is an option called "Threads" on the option screen.  When this is selected, the ball and paddle will have a line drawn between them.  The line fades out as the ball moves away, and then darkens when the ball comes back towards the paddle.  This helps tremendously in making sure you hit the ball, though I still found that far too many balls were getting past my paddle when I had multiple balls.

Overall, I think any Arkanoid die-hard will really enjoy Ball Attack.  The graphics are crisp and well-done, the power-ups are inventive.  Those who are not up to a fast paced Arkanoid game, or get frustrated when they cannot seem to hit the ball might want to pass on this one, but those who enjoy seeing the Arkanoid genre move forward should definitely add this game to their library as another hallmark in the genre.

Added: November 24th 2003
Reviewer: Russell Carroll
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Hits: 2264
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