As smartphones and, particularly, Android-powered phones evolve, users are finding themselves migrating away from traditional, motion-sensitive gameplay and opting for more traditional and more robust interactions. Still, some developers continue to churn out typical tilt-based titles. Lava Ball 3D is a traditional tilt-ball game that features…lava. Lots and lots of lava.
Game play: Anyone familiar with tilt-ball games should be instantly familiar with the idea of Lava Ball 3D: Players use their tilt-sensitive phone to manipulate a ball through a variety of courses and obstacles in as little time and with as few mistakes as possible. Lava Ball 3D tweaks this idea by include 30 different courses of increasing difficulty and covering the floor of the courses in liquid hot magma. Players are encouraged to continue along by collecting gems and by beating posted times on each course.
Features:
- 30 different courses
- 3 difficulty settings
- Lava
- 360 x 360 Accelerometer controls.
- All Axis physics
Graphics: Lava Ball 3D does not take full advantage of the latest Android phones’ graphical quality. Played on a Samsung Vibrant (Galaxy S), the images come across as plain and ugly. The poor graphical quality lends to some difficulty in control, too, considering the ball looks like a simple gray circle with hints of movement included. The only dynamics to break up the monotony are the various courses. But these are each constructed with the same palette of art assets, which make even the variety of courses and obstacles appear the same.
Sound: Lava Ball 3D features two sounds: a “cha-ching” whenever a gem is collected, and a horrifying human scream whenever the ball falls into the lava.
Controls: For ball-tilt games, control is everything. Lava Ball 3D does seem to be precise in getting the ball rolling, but the problems come into play when trying to manipulate or slow down the ball. Even when the phone is tilted to the extreme, it seems to have little-or-no impact on the ball’s trajectory. The result is usually more lava and screaming.
You can pick up Lava Ball 3D off the Android market right now for free to try out! You can also grab the full version off the Android market for $2.95USD.
Gameplay: 2/5
Graphics: 2/5
Sound: 1/5
Mechanics: 3/5
Overall: 3/5
Developer Website: Exit 4 Gaming
Direct Market Link: Lava Ball 3D
Click QR Code to enlarge for easy scanning: {rokbox}images/stories/QRCodeLibrary/QRLavaBall3D.png{/rokbox}
