Wizorb at its core is a block breaking game similar to Breakout and Arkanoid. The difference from these classics is how it expands on their simple formula in almost every way possible. You play as the wizard Cyrus who transforms himself into his staff to be used as your paddle. Like any true wizard you have magical powers that will help aid you on your journey. If its adventure you find yourself on you can bet there is a story too. This game tries to do a lot of things and usually manages to do so quite successfully.
Wizorb is a very vibrate and colorful game with its 16-bit inspired, retro, graphics. The different monsters, environments, pick-ups, and bricks all come together for a clean, uniform, style. While the story isn't quite a enthralling as the visuals it does help incentivize your progression. Tarot village has been ravaged my monsters and all the town folk need money to repair their homes and businesses. By playing through the different levels you'll even money you can use both to help out the citizens and buy different power-ups. The power-ups will give you a temporary boost that last until you lose a life. The different power-ups from range from paddle extensions to sticky, slow and multi balls.
The long the ball remains in play it will move faster with each hit off your paddle. At top speed its become quite difficult to keep your paddle lined up with the ball. Thankfully, you have different magic powers you can to help make life easier. As soon as the ball bounces off your paddle you can transform it into a burning ball that will pass through multiple bricks or give it wings and guide it into a certain area. While the ball is flying around you can shoot fireballs from your paddle or blow a gust of wind to change the direction of your ball. These all drain your magic bar which can be replenished with potions. Also, if you go so long without hitting anything your ball will start to glow and the next time you hit it you'll receive some magic.
There are five different areas you must fight through to save the kingdom. Each area has a unique theme, a set number of stages, and a boss battle. Each level becomes progressively harder with bricks and enemies becoming tougher and harder to hit. Look for rooms that provide bonuses and shops. Watch out as any purple objects that falls onto your paddle with have a negative effect and could even kill you. Replay levels for coins, score, and bonus stages used to free four sages who when reunited grant access to a special power.
Wizorb is a beautiful indie game with some really unique mechanics. The sense of progression of the difficulty feels spot on. Only in the last area does the game really start to almost too difficult. There are times too where it feels the paddle isn't quite as responsive as it needs to be which can be frustrating when the ball gets up to top speed. These aspects do make this game feel a little bit harder than it needed to be however Wizorb is still easy to recommend. The magic abilities are a blast and there is a wonderful sense of adventure. This is arcade style game is wonderfully crafted and thoroughly enjoyable.