There
are some games I probably should not be allowed to review. Not because
I can’t be fair and objective, but because I just don’t know how to
play them.

The property in a game
I value most is immersion. I want to get lost in the game and play
as if I was really there. But some games just aren’t real enough to
get into. That doensn’t mean they aren’t fun. It just means that they
must be played with a different mindset.

The Ball is such
a game.

You play the part of an
archeologist who stumbles into a jungle cave filled with ancient artifacts.
The most prominent item is a five foot sphere which was the source
of power for an alien race who had once befriended Man. You also find
a bizarre motorcycle made of bones, but with no wheels. This vehicle
has both a hammer and a magnet installed in the front. With these
you can send the sphere out from you or attract it to you. It’s almost
like playing a giant game of billiards.

The
Ball is an action/adventure game in the same genre as Tomb
Raider. Only instead of hand guns and acrobatics you must
now use the sphere to solve an elaborate collection of puzzles, smash
through things and fight against those who still guard the secrets.

The game is played like
a console game using the A-D-W-S keys to move around and the mouse
to steer. The mouse buttons control the hammer and magnet.

Fair enough. So I started
up the game and tried to get into it. But any attempt at immersion
just got me into trouble.

You
are a professional archeologist who has just been lowered into a jungle
cave. Then the hoist breaks before any one else or your equipment
can come down. You can shout to your team and all you have to do is
wait for the spare parts to arrive. So you decide to pass the time
by walking across some wooden boards which have been in this jungle
cave for years. Surprise! They are rotten and you fall through to
a deeper level. Who would have expected that? Actually, I did and
so avoided those boards until it was obvious that nothing was going
to happen until I went and did the stupid.

In the lower area you find
all sorts of old stuff which should set your archeologist’s heart
atwitter. So do you patiently wait for your equipment to arrive so
that everything can be measured and documented? Not if you want anything
to happen. You must take control of the Ball and proceed to smash
through everything in your path. Some scientist you are.

So
I got over the hurdle of thinking like an archeologist and started
thinking like a tomb robber. Unfortunately, my childhood instincts
kicked in and I treated the game as if it were indeed a giant game
of billiards. This was a mistake.

I would try to position
myself behind the Ball juuuuust right to line up the shot. But the
movement keys are not very sensitive. I would need to move two inches
to the left, but when I tapped the “A” key I would jump
two feet. So I would have to perform all sorts of elaborate maneuvering
to get into just the right spot to make the shot. It was like trying
to play miniature golf with an RC tank.

So I slogged on through
one painfull puzzle after another when I encountered my second frustration
– there is no way to save a game in progress. Just like the
consoles, there are only save points and they come after every few
puzzles.

This
was frustrating because there are many ways to die in this game (although
you have unlimited lives). I would be working on trying to cross the
narrow beam over the lava pit, would slip off and be sent back to
the save point. Now I would have to play though two or three tedious
puzzles just to get back to where I was to try again.

After almost two months
of playing I still had not completed the Introduction.

Now, to be fair, I was
playing a beta version. The LOAD GAME option showed about a dozen
slots for save games, but only the first slot was ever used. It could
well be that a SAVE GAME option was included in the final version.

Enough
was enough. I sat down and wrote a scathing review complaining about
how unplayable the game was. But I wasn’t quite finished. I appeared
to be at the very end of the Introduction, but I could not figure
out how to solve the last puzzle. There just didn’t seem to be any
way to get to the place I needed to get to. So I went online and found
a video walkthrough. And discovered that I had been playing the game
wrong all along.

The player in the video
was using the magnet almost non-stop. They would keep the magnet on
and drag the Ball with them everywhere. Then when they got to the
right spot, they would simply release the Ball right where it needed
to be and then use the hammer. Infinite energy. Perfect aim every
time.

I
went back and replayed the game using this method. I played through
the entire Introduction in less than twenty minutes. So much for six
weeks of misery. It even started to be fun. I don’t know whether to
apologize to Tripwire for misunderstanding their game or to really
unload on them for making a game which went against my every instinct.

OK, now having established
that Robert is an Idiot, just how is the game? Not bad, although it
is an Action/Puzzler rather than a true Adventure game. You will need
good hand/eye coordination and reflexes. There will deffinately be
adrenaline. What makes it more than just a pure Action FPS is the
constant supply of puzzles. It is the puzzles which make the game.

The
graphics are actually better than the screenshots can show. The world
is 3D with flickering lights, crawling bugs, etc. These flat, still
screen shots cannot do justice to the effect of seeing the pyramid
for the first time.

The story line is best
ignored. I’ve already explained the Stupid in the begining. As the
story unfolds you are led to believe that the Ball is the all important
Thing and that it must be protected. The worst thing would be for
the Aliens to get it back. So why is it placed at the entrace to the
caves where it would be easiest to find and remove? And why are you
expected to take it deeper and deeper into the caves where it would
have been best protected to begin with? And, of course, you have infinite
energy, immortal camp fires, wood which never rots and machines which
still function after thousands of years. No, we can ignore the story
and just get on with the game.

The
bottom line is that The Ball is a well made game and
is fun to play when done correctly. I still want to take half a point
off for the lack of an obvious SAVE GAME feature. At best it means
you can’t just stop it when you need to go and pick back up where
you left off. A worst it means having to repeat several puzzles over
and over as you work through a tough one.

System Requirements:

• Windows XP/Vista/7
• 3.0 GHz Intel Pentium
  or equal AMD processor
• 1 GB RAM (XP), 2 GB
  RAM (Vista/7)
• Geforce 6800 or equivalent
• 4x DVD-ROM
• 1.5 GB free hard disk
  space
• DirectX 9.0c-compatible
  sound card
• Mouse, Keyboard, Speakers,
  Internet Connection (DSL, Cable)

  Internet connection
  required for activation during install