Review: Ball Rush Aqua
Score:
78%
Version Reviewed: 1.1
Buy Link | Download / Information Link
It’s Arkanoid! One of the easiest games to cock up on any system! So how have HeroCraft managed? Quite well actually, given that the mobile phone doesn’t have the greatest of input mechanisms for this style of game. Okay, back up a few. What we have here is a bat-n-ball arcade game, where you have to reach the top of the screen with the ball. Getting in the way are a whole bundle of bricks, some that can be knocked out the way with one hit of the ball, some that need more, and some that are impervious. As the ball rebounds, you move your bat at the base of the screen to bounce the ball back up.
What’s interesting about Ball Rush Aqua is that, rather than a series of levels, each wall is on top of each other. Break through the first wall and reach the screen, and the view slides up, and you have another wall. You literally climb up the screens. If you miss the ball with your bat, you just fall back down to the screen below. This means that you only ‘die’ when you fall out of the bottom screen.
This twist aside, Ball Rush Aqua plays extremely well. We’ve got blocks giving you wider bats, sticky balls, a shield behind your bat, again there’s nothing revolutionary here, but it’s done with a good level of polish and a focus on making a good playing experience.
Graphically, there’s a fine balance between having a pretty screen with complicated graphics, and a simple primary colour scheme that makes it easy to place. I’m glad to report that even on the original S60 176x208 screens, Ball Rush Aqua remains clear, even with multiple balls flying round the screen, paddles moving left and right, bullets attacking the bricks, and the animated background doing its things in the background.
I did mention controls at the start, and its pretty hard to get a really good bat control on any keypad. The Arkanoids of the arcade world all had a spinner control, and the modern day equivalent of the analogue stick just isn’t present in any form on most mobile handsets – so you’re left with the cursor/direction keys, or the 4-6 keys on the number pad. By their nature, you can’t move your bat ‘just a little bit’, and given that where the ball hits the bat determines the rebound angle, this lack of fine control can sometimes be frustrating. More often than not, the first few bricks need a precise bat hit, and that’s very hard to do. Admittedly this is offset by not needing to clear all the bricks, just get the ball to the top of the screen, but it can sometimes lead to ‘keep hitting till it goes the right way’, which requires patience.
Ball Rush Aqua is well implemented, takes account of all the problems of a small screened gaming device, and delivers a pretty good version of a classic game. Solid, with everything you’d expect, Ball Rush Aqua is one for the gamers of the world to seriously look at, on both S60 3rd Edition and UIQ 3 smartphones.
Ball Rush Aqua for S60 3rd Edition - Ball Rush Aqua for UIQ 3
Ewan Spence, 23 Mar 2007
Reviewed by Ewan Spence at