Aquaball Review

Written by: Keith Durocher Published: October 13, 2006 Aquaball from Alawar Entertainment is a Breakout clone with a twist: the playing field is oval and it's set entirely underwater. You control a deep sea submersible that traverses back and forth across the opening of a semi-circular reef structure, reflecting a sphere at a variety of obstacles that need to be cleared away. Although this might seem like a cosmetic change to the established format of the genre, it really isn't. For starters, ball trajectories are completely thrown off, making the gameplay different enough to stand out. The inclusion of mini-games helps as well. Aquaball doesn't push the envelope as far as it could graphically (the colors aren't as vibrant as they could be and the power-ups lack visual luster), but its value is undiminished by this fact. There are some truly creative level designs and gameplay tricks, like the spiky blowfish you can knock into other things and the compasses that flip the entire screen whenever you hit them with your spheres. In my opinion, Aquaball is an example of a near classic. With a bit of polish, it could go from "great fun" to "must have". Scoring (out of five dragon heads): Graphics: Ease of use: Gameplay: Difficulty: Sound effects: Music: Final analysis: Click here to download the free trial version of Aquaball.