On top of changing the makeup of your ball, there are a number of weapons and attacks that you can make use of. The majority of these power-ups are timed but they can also be negated by running into a normal ball icon. This badass little sphere just destroys everything - castles, sharks, you name it - and makes you feel good. Words can't express how satisfying it is to be hanging onto your last life - this is represented by the hearts stacked in the top left corner - and have the iron ball pop up. Run into one of the several pairs of arrows that'll float on through, and you'll find your ball or bumper shrinking or growing. Run into the pink ball, and your soccer ball becomes a pink monstrosity known as "Crazy Ball" that will cut and juke on its own accord. Run into the spiked ball, and your ball becomes an iron sphere that can roll through nearly every object on first impact. While you're breaking crap, various icons are falling from the top of the screen back toward your ship. Now, even when the "attack from the back" strategy isn't an option, there are plenty of power-ups to keep you interested and give you an edge. The ability to traverse the environment strategically makes Magic Ball stand out a bit in the world of brick-breaking. Although I'd get behind objects, lose sight of the ball, and end up dying in other levels, being able to work your way to the back and take in some destruction without doing to much work is an awesome part of this game. Once this happened, the ball bounced around like crazy in the very back of the level - obstructed from my view by the ships - and laid waste to the wooden vessels. Finally, I began branching out and eventually cleared a path so I could get to the open water behind the pirate ships. After a dozen or so attempts, it was clear this strategy wasn't working. From there, I'd need to start playing the bounce and see how far I could get. I kept starting the mission by firing my ball into a clearing in the middle where I'd usually tap a cannon that would then fire a projectile into the skeleton's rowboat. Jumping back to that 1-23 example from the beginning of this review, I was ready to pull my hair out last night. However, once you start to make progress in a level, things can get interesting really quickly. Now, most of these objects on the playing field can't be crushed in one blow, you'll need to hit them multiple times with your ball. Depending on your pick, you'll find maps that are filled with ships, castles, dancing skeletons, fair princesses, and more. See, in the past, games like this one have generally had you breaking flat bricks, but Magic Ball has you collapsing intricate, 3D pirate or knight settings. However, Magic Ball is cool and worth a purchase thanks to its depth of field and power-ups. In short, this is the same setup you've played between classes and meetings on your PC for years. The level ends when you've eliminated all of the crap on the playing field or used up all of your lives. If your ship misses a ball on a bounce, you explode and lose a life. If the ball hits one of the objects, the obstruction begins to crumble. You're a little device that slides back and forth along the bottom of the screen using its bumper to bounce a constantly moving ball back at the 3D objects in front of you. Magic Ball is a modern day take on the brick-breaking gameplay made famous by Arkanoid and Breakout. when my soccer ball slipped past me for the umpteenth time. It's your job to bring all this crashing to the ground with your trusty soccer ball, but I'll be damned if it's not way tougher than it sounds - ask my dog who had to sit next to me while I cursed a blue streak last night shortly after 11 p.m. You start on a map with two pirate ships in the center of the screen, a couple sharks chilling nearby, and a few more dancing skeletons on various stuff. Don't get me wrong - I really dig Magic Ball and I think most people looking for a casual game on the PlayStation Network will, too - but 1-23 is born from the depths of hell.
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