Switchball (Xbox Live Arcade) Review
Posted by Joe Roche on 04.03.2008
Have you been searching for a marble based puzzle game for the XBox Live Arcade? If so, then Atomic Elbow would like to introduce you to Switchball.
Have you been sitting around for the past 24 years, starring at your 8-bit Nintendo and wondering how long it has been since someone made a game as engaging and challenging as “Marble Madness?” Well I’ve got two things to say to you, first you’re a sad, sad person who should seek professional help, and second you’re wait is over because Atomic Elbow has brought Switchball to the Xbox Live Arcade.
The basic premise behind the game isn’t novel. You’re a marble that must be rolled through six stages of five different environments. Each distinct environment contains various twists, turns, winding spiral staircases and other puzzles that you must maneuver through in order to get to the end. You will be tasked with solving puzzles in each level using a variety of powers which can be bestowed upon your marble, each with their own distinct advantages and disadvantages.
If that game sounds like something you’re interested in, then I cannot recommend Switchball enough because there is plenty of ball rolling goodness to go around. There are plenty of unique levels to play through which makes this game a pretty decent experience because you’re tasked with getting through 30 different puzzles overall to complete the game. Each environment (Skyworld, Iceworld, Caveworld, Cloudworld, and Lavaworld) has six different puzzles, so you’ll have plenty of variety while you try to guide your marble through the maze.
Each environment has its own unique look – I guess. I’ll be honest that this game looks really good; I’d even go so far as to say that it looks great. However, that doesn’t mean that you’re immediately going to know the difference between playing the Iceworld and playing the Cloudworld. The environments remain relatively unchanged throughout all 30 levels, or at least that was my experience – I think a bigger drawback is the fact that you just don’t notice any unique characteristic that the world you’re playing has compared to the one you just completed. That isn’t to say that the game doesn’t look great, because it does. The cartoony, bright worlds really stand out and I found myself at points just enjoying how the game looked, more then the actual game play.
On the other end of the presentation spectrum, I’m not sold on the sound being up to the level of the visuals. I’m not sure anyone goes into a game about rolling a marble through a maze looking for an emotional soundtrack but the standard musical accompaniment did grow tiresome for me as I played through the game.
Any problems with the music can be overcome as long as the game gives you enough quality puzzles to keep you entertained, and I must admit that Switchball does just that. Each level has its own unique puzzle so you’re looking at 30 puzzles which vary in difficulty. You can play each one timed, or untimed and try to earn Gold, Silver or Bronze medals for completing the levels quickly. I found some of the puzzles to be very challenging as the recommended time for some was around five minutes, and I wound up finishing the level in three times that length.
But the game isn’t perfect. In a game that involves a lot of difficult movements through narrow spaces with a marble, the lack of a dependable camera could cause someone to throw a 360 controller through a television set, and Switchball’s camera brought me to the brink of a meltdown on a few occasions. The handling of the marble was pretty solid, so when you’re delicately trying to get across a narrow bridge over clouds you’ve got a good handle on things. However, when you go down a spiral slide the camera oftentimes won’t catch up with you in time and you wind up flying right off the ledge.
There are three different choices for handling the camera, Free Style (where you control the camera yourself), Chase (where the camera is behind the marble), and Automatic (best camera angle available). I appreciate that Atomic Elbow tried to provide the game player with the option to best set the camera themselves but frankly all three of the choices have their own unique problems. After awhile, the camera issue can be resolved – however it took me flying off the edge of a narrow ledge a handful of times to finally overcome the issue. This might not seem like a problem when playing Free Play, but when you’re trying to beat the recommended time this camera issue will have you cursing the Swedish game developers who put you through this experience.
In case you’re wondering about online play it is available in either Co-Op or Challenge Mode. However, as I was writing this and playing through Switchball there was never another person trying to play either mode so I can’t give you a report on how it works.
The 411:
Look, this is a good puzzle game. It’s not great, and it’s not perfect – the camera issue is enough to drive me insane, but the game looks beautiful, and the puzzles are numerous and challenging. It’s tough for me to recommend a game that cost 800 Microsoft points when that game made me actually yell obscenities at my television at points, but if you’re a fan of puzzle games and you are looking for a new one in the XBLA there is enough here to justify the purchase. I might have just caught the online play at a bad time as well so when you factor that in the 800 MS points might not be such a steep price to pay.
Graphics
8.0
This really is a beautiful looking game. The worlds aren't unique enough but they all look sharp so that counts for something.
Gameplay
7.5
The game play mechanics themselves are pretty perfect, the camera issue was a bit much to overcome as the puzzles got more difficult.
Sound
6.5
I played some of this game with the sound off, so that should tell you about the sound.
Lasting Appeal
7.0
There are plenty of puzzles, and online play but I'm not sure if there will be many people coming back for seconds after beating this game once.
Fun Factor
8.0
Difficult puzzles, different abilities, there is a lot to like about playing through this game.
