Game: Madballs in: Babo Invasion
Publisher: Playbrains
Platform: Xbox Live Arcade
Price: 800 MS Points
Pros: MULTIPLAYER! Avatar & Invasion modes
Cons: single player campaign a bit short, some graphic stuttering
Does anyone else remember Madballs? Is it just me and my strange British ways that Madballs mostly passed me by? I have a vague recollection of the plastic, squishy balls with hideous faces on them, but ultimately, they had no purpose. You couldn’t really bounce them because of their shape (there would always be an eye sticking out somewhere meaning it didn’t bounce properly), but then what do you do with a ball that isn’t a ball? I guess that’s why Madballs became a little forgettable in the end.
Here’s another one: ever heard of Baboviolent 2? Ahh, a few nods and general murmurs from the crowd. I will admit I had never heard of it until doing some research on why this game was called Babo Invasion but having played this sequel, I think I missed something a little special in BaboViolent 2. Due to these two factors, many people will not even take a glance at Madballs in Babo: Invasion. That’s a shame, as it’s actually a very enjoyable game — one of the most enjoyable I’ve played on Xbox Live Arcade in recent months.
Madballs is very simple to learn, without being too easy to master. Simply put, you play a Madball which is, basically, a ball with a face. And of course you have a really big gun; otherwise it’d be a pretty dull game. In the single player campaign, there is a mostly forgettable story, but who cares about the story when there’s shooting to be done! The campaign is a little short at ten missions long (although there are two factions to choose from, doubling the missions to 20-sort of) but it’s very enjoyable. Moving about was very reminiscent of Marble Madness and Gauntlet, with a dash of one of my favourite Playstation 1 titles: Future Cop LAPD.
In Madballs, you must run round each level shooting at mostly everything that moves with a wide array of weapons. In later levels, there are also a few puzzles to solve, typically of the ‘pressing down on the correct switch’ variety, which seems appropriate for a game of this type. There are ten different weapons to unlock in all, each weapon being more effective against certain enemy types in a ‘Rock, Paper, Scissors’ style fashion. The further you progress in the game, the more weapons become available to you. Different characters also open up, making returning to previous levels a more interesting affair. Each different character type has different strengths and weaknesses, just like the enemies you face. These factors tend to dictate which weapons you can use. For example, you might choose a more accurate but weaker gun for some enemies, or a shotgun0style weapon that shoots wide but is less accurate for other enemy types. So again, while the single player campaign is a little on the short side, you can return to levels in single player in the Level Attack mode where it’s all about gaining the most points, and you can play the campaign in up to 4 player co-operative mode. So there is plenty to do on the Campaign side of things.
Just looking at the single player, Madballs in Babo: Invasion (which is admittedly a bit of a muddily long title to type) is certainly well worth 800 points. But that’s before the multiplayer has even been mentioned, and boy is that comprehensive! First of all, how many arcade or even retail titles can you name with 21 maps available to play in multiplayer? Not many, in my experience. Madballs also provides 5 different multiplayer types which isn’t a bad thing at all. There are the typical multiplayer modes such as Skirmish and Team Skirmish, which are Deathmatch types, then there’s Capture the Flag, again very typical, but the remaining two modes are rather special.
First of all there is Avatar mode, making my list for one of the more surreal gaming experiences I’ve had in recent years. Instead of being one of the Madballs, you are yourself. Taking the face image of your Xbox 360 Avatar, you and your opponents are Avatar faces. To be a bit kinder on the violence side of things, instead of shedding blood, you shed confetti, a small concession but probably a quite sensible one to avoid any censorial wrath. Other than the head thing, it’s a regular deathmatch but it really is something you have to see to believe. I actually preferred it to regular Skirmish because it was so unique. There was also a nice extra touch that the higher your kill streak, the bigger your head becomes, making you a bigger target. The Skirmish modes were extremely frantic at times but in a good way. They reminded me of my days playing Quake 3 where for the most part, I ran about like a headless chicken dying far too often but loving every second of it.
Finally, there is the best multiplayer mode of them all: Invasion. Annoyingly, this mode seems to be the less popular one, based on my attempts to find a game in the mode. It’s the same sort of multiplayer game as Capture the Flag, wiht a twist. The crucial difference is that you, the player, create the map that you will fight it out on. Each player on both sides lays down square pieces of the map before the game begins, culminating in choosing positions for bases and power nodes. This makes every game of Invasion unique which is a fantastic feature and one that I would love to see implemented in more games that focus heavily on multiplayer. It was just a terrible shame that there didn’t seem to be many games available when looking for one, although it didn’t seem difficult to attract players once I’d hosted a game so there’s obviously a taste for it.
Overall Madballs in Babo Invasion is a fantastic, well-rounded arcade game. It’s not quite perfect, which a few graphical stuttering issues and the short campaign demonstrate. But for 800 points you really can’t complain. It even feels very different to anything else I’ve played on the Xbox Live Arcade. There are already rumours that DLC is to come and I for one can’t wait to see what Playbrains manage to produce next. Madballs truly deserves to be a great sleeper hit and for people to buy it, just for the multiplayer if nothing else. It makes for a great change from the many other multiplayer offerings on the Xbox 360. I implore you to go and at least try out the demo right this second. Go on, go! What are you waiting for? There are ball shaped things in need of shooting!
