Game Reviews

Little Metal Ball

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| Little Metal Ball
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Little Metal Ball
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| Little Metal Ball

I’ve used the example of those little tilty ball games you find in crackers on several occasions now.

It’s a good way to make a negative point about a game that’s instant-but-throwaway fun.

Little Metal Ball has prompted me to drag out the comparison again, but this time it’s in an altogether more literal – not to mention positive – context.

On a roll

Little Metal Ball replicates the mechanics of such plastic games expertly (with an explicit nod in the fourth world), tasking you with guiding the titular ball through fifty twisty levels. Using your handset’s accelerometer, the game even asks you to control the ball’s path in the same way (also using a slightly sticky jump command).

Crucially, the developer has executed the ball physics just about perfectly. It rolls about convincingly enough to give you that precarious on-the-brink feeling, without being so twitchy as to be unplayable.

Ball physics are not enough to make a game, though. Fortunately, Little Metal Ball transcends the inherent limits of such a format in a number of ways.

For one thing there are time limits to meet and optional stars to collect (each of which adds to your time), as well as varied obstacles to overcome. At the end of each level you’re awarded a bronze, silver, or gold medal according to your completion time, which adds replay value.

Caught in a maze

The developer’s biggest gamble, though, is in making the levels sprawling, elaborate affairs that can take a number of minutes to complete. While this undoubtedly imbues the game with more depth than the plastic games it’s based on, some of the more elaborate levels can feel a little too punishingly convoluted for their own good.

While it’s a case of 'too much' in some respects, there’s “not enough” elsewhere. Given the high-score one-upmanship such a game promotes, it’s a little mystifying to see that online leader boards have been omitted altogether.

While we’re picking on problems, the game’s visuals don’t hold up particularly well on devices with larger, sharper screens. I tested the game on a Samsung Galaxy S and a Motorola Milestone, and in both cases the game looked noticeably low-res.

Regardless of these issues (and hopefully an HD version will appear to remedy the latter) Little Metal Ball is a fun and surprisingly involved experience that shows just how far even the simplest of game mechanics can be stretched.

Little Metal Ball

A fine ball-rolling maze game with excellent ball physics, Little Metal Ball is held back by a slight over-reliance on sprawling level-design and graphics that don’t sit well on decent screens
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Jon Mundy
Jon Mundy
Jon is a consummate expert in adventure, action, and sports games. Which is just as well, as in real life he's timid, lazy, and unfit. It's amazing how these things even themselves out.