BLASTERBALL 1 SERIES

Options to collect letters spelling 'BLASTERBALL' for a massive bonus, access secret bonus levels and assault blocks which reappear seconds after destruction or switches that summon more obstacles into being upon activation are just the beginning. вЂ“ who use deflector shields to dynamically alter ballsвЂ™ trajectories. If youвЂ™re not busy bashing down triangular corner pieces or thin, rectangular building blocks, youвЂ™ll have to contend with enemies вЂ“ gyro-encased spheres, glowing hexagons, etc. Heaven knows, thereвЂ™s incentive to: The title is chock-full of pleasing little surprises.

Happily, difficulty levels are so finely balanced between stages that you wonвЂ™t breeze through the adventure anyway. (Besides losing your current score, that is, and possibly a slot on global ranking boardsвЂ¦) Despite robbing the game of expert-level challenge, this caveat actually serves to minimize frustration. Of course, you can always pick up right where you left off without penalty. Once done, youвЂ™re greeted with a beautiful display of virtual fireworks and then itвЂ™s off to the next stage.ДЇail to keep balls in play, though, and youвЂ™ll lose a life, with the game ending when all are gone. (Note to the designers: Adding one for amusementвЂ™s sake wouldвЂ™ve been a nice bonus.) Moving an on-screen paddle left/right using the mouse, you simply keep batting a ball at varyingly-shaped grids of destructible objects вЂ“ modeled after watermelons, bees, umbrellas and other familiar outlines вЂ“ until all crumble. ThereвЂ™s not even a featured storyline to muddy the waters. Blasterball 3 doesnвЂ™t do all that much new per se вЂ“ it just takes the same, time-honored block-smashing formula you know and love and does it better. Three installments into the critically-acclaimed franchise, we can see why originality continues to take a backseat to pure fun and playability.

BLASTERBALL 1 SERIES

Like most brick-breaking arcade outings, the multimillion-selling Blasterball series relies on the latter to captivate and enchant. Two types of forces drive change in this world: Invention and innovation.

Blasterball 1