App Review: Ballz
May 3, 2017
Ballz is a modern game app reminiscent of the classic Brick Breaker, where the purpose to destroy blocks remains at its core. In this app the user aims balls with the goal to destroy cubes, by carefully calculating angles, that are numbered with the amount of hits it takes to destroy them . Every time the balls are done firing, the bounce back to the ground and all of the blocks shift down, beginning to encroach on the bottom of the screen. You lose the game when one of the blocks isn’t destroyed and touches the bottom of the screen. After every level the blocks either increase by one or double and you are given the chance to gain another ball.
Listening to this, many people are reminded of the original version of this game called “BB TAN” by game company 111%. Both games are essentially the same except in Ballz the user can only unlock ball colors by collecting different balls and don’t have special power ups like BB Tan does. Both game apps can be downloaded for free but are ad filled with options to purchase ad blocks. We asked Norwegian high school visitor Lucas Bori what he thought of the new game after playing it for a few minutes, to which he responded by saying “Nice game, it is very cool.” When asked about whether he knew about BB Tan, he said he and his friends had played it before and we asked him to compare the two, “Ballz you can go quicker” although he commented that BB Tan was more popular in Europe. We also asked American counterpart Anthony Tuman ‘17, what he thought “Yeah, I like the game, I’ll play it on the train while I’m bored and listening to music but it’s, ugh, pretty good I’d say.”
Overall the app is great to play if you are waiting for a few minutes at a bus stop or in the waiting area at the doctors. Hardly a captivating game, it satisfies one’s mild boredom when there is little else to do in admirable fashion. My rating 4/5, rating on Google Play 4/5, App Store 4.5/5.