Inca Ball follows in the footsteps of the ball-shooter genre pioneered by Luxor, with trains of colored spheres rushing down twisty tracks while you try to shoot the right colors to create matched sets of 3 or more balls. It’s a tried and true formula that Sahmon Games doesn’t deviate far from. What sets this game apart is its own mix of design elements and gameplay tweaks.

The multiple waves of balls come at you at varying speeds – sometimes fast, sometimes slowing down for a new wave – along tracks that resemble grooves cut in stone temples, sometimes passing through tunnels and crossing their own tracks for variety’s sake. The Incan temple motifs come complete with vines and jungle foliage, and even a skull motif at track’s end.

Every shooter game needs an arsenal of power-ups and bonuses, and Inca Ball doesn’t let us down. In addition to keeping track of your points scored, the game also totals up “cash” earned during each level, which can be used between levels to buy power-ups and extra lives in a shopping screen. With the obvious exception of the extra lives, you access the power-ups by clicking on slots at the bottom of the screen, then shooting the power-up to cause various effects like blowing up an entire chain of balls, or firing a bolt of lightning or unleashing a destructive rain of balls from the top of the screen. The visual effects are impressive and appropriate for an action game like this one.

There’s really not that much of a challenge for a seasoned gamer here, and even beginners will find it easy to blow away entire sequences of balls without breaking a sweat. If anything, the game is too lenient when it comes to difficulty, and we managed to play through the entire review without losing a single life in the game. Also, we did notice a “missing ball” bug which occurred right after a power-up – fortunately it didn’t last long and we were back to our usual gameplay in seconds.

Graphics:
Gameplay:
Story:
Sound:
Overall Rating:

(3 votes, average: 3.33 out of 5)

 Loading ...