5.5 hours played
Written 6 months ago
I went into this game with an understanding that it was akin to Luxor, Zuma, or Sparkle. To that extent, I was correct, in that it has the same core gameplay of matching different colors of balls using a paddle that also shoots those balls. However, I did notice liberties taken with the basic idea, in that there is not a set number of waves, but instead a series of balls embedded in the background that need to be destroyed to stop more waves from coming. Also, you have no "lives" per se, but instead have to retry the level if the balls make it to the end. As for similarities to games of its ilk, you can get upgrades using coins obtained as random drops or from the bonus stages, which do things like increase your ball shooting speed or give you an aimline. There are also powerups that periodically drop, allowing for ease of handling the waves of balls.
While I enjoyed the twists on the standard "marble shooter", these alterations ultimately did not do all that much to hold my interest, and neither did the levels themselves, despite the graphics being decent for the time it was released. After a while, they grew stagnant, as the only things that changed noticeably were the track layouts and placement of target balls. Not helping this stagnation were the dull, metallic backgrounds for each level, causing the experience to "run together" even when playing in short bursts. My biggest complaint, however, is the game not always registering my mouse inputs, requiring me to mash LMB or RMB several times to make a single shot or switch ball colors, respectively. This is not an issue that I have had with any similar game, including the original Luxor (which came out before this game), so I suspect the fault lies with this game's design.
Overall, if you are a fan of Luxor, Zuma, Sparkle, or any other games of this type, it would be better to skip this one, as it makes a valiant effort to stand out, but ultimately lags behind its contemporaries.