After my experience with Sparkle 2 on the PS3, I was a little weary about playing another 10tons game but I couldn’t resist especially since I picked this game up on sale. Not really knowing what to expect when it came to this game, I jumped in after watching a brief trailer. Here’s what I thought about the game.
Although this game is small and rather simple in nature, there is an actual well thought out and interesting story that goes along with this game. You’ll play as Pete Pagassi, a John McEnroe-esque type tennis player who has been disgraced. All his troubles started because of the Red Bull like drink Explodz. Pagassi vows to take down Explodz and expose them to the world.
Kudos: I really love how every 10tons game that I’ve played so far has had these really well thought out and interesting stories that you really don’t see in smaller games. You can tell that the team really works hard to put out quality work with each game and it really shows.
I only meant to play a couple of levels when I started playing this game and then 3 hours later I was half way through the game. Each level is different from the one before and will require you to study the environment in order to see how to approach it. As Pagassi you’ll launch tennis balls at your levels enemies hopefully taking them out before you run out of tennis balls. Some levels will even be changed up a bit so that you launch bottles of Explodz at your enemies instead. Each environment requires a different approach and is puzzle like in nature. If one way of hitting the ball doesn’t work then try another way. Not only are the levels different but there are also different enemies in each different area of the map. Some require you to hit them in different ways changing the way you play each level and keeping things interesting.
The playability of this game is super simple and all you really have to do is aim the ball and then launch it. There is no pressure gauge that determines how hard or how lightly you hit the ball since each hit is the same. This will require you to have a little brain power as you try to see how to bounce the ball off different objects to get the trajectory that you want and to be able to hit your opponents. I did have a little problem with the aim on this game though. Even though there’s a bar and a bulls eye that shows where the ball goes, it was still difficult to see where the ball was actually going to go. A couple of times I thought I had the ball perfectly aimed only for it to be a little bit off.
I like how the graphics for this game are completely different from Sparkle. Cartoon like in nature, the graphics are fitting and filled with details making them shine on the PS4. Just by playing you can tell that a lot of work went into each aspect of the graphics making sure they were cohesive for the game as a whole.
Another Kudos: I really like how versatile 10tons is when it comes to graphics. Their graphics aren’t just a copy and paste of their other games and each game is different depending on what is going to work for that game.
There are a total of 12 trophies for this game and they’re really super easy. While there aren’t trophies for completing the levels within the game, there are trophies for how you play. Complete certain moves, destroy a certain amount of objects, and even take down the 10tons crew in order to get these trophies. Some trophies will require you to go back and re-do some levels, but it really shouldn’t be a problem. Even though you could get the all of the trophies before you even finish playing the game, it’s definitely worth it to fully complete the game to see how the story ends.
Bonus points for no multiplayer.
Overall I give this game a 4.5 out of 5
What’s Great:
+ Well thought out and interesting story.
+ Fitting graphics that are unique to the game.
+ Simple playability and fun to figure out puzzles.
What’s Not So Great:
– At times the aim is off and the ball might not go where you want it to.
While you won’t spend days and days playing this game, you’ll at least get a good 5-10 hours of play time depending on how fast you play. While I wouldn’t pay the full $4.99 price tag that comes with the game, I would defiantly pick this one up on sale. The last sale on this game wasn’t the first time this game was on sale and I doubt it’ll be the last. If you can find it on sale I would say make sure you grab it.
1 Broke Gamer Girl 