Ballance Resurrection is a fun, challenging, wonderfully drawn-up puzzle game for Windows Phone 8. The game is a Marble Madness styled game where you have to navigate a ball through a series of platforms, rails, and other obstacles.
The gaming platform is set high in the clouds and one wrong move will send your ball plummeting to its demise. Ballance Resurrection is a multi-level puzzle game with a bit of an arcade feel about it. The game requires a gentle touch, steady hand and a good bit of patience. In playing Ballance Resurrection for a short time, it comes across as an entertaining option for your Windows Phone.
Ballance Resurrection Layout
The layout for Ballance Resurrection is simple with the main menu offering options to jump into game play, access the settings menu and exit the game. You also have links to the developer's website and Facebook page that rests in the lower left corner of the main menu.
Game settings cover language choice, music on/off, graphic level, and control options. Ballance Resurrection offers two control options. You can use your Windows Phone motion sensors or touch controls. The motion controls offer you a better 'feel' for the game but you may not like twisting/turning your Windows Phone all over the place.
Game play is scattered across twelve levels. While that may sound like a small number of levels, each level has multiple stages and are not short lived.
While game play is somewhat straightforward, Ballance Resurrection lacks a help section. You do have a graphic that does appear as the game loads but a reference section on what each of the ball types are or what the glowing dots represent could come in handy.
Game Play
Ballance Resurrection's gaming screen is filled with the twist and turns of the maze you are tasked to negotiate. In the upper left corner of the game screen is a menu button that essentially serves as a pause button. Across the bottom of the screen are two displays for the number of orbs you collect and your number of lives (you have five).
Ball movement is done by either using the Windows Phone motion sensors or an on-screen directional pad. Additionally, you have two orientation arrows sitting in the lower left side of the screen that will rotate your view. The goal is to guide your ball through the maze to the finish line. If your ball falls off the maze, you lose a life.
Each level has stages or checkpoints and when you lose a life, you will be sent back to the last checkpoint you have passed through.
The game has three ball styles (wood, stone and paper) with each having unique characteristics. You will run across changing platforms that will convert your ball from one style to the other. This adds an element of strategy to the game in that you'll run across situations where one style of ball is better suited than the other. For example, if you need to break through a barricade the stone ball comes in handy. Just keep in mind that you will need to change back to a lighter ball to go up inclines.
Along your journey, several glowing orbs are scattered throughout the maze. As you collect these orbs, you will earn points that go towards your final grade on the level. Without a help section, I'm not certain if these orbs do anything else.
While it takes a steady hand and patience to complete a level, luckily there is no time limit. You can take your time navigating through all the ramps, rails, twists and turns of the level.
Overall Impression
The more I played Ballance Resurrection the more I enjoyed it. However, the game can be a little on the frustrating side. I would like to say the game starts out slow to allow you time to get used to game play but that isn't the case with Ballance Resurrection. The first level is plenty challenging and the complexity of the puzzles only increases as you advance through the twelve levels of play.
And I don't necessarily think this is a bad thing but will require a little patience on the players end. I can see some getting frustrated with Ballance Resurrection right out of the gate and putting the game aside. While it may take a few tries to get the feel for the game's controls, just keep in mind that you control the pace of the game. I will have to admit that it's easy to get in a rush and try to race your ball through the mazes but that usually ends one way, your ball taking a nose dive.
Graphic are really nice, the physic engine is spot on and the mazes are complex and challenging. My only nit with the game is the lack of a help section to help explain some of the unknowns. Otherwise, Ballance Resurrection is a fun (sometimes nerve racking) game for Windows Phone 8. The music may put you to sleep but game play will keep you on your toes.
- Ballance Resurrection - Windows Phone 8 - Free - Store Link
