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Ballz Review


Ballz is a considerably ‘off-the-wall’ Mega Drive title but another one of those more recent titles that really began to push the Mega Drive to its’ limits. Ballz does what Virtua Fighter did for the Saturn for the Mega Drive… in a kind of weird and comical way.

The premise is simple, pick one of 8 fighters with their own unique fighting style and special moves. But these fighters are no ordinary fighters; they are entirely made of spheres. You may think this is slightly stupid at first but because the characters are made of spheres they don’t need to be rendered in 3D allowing the game to be 3D but not true 3D… if that makes any sense. The concept really is simple and it works magnificently pushing the graphical abilities of the Mega Drive even further.

But unfortunately, the graphics and the use of a 3D fighting environment is really the only thing that sells Ballz. The fighting in Ballz is not based on any particular martial art or fighting style, it’s simply a brawl between other crazy characters such as a caveman, a rhino and a ballerina to name a few. There are no special button combinations to learn the special moves, they simply determine on what you press at certain times and distances. The stages do not vary at all except in colour (no, seriously) and the soundtrack does not feature any memorable songs. All the music in Ballz is simply there to set a tone.

There happens to be one memorable song on Ballz and that’s the music that runs in the background of the title screen, but even that begins to irritate you after a while however well it sets the scene for the game.

At the end of the day, Ballz is a game made for novelty value. It is one of the first and one of the only 3D Mega Drive titles and it isn’t exactly bad, just not very good. If you’re looking for a simple title that can tide your button bashing friends over Ballz is perfect but that’s where the last-ability of Ballz ends. This game is a simple button basher which in single player mode becomes very irritating as the game gets harder. Stick with the multiplayer mode and some laughs can be had.


5/10


Written by Sonic Yoda on 4/7/06


Box Artwork

Cartridge

Instruction Manual



Screenshots

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