The Balls Are Back In Town
Hyperballoid HD expansion "Original Worlds" offers more of an OK thing
Published: June 7, 2010
It's been a little over six months since Alawar Entertainment released Hyperballoid HD onto the world. If you have been trying to play through both the included campaigns, you might still be playing the game right now, because while the block-breaking is fun, it is also very S-L-O-W at times. Like, you can hit the ball with your paddle, make a tuna sandwich, catch the last quarter of the Lakers game, then maybe nap up a bit before doing a few loads of laundry, then get back to the game in plenty of time to hit the ball again. This is only a slight exaggeration.
If you HAVE plowed through the 100 original levels, and you are jonesing for more to smash, then the oddly titled "Original Worlds" expansion pack is coming down the pipe any day for you. I am not sure how adding 50 new levels qualifies them to be called "Original", but they MIGHT be levels from earlier Hyperballoid titles. But that is neither here nor there. Despite what the name is, these new levels do breathe some life into this title, even if they haven't breathed any new gameplay mechanics into it.
Much like the stock game, (in fact exactly like it), you will find a plethora of power-ups, power-downs, and power-neutrals. They will rain upon you constantly during the level, and some of them are fairly unique, like the one that causes your paddle to have force fields around it that trap the balls in a narrow corridor so you can control their path much better, or the one the reverses gravity for the balls, making them bounce off the ceiling rather then plummeting to the void at the bottom. The graphics retain the same flash, with plenty of sparkles to distract you from the "action" . The layout of the new levels are a high point, with less abstract blobs and more themed levels, which were very reminiscent of levels in Peggle, such as one where a snail made of bricks plies his way back and forth across the screen whilst you chip away at his exterior until he is just an eye floating back and forth. Other levels feature areas that are locked off by unbreakable bricks until you hit the key, and still others start with just a few blocks and add on each time you hit one until the whole level is formed then you start tearing it apart.
While the game is no different fundamentally from Arkanoid (or even the seminal Breakout), the level design in this pack is interesting enough to keep you occupied for a dozen or so hours, but it really cannot be stressed enough how non-frantic this game is. You can routinely juggle 3 or more balls for an entire level without much fear of losing them due to the slow pace of the balls in relation to the quick pace of your paddle. God help you if you get the dreaded slowball power-up and get your ball stuck on a very horizontal flightpath. Gravity has no effect, and if there aren't many blocks left, that slow, inexorable march of the ball can get excruciating. Despite that shortcoming, the game can be a lot of fun, and in a nod to speeding things up, when you get down to the last few bricks, the game will often throw a warp power-up to you that will let you advance to the next level without tediously trying to pinpoint those last bricks.
I'm not sure what the 2 Euro price-point will translate to on the US PSN, but if you enjoyed Hyperballoid HD at all, then this pack will certainly give you your monies worth. If you found the original too slow or boring, well, the new levels ARE a little more exciting, but the gameplay is exactly the same.
If you HAVE plowed through the 100 original levels, and you are jonesing for more to smash, then the oddly titled "Original Worlds" expansion pack is coming down the pipe any day for you. I am not sure how adding 50 new levels qualifies them to be called "Original", but they MIGHT be levels from earlier Hyperballoid titles. But that is neither here nor there. Despite what the name is, these new levels do breathe some life into this title, even if they haven't breathed any new gameplay mechanics into it.
Much like the stock game, (in fact exactly like it), you will find a plethora of power-ups, power-downs, and power-neutrals. They will rain upon you constantly during the level, and some of them are fairly unique, like the one that causes your paddle to have force fields around it that trap the balls in a narrow corridor so you can control their path much better, or the one the reverses gravity for the balls, making them bounce off the ceiling rather then plummeting to the void at the bottom. The graphics retain the same flash, with plenty of sparkles to distract you from the "action" . The layout of the new levels are a high point, with less abstract blobs and more themed levels, which were very reminiscent of levels in Peggle, such as one where a snail made of bricks plies his way back and forth across the screen whilst you chip away at his exterior until he is just an eye floating back and forth. Other levels feature areas that are locked off by unbreakable bricks until you hit the key, and still others start with just a few blocks and add on each time you hit one until the whole level is formed then you start tearing it apart.
While the game is no different fundamentally from Arkanoid (or even the seminal Breakout), the level design in this pack is interesting enough to keep you occupied for a dozen or so hours, but it really cannot be stressed enough how non-frantic this game is. You can routinely juggle 3 or more balls for an entire level without much fear of losing them due to the slow pace of the balls in relation to the quick pace of your paddle. God help you if you get the dreaded slowball power-up and get your ball stuck on a very horizontal flightpath. Gravity has no effect, and if there aren't many blocks left, that slow, inexorable march of the ball can get excruciating. Despite that shortcoming, the game can be a lot of fun, and in a nod to speeding things up, when you get down to the last few bricks, the game will often throw a warp power-up to you that will let you advance to the next level without tediously trying to pinpoint those last bricks.
I'm not sure what the 2 Euro price-point will translate to on the US PSN, but if you enjoyed Hyperballoid HD at all, then this pack will certainly give you your monies worth. If you found the original too slow or boring, well, the new levels ARE a little more exciting, but the gameplay is exactly the same.
