Sunny Ball Review

Written by: David Laprad Published: May 12, 2005 Most conspiracy theorists think aliens or a secret society will take over the world someday. I think an alliance of Breakout game developers is trying to beat all other contenders to the punch. It seems a week doesn't pass without one or more developers releasing a title in which you use a bat to hit a ball at an arrangement of bricks in an effort to clear the screen. Despite the limited possibilities this rudimentary gameplay model offers, download numbers on this website and others suggest we can't get enough of them. And who can blame us? The best of these games wrap up satisfying action, dazzling graphics and rich audio in a powerfully addictive package. The latest Breakout clone to hit the scene is Sunny Ball. As its name suggests, it's a bright, colorful dollop of digital cheer. In fact, the graphics are the best reason to play Sunny Ball. Presented in 2D, many of the 120 levels look like storybook paintings sprung to life on your screen. From kittens to rainbows and spaceships to castles, the visuals are downright enchanting. Instead of using irregular shapes to fashion their scenes, as Blitwise did with the brilliant Super DX Ball, the creators impose drawings on top of clusters of small rectangles. The end result is levels that look great but don't play all that different from traditional Breakout games. Sunny Ball also contains levels that are more "old school" in their presentation. Even these stages look great thanks to the use of high resolution graphics, clever shading techniques and shadows. Add a number of subtle touches, such as reflective borders and glittery particle effects, and Sunny Ball can almost get by on looks alone. I say "almost" because no matter how pretty the game is, its use of rectangles for bricks is a leap backward in an age that has seen the release of BreakQuest and Ricochet, among other more sophisticated offerings. Sunny Ball features a few extras, such as bricks that change the speed of the ball or shoot projectiles, but we've seen these elements in other games. They're implemented well, though, so if you're a casual user who's bored with the old bat and ball routine but doesn't want to play something too complex, Sunny Ball could be right up your alley. That is, unless you're a compulsive bonus grabber (like me). Sunny Ball offers several pickups, including a bigger bat, a smaller bat, a magnetic bat, faster balls, slower balls, fireballs, laser guns, extra lives and so on. Also falling toward the bottom of the screen are the letters E, X, T, R and A (one guess what you get when you collect all of them) and colored gems that can be gathered to accumulate bonus points. At the bottom of the screen are three slots for gems; gather three gems of the same color, and you get a large bonus; grab two of the same color and one odd color, and you get a smaller bonus; snatch three differently colored gems, and you get zilch. The problem is, so many pickups are falling at any given moment, it's easy to grab the wrong ones. Most Breakout games use the color red to indicate when a bonus is negative, but not Sunny Ball. The bigger and smaller bat pickups look the same except for arrows that point either in or out, depending on the nature of the bonus; the only things differentiating the faster and slower ball pickups are left and right arrows (which isn't at all intuitive). In the heat of the moment, you can find yourself with a smaller bat and a faster ball quicker than you can scream "Shazbot!" since the good and bad pickups look so much alike. What's more, with so many pickups falling at once, it's hard to grab just one kind of gem three times in a row. Gems come in one of eight colors, so you'll rarely grab three of the same color before accidentally snatching an odd color. Overall, the bonus system makes the gameplay more frustrating than it was likely intended to be. That said, Sunny Ball does a number of things right in addition to offering pleasing visuals - smooth controls, accurate ball physics, intuitive menus and ample user options among them. The music is quite snappy, too, and I like how the bat makes a clanging sound when it slams against the metallic-looking border. Sunny Ball is so eager to please, I wanted to give it a reassuring hug. I'm recommending the game on the basis of its delightful graphics and retro charm, even though it falls short of the innovation found in other offerings. If you'd rather walk through a lightning storm on stilts with a fork clenched between your teeth than play another Breakout game, Sunny Ball won't change your mind; however, if you want some breezy fun, it'll definitely brighten your day.