Berlin Hotball (GBC) (Retro)
User Review
Product Information:
- Publisher: Homebrew
- Developer: Aleksi Eeben
- Genres: Puzzle
Game Features:
Single player
Local Multiplayer
Online Multiplayer
Co-operative
Review Approach:
Just some observations and reflections (perhaps trivia for someone, or nonsense for another one) on apparently small and insignificant games, often homebrews, which reveal, upon closed examination, a certain verve, originality and involvement ability.
Is it perhaps another clone of the legendary Arkanoid, seen through a magnifying glass, designed for short-sighted people, and confined to the narrow space of a gbc screen?
In truth it is much more than that, and of Arkanoid it retains only appearance and gameplay.
First of all, it should be noted that this game has remained formally unfinished, in the form of a beta version; yet it contains 50 stages and gives the impression of almost completeness.
After the initial image of the author and his cat, one is immediately catapulted, without preamble, into the middle of the game. The big size of the paddle, ball and blocks, and the narrowness of the playing field are immediately striking.
And then you realize that a large part of the screen is cut off, and when the ball is at the top, the paddle is hidden; but this, rather than being a defect, adds an extra challenge; guessing the position of the paddle and move it in advance.
To balance these troubles, and to facilitate the game, there are the almost continuous slow movement of the ball and the promptness of the camera framing.
On the other hand, the fineness and accuracy of the graphics, the richness of details, shadows and shades, the color variety of backgrounds and blocks, should be positively emphasized; such that it is hard to believe that it is a gbc rather than a gba game.
And in fact the developer made use of the rarely used hi-color trick, which allows to display 2000 (!?!) colors at the same time on the screen.
As already mentioned, it includes 50 stages, all richly colored and with background different from each other. And the accompanying music is also brilliant, captivating, well-chosen and in line with the gameplay.
The breaking of the blocks follows, like any good Breakout clone, the rather frequent fall of classic power-ups, including magnet, enlarging paddle, multi-ball, fireball, missiles ( Mazinger punches !?), stage skip, etc, which makes it even faster to finish the already small stages.
Unfortunately there is no possibility to continue after the game over, but it should be added that it is easy to accumulate a large number of additional lives through bonuses and points.
All in all the game is very engaging in its apparent banality and, as for cherries, one play immediately calls another.
In my opinion one of the best games of the genre on gbc, on par with Dragon Dance and Cool Bricks.
Only because it is in beta stage and lacks the finishing touch, it deserves a 8, above all for the quickness of gameplay, richness of stages, love of details and nice bgms.
Thanking those who followed my ravings; I' d like to remember that, if video games are a disease, I wouldn't mind dying of it.
After the initial image of the author and his cat, one is immediately catapulted, without preamble, into the middle of the game. The big size of the paddle, ball and blocks, and the narrowness of the playing field are immediately striking.
And then you realize that a large part of the screen is cut off, and when the ball is at the top, the paddle is hidden; but this, rather than being a defect, adds an extra challenge; guessing the position of the paddle and move it in advance.
To balance these troubles, and to facilitate the game, there are the almost continuous slow movement of the ball and the promptness of the camera framing.
On the other hand, the fineness and accuracy of the graphics, the richness of details, shadows and shades, the color variety of backgrounds and blocks, should be positively emphasized; such that it is hard to believe that it is a gbc rather than a gba game.
And in fact the developer made use of the rarely used hi-color trick, which allows to display 2000 (!?!) colors at the same time on the screen.
As already mentioned, it includes 50 stages, all richly colored and with background different from each other. And the accompanying music is also brilliant, captivating, well-chosen and in line with the gameplay.
The breaking of the blocks follows, like any good Breakout clone, the rather frequent fall of classic power-ups, including magnet, enlarging paddle, multi-ball, fireball, missiles ( Mazinger punches !?), stage skip, etc, which makes it even faster to finish the already small stages.
Unfortunately there is no possibility to continue after the game over, but it should be added that it is easy to accumulate a large number of additional lives through bonuses and points.
All in all the game is very engaging in its apparent banality and, as for cherries, one play immediately calls another.
In my opinion one of the best games of the genre on gbc, on par with Dragon Dance and Cool Bricks.
Only because it is in beta stage and lacks the finishing touch, it deserves a 8, above all for the quickness of gameplay, richness of stages, love of details and nice bgms.
Thanking those who followed my ravings; I' d like to remember that, if video games are a disease, I wouldn't mind dying of it.
Verdict
What I Liked ...
- Love for details.
- Colorful backgrounds.
What I Didn't Like ...
- No menu or options.
8
out of 10
