The gameplay in Hyperballoid HD is extremely simple and harks quite far back to the old school arcade games and titles we played on our old Amiga setups and Macintoshes. Essentially a brick-breaker game, the point is to, well, destroy bricks and other random objects that pop up on the screen. You do this with a ball that is launched off the platform you control, and the point is to bounce it back up when it comes down from hitting the bricks and other objects. Letting the ball go through the barrier under your platform results in a life loss. That’s the core mechanics of the gameplay, and it’s extremely easy to get into and become fairly hooked.
Ball split power ups make things go crazy.
There are some twists to the simple mechanics however. Levels aren’t simple static designs with bricks waiting to be smashed. Many levels move and rotate in artfully crafted patterns, which makes timing and precision fairly tricky. This and you also have several power-ups that fall out of certain bricks, and catching them with your platform gives you one of many different abilities. A few examples include a power up which turns your ball into a fireball causing splash damage when hitting bricks, a droid power up which clones your platform and automatically bounces the ball for you, and a sticky power up which makes the ball ‘stick’ to your platform, allowing you to aim and time things a little more precisely. There are several more power ups which all have quite different uses, and there are even some which cause a negative effect, such as making the ball extremely unpredictable and wobbly. These power ups enhance the core mechanics and make things a little more frenetic at points, but also a lot more addictive. There’s also around 100 levels to go through, half being part of a space theme, and the other ancient. Each level has a different aesthetic and design layout to it, so you never really run into any repetition throughout the game.
I'm on a boat!
On a technical note, we can’t say much for Hyperballoid HD. It runs at native 1080p with mostly 2D visuals, and it’s not going to wow anyone upon first look. That being said, it’s very elegantly designed, where everything is easy on the eyes and easy to get into, which is certainly something you’d want in a game like this. Backgrounds are quite varied as well so you’ll always have something easy to look at. Aurally the game uses minimal amounts of sound effects, but what’s there is effective enough. Music has a techno-based feel which suits the nature of the gameplay, and thankfully they’ve also added the option of custom soundtracks, so if you’re not a fan of the in-game music you can just put your own. It’s overall a clean looking game with minimalist design.
For the price that Hyperballoid HD is being offered for, casual gamers can’t really go wrong with the game. There’s plenty of levels to go through, the game is aesthetically pleasing and the gameplay is fairly addictive and dynamic, so for its asking price of $6.95 AUD it’s definitely a steal. The more hardcore of gamers will likely grow tired of Hyperballoid HD and look for something with more meat on the bone, but casual gamers can rejoice as the game hooks you quite easily, and the entire family can get into it without issue. Recommended.
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