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REVIEW
Madballs in… Babo: Invasion

If you’re in your late 20s or early 30s, you may remember Madballs, the line of toys from the ’80s that were essentially gross faces made out of dense foam, not unlike NERF products. There’s something about the young male demographic that gives them a disposition towards attempting to gross people out, and I’m not sure what it is. What I do know, however, is that I was not immune to this. Upon seeing the commercial for Madballs the first time, I immediately had to have them.

The toys will always remind me of the fall, and through association Halloween, because it was around this time of year I finally got around to getting Madballs. I went with a cousin and his grandfather to a K-Mart in St. Catharines, Ontario, with a crisp $10 bill and bought the two that were most compelling to me at the time. I had some change from this purchase and I put that towards cola-flavoured bubble gum (and speaking of which, that needs to come back).

I’m not sure whatever happened to my Madballs toys of Oculus Orbus and Horn Head, and I was pretty sure my love for Madballs had all but died when I stopped thinking it was funny to fling earthworms at girls. But when I decided to check out Madballs in… Babo: Invasion via Steam for PC, a nostalgic feeling came over me. After all, the game’s opening scene has Oculus and Horn Head in it.

Turns out, Oculus is a good guy and Horn Head is evil, and in the opening sequence Oculus is attacked by Horn Head while traveling through space. He then ends up crashing on the jungle moon Feralon, where he joins a group called the B*D*I to fulfill his unspoken destiny. Here the game makes a wisecrack that Oculus has no mouth, therefore cannot speak and thus his destiny is obviously unspoken. The joke’s somewhat funny at first, but Oculus actually talks – a lot – during the course of the game. In fact, he won’t shut up and repeats his same few phrases all the time.

The story mode of the game is a solid experience as well as a good way to become accustomed to the controls before taking the fight online. But it’s even more fun if you get some buddies to join in for some co-operative play. The game controls are quite different from most frag-heavy online shooters. First off, the game is played in third-person view. More than that, though, is the fact that because you are a ball, your movements are restricted to rolling around. Momentum and inertia come into play, and a lot of the stages have portions where delicate maneuverability is required.

At times I was reminded of Sega’s Monkey Ball franchise, but with big guns. On this note, the kickback from weapons plays into the controls, making things a little trickier. Expect to roll off plenty of ledges before you get the hang of things. Thankfully in many cases you can just take a detour and find a ramp to get back to where you need to go, with the only downside being the fact that you waste time doing so.

Throughout the stages are various upgrades, and these include different weapons. I found that the weapon drop locations tended to coincide with stage areas where certain weapons are required. So finding the Shotty, for instance, usually meant I’d get to soon use it. The levels have a good amount of play variety within them, including labyrinth-like areas, obstacle course areas, death traps, enemy spawn points, and recharge/resting areas.

There are also a decent number of enemy types, each with their own attack characteristics and personalities. They’re not too challenging to take out on their own, but in large numbers and in tricky map areas things can get hairy. Enemies tend to drop score multipliers when defeated, encouraging a sense of competitive spirit while playing, even in single-player mode.

In addition to the story mode, the game has an online multiplayer mode featuring Team Skirmish play for up to 16 players along with modes such as Capture the Flag and Avatar Attack. With all this, Madballs in… Babo: Invasion definitely provides bang for the buck. It’s also surprisingly polished for a budget title. In 1985, you would have gotten maybe three Madballs, tops, for $10. Now, thanks to Steam and Xbox Live Arcade (where it is 800 Microsoft Points), you can pick up the game for that much. Sadly you won’t be able to get any cola-flavoured gum with your change.

If you were ever a fan of Madballs or if you’re just a fan of action-packed frenetic shooters, you should check out Madballs in… Babo: Invasion. Being a fan of the toys might bring you in, but being a fan of good, challenging games will keep you playing.

Posted in PC, Reviews, Xbox 360 |