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Game Title: Metroid Prime Blast Ball
Platform: Nintendo 3DS
Developer: Next Level Games
Publisher: Nintendo
Genre: First Person Shooter/Sport
Age Rating: PEGI: 7+
Release Date: 21st July 2016 (Worldwide)
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Game Score: 5.0/10
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Summery:
Blast Ball is a decent competitive multiplayer game that just isn't well executed.
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When I first heard and saw a video trailer showing a new Metroid Prime game called Federation Force where to be honest I was really looking forward to it till I noticed that the game was going to be a 4 player cooperative shooter which to me felt like a decent idea for a spinoff Metroid game. For everyone else though it has to be on record as one of the games that nobody ever wanted when it was shown in E3 2015, I even noticed the amount of dislikes that the videos had and one page on the internet even had a petition for Nintendo to cancel the game which got 20,000 signatures which was just shocking. Now it has been at least 6 years since the last game in the series to come out which was Metroid Other M on the Wii which to me wasn't really a bad game by any means so for Metroid to make a return with a spinoff game isn't really a bad idea considering the direction of what the developers are trying to do with it. Till that game comes out soon instead I will talk about Metroid Prime Blast Ball a competitive multiplayer focused game which is downloadable for free on the EShop which it's gameplay concepts look fine on paper but executed well as maybe people like myself would have hoped for.
The game plays something like a futuristic version of football with inspirations taken from another game called Rocket League. It's a 3 on 3 team based versus game where players control mechs to get the ball into the opposing team's goal to score a point, if one team manages to score all 3 points ends the game with them being the winners. You do this by shooting the ball to make it bounce either with normal shots or with a charged up blast which is supposed to knock the ball back further. The effect is better when you got 3 people on one team shooting the ball together as it's easier to try and coordinate with your allies to make goals easier, well on paper anyway. The game can be played online or offline either with friends or with AI controlled bots which you think would provide less challenge then playing against actual players but surprisingly they do. They are sharp and can easily knock the ball over the place as well as gaining goals easily if you are not careful. You can play defensibly and fire a charged shot to block the ball to prevent the opposite team from getting a goal or provide support by firing small shots while your other members guide the ball to the opposing team's goal. You can also knock the ball into other players which can easily kill them if they get caught by it's destructive impact but you can also shoot other enemy players if you so desire. I also notice that shooting regular shots causes the gun to shoot weaker bullets you have to let it charge up to be able to shoot again. They did this obviously to prevent players from winning just by rapidly mashing the A button which does make sense and also because the mechs firepower does not compare to the power of Samus' arm cannon. Oh yeah did I forget to mention that you don't play as Samus in this game? That's right you don't get to play as her in this game instead you control a member of the Federation Force Marine who pilots a combat mech who takes up the fight against the space pirates. I'm sure that's one of the things that will turn off most fans.
You can also get power ups dropped from the ball like one which boosts your speed and faster recharge times, one which gives you a shield which protects you from damage but these happen for a short time. The last item you can get ejects the opposing team pilots from the mech which can be used to the other team's advantage. If that happens you then you have to make to the mech you were on which can waste precious seconds cause that can allow the other team to shoot the ball down to your goal.
The base gameplay isn't bad just that it's held back by several issues. First of which is the controls which works like the Gamecube originals. The circle pad moves and turns your character while A shoots, B jumps, Y uses a power up which I will get back too. The L button uses the lock on system allowing you to target the ball while the R button activates the free look mode where you can use the Gyro controls to look around while using the Circle pad to move and strafe around. Having both L and R buttons held down activates an aiming mode where while locked on uses the Gyro sensor to move the crosshair around which just fells clunky. Sadly there is no option for the touch screen stylus controls like in the 2006 game Metroid Prime Hunters but there is an option for the New Nintendo 3DS models to use the other Analog stick or the Circle Pad Pro for the older models. This gives out a different control scheme but I cannot comment on that since I don't have the accessory.
Overall I just don't think the controls are really all that good because it just fells clunky and unnatural, sure players won't mind it if they played the Gamecube originals but compare that to other DS shooters like the aforementioned Prime Hunters it just doesn't fell comfortable. This is because that game dropped the lock on system and focused on the stylus touch screen controls combined with movement and strafing on the D-Pad which offered mouse like aiming and turning where as now with Blast Ball you get classic style turning controls which just feels awkward. I just don't get why people think it's better not to include stylus touch controls for aiming and turning cause 3DS shooters like Ironfall Invasion and Dementium Remastered are the only games to do that right. That means you have to relay on the lock on mechanic to be able to target and keep an eye on the ball at all times while also brings my complaints to it.
