Ballanceis a 3D puzzle game originally published by Atari in 2004, with its major releases taking place in April for Europe and October for North America in the same year. At the time it was released, it was touted to be similar to another Atari game,Marble Madness.
Ballanceopened to much love and praise, being well received on launch, and became something of a cult classic in the realm of puzzlers. In fact, it may be many people’s favorite classic 3D puzzle platformers even today.
With its upcomingreleasetoSteamandGOGcoming up on January 5th, 2024, just around the corner, let’s get right into the review.
The idea behindBallance’sgameplay is simple – you play as a ball and you solve puzzles. In the sky! There are several mechanical elements to keep in mind with the progression of each level. To name a few, there are buttons that transform the material of the ball you play into wood, rock or paper (you’ll need all of these in order to beat the game), there are levers and boards to push in order to make bridges and there are air vents that will fling you up to higher platforms. These things are easy to keep in mind in the game – at no point do you find yourself forgetting what any one thing does because the puzzling is straightforward. What changes is, essentially, the order you use those things.
The game comes withtwelve levels in total.Ballanceis not an exceedingly long game at all, and even though it has been twenty years since I last played it, I managed to get through it in about two hours without rushing. That said,Ballancepunishes you for taking it too quickly. There are not any rails on the tracks to keep you from flinging yourself into the clouds below. Most of the game can and should be taken at aslow and steady pace, using only enough speed that you need to generate force for pushing buttons or getting up hills and so forth.
That said, even though the game rewards you for taking your time, youaretimed. So, do not rush, but do not just stand still either. You control the ball with amouse and keyboard. The controls are simple. You can do everything with about six buttons, which makes it easy to remember. There are four directional movement keys, a button to swivel your camera and then a button to pan your camera way out.
It’s a shame this gamedoes not come with controller support. With the layout of the game and the overall vibe ofBallance, being able to play in controller mode would add an extra level of enjoyment and relaxing fun to this game. Hopefully, the folks at Ziggurat will add that in at some point – one can only dream.
The geometric simplicity ofBallanceisrefreshing and nostalgic. Ballance’s overall style and design isexceptionally clean. Since the game was initially released about twenty years ago, the game islow poly. You could easily run this thing on a potato, let alone a PC, so there’s nothing to worry about with regard to whether you have the specs to run it.
Ballanceis wonderfullybeautiful in its simplicity. Backdropped against golden heavens, the overall clarity and graphical fidelity is superb. A lot of older games have a sort of visual messiness or film grain to hide imperfect models, a quality I am happy to see is absent fromBallanceentirely.
The music isdynamic.Ballanceuses music to tell players what’s happening in the game. When you do something towards the overall progression of the puzzle, the game plays a little synthetic jingle. Most of the time, the music iscalm and vibe-yas you progress through the levels. The game isn’t loud about its music – you’ll go stretches of time without music in the background. This is especially true if you are the type of person to take a puzzle slowly and find all the parts before trying to solve it completely.
Aside from the music, the sound effects are straightforward. Every single surface of the game that you can smack into or interact with has a particular identifiable noise. They’re allretro, too. The sound will remind you of days spent in arcades.
Closing Comments:
Ballanceis a nostalgic game for lovers of classic 3D platformers and a nice little game to sink in to. If you’re in the market for a game that is short, sweet and you enjoy puzzle platformers, it’s an easy win. That being said, this is a re-release of a game that’s nearly a decade old. If you’re not particularly moved by nostalgia or a love for platformers, you may find itflacks any sort of long-lasting challenge. The levels are fixed and there’s no way to create custom levels or share custom levels you have made with your friends, so the surprise and wonder of the game will last as long as it takes you to clear it. That being said, it’s arguably a good contender for speed running. This re-release keepsBallancethe same as it always was. If you loved this game years ago like I did, you’ll still love it all the same after this.