The lock on only stays focused on the ball which means you can't lock onto enemy players so if you are focused on shooting the ball other players will take the opportunity to damage you with their shots which can be annoying. If you ever wish to fight back you would either use the L and R strategy to make your shots count against enemies that want to shoot you but that is clunky to do on top of using the Gyro controls alone.
On top of that the ball physics are all over the place, shooting the ball with a charged shot makes it fly several metres in different directions while shooting the ball with small shots from all sides makes it skip past the goal spot easily. Sometimes its actually possible to overpower the force of a charge shot with at least one guy because it's frantically easy to just spray several shots to easily counter. Are you saying that a charged shot as about as much effect on the ball as just rapidly firing regular shots at it? Even when you get the thing near the goal you can expect teammates to make easy mistakes of overshooting it to make it slip away or when your teammates stupidly get the ball into your own goal. Sometimes you can try and prevent the ball from enter your goal by shooting behind it when it's very close only for it to somehow make it's way into the goal. Its things like that can make scoring a pain at times and trying to goal later on in the match becomes harder because the goal puts a part of the wall to make getting the next goal more tricky then needed. There is no AI difficulty option or any options to give the bots commands to either hold back and defend although there is a communication option which you press buttons on the D-Pad to say quotes and you can only have 4 at a time.
Playing online doesn't seem to fare much better, mainly because of the lag which causes delay between either shooting the ball, getting healed up which is done by picking up a health capsule on your side by the way. This means you might end up taking damage from the ball when you just know that you just shot it upclose.
All these gameplay problems hold it back from being really enjoyable but at least when you do win you get ranked based on your performance, the more you keep winning the more points you get but losing reduces your points. You can also unlock paint jobs by either fulfilling certain requirements or by using your amiibos. There is also a challenge mode which puts you against AI bots which do increase in difficulty as you progress in each round. This mode is okay I guess but plays just the same as the regular mode.
The game also has a tutorial mode for the Blast Ball game itself which provides helpful tips on playing the game but there is a lengthy playable tutorial stage for the Federation Force game itself. The tutorial itself is good but it is when you get to notice how problematic the lock on system is. There were times I press the lock button and it wouldn't lock on to the enemy target even when my crosshair was on an enemy target, I have no idea why that even happens but what if you were in the heat of the action and that problem occurs. You can end up taking damage unfairly that way because of that. After hours of playing it you might get a hung of the controls and also get used to the physics but I honestly express on how it plays in my hands and how astonishing on how insane the ball physics are. The controls worked fine for the Gamecube versions back in the day but for these to appear for a 2016 3DS game when Metroid Prime Hunters for the DS showcased excellent FPS controls for the original DS platform is just ludicrous.
Visually Metroid Prime Blast Ball doesn't look all at bad considering the chibi style character design that they were going for and the details on the environment like particle and explosion effects are really nice. The models are animated believably especially the ingame visor which actually sparkles and shuts down when you die which is actually pretty cool. The frame rate runs at 30 fps the entire time but does get choppy when there's so many explosions going on at once or when using the boost power up. The sound effects and music are actually pretty good as well.
Overall I think that Metroid Prime Blast Ball isn't really a bad game it's just a not a well executed game if that makes sense. The idea is solid considering that they want a Metroid Prime spin off game which focuses on the Galactic Federation's battle against the space pirates and there's nothing wrong with that if it is done well. In this game's case its a good idea ruined by the awkward controls, lag in the online mode and the ball physics. For the flaws it has you can't fault that the game is free to download and it provides at least enough gameplay to get you ready for the real game that is coming out soon this year. I have plans to take a look at Metroid Prime Federation Force hopefully prove to fans that it's not an absolute waste that everyone seems to make it out to be. I do see potential in this game because there is something about it that still makes me want to come back to this game, like I do not know why I enjoy this game regardless of it's flaws. Maybe it's because it has that one more game feeling and it's one of those games that keeps track of the records as you play each game. If the game ironed out the issues, changed the controls to be like Prime Hunters and maybe sort out the physics a little then I think this would be an enjoyable little time waster. At least this is a free to download game that does not cost a thing for what is available in the game.
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The Good Points:
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1. Frantic 3 on 3 competitive multiplayer fun
2. Decent looking chibi character design
3. It's free to download
The Bad Points:
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1. Very awkward controls
2. Online play suffers with lag
3. Crazy ball physics
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Reviewed by: Anthony Hayball (AQWBlaZer91)
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