Switchball Review

By Mike Bowden Published 18 November, 2007

It's got balls, innit.

Version tested: Xbox 360

Nothing divides Xbox 360 owners as much as Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade service. Constantly derided for its lack of original output and for lazy ports of old arcade games that no-one liked that much when they were released five hundred years ago. And last, but not least, the fact that many of these titles are available for free on the PC.

Well, luckily enough, Switchball falls into exactly none of the above categories. It's original, it certainly isn't lazy (for the most part) and, although available on the PC, the price is pretty much the same on both formats. So there.

The premise is a simple one: navigate your way across the various maps, guiding your marble with the right stick. The execution, on the other hand, is interesting, challenging and very rewarding. The puzzles are well thought-out and certain parts had me stumped completely. The amount of thought poured into this game is breathtaking at times - 'innovative' simply doesn't cut it, in fact no superlative does. Suffice to say Switchball contains some of the most ingenious level design I have come across.

'Switchball' Screenshot fan

'Fan' meet 'Airball'. 'Airball' meet 'restart at the previous checkpoint'.

You can morph the marble into various other types of balls all with different properties designed to help you progress past the numerous entrapments that Swedish developer, Atomic Elbow, has laid in your path. For example, there's the Metalball which is useful for moving heavy blocks around, an Airball, which, when pumped with a healthy dose of helium, gives you the ability to float short distances - and, being very light, is handy for traversing weight sensitive ledges and see-saws. The Airball however, is utterly useless for moving objects, while the Metalball is far too heavy to climb steep slopes. After a few minutes of play, it becomes apparent that all the balls in the game have their strengths and weaknesses, and it is up to you to work these out and utilise them accordingly.

The single player game has five beautifully rendered worlds containing six levels of increasing difficulty. Complete all six levels, and you move onto the next world. The first two zones act as an introductory walkthrough to the main event, which is from the third level onwards. It is here the game becomes controller-breakingly difficult, as not only do the puzzles seem impossible to crack, the amount of hazards the game throws at you double. Just staying on the designated walkway becomes a challenge in itself.

'Switchball' Screenshot guilty

343 Guilty Spark makes a cameo appearance.

However sleek the graphical presentation is, what really can't escape the eye is the amount of tearing - this is where the aforementioned laziness comes in. In a game that heavily relies on atmosphere by way of a melodic soundtrack and soft, dreamy colours, the v-sync tearing takes you right out of the experience and I'm baffled how it was allowed to get through testing. Make sure you download the demo first and see for yourselves.

Switchball's multiplayer offerings, meanwhile, add some more life to this title and offer a welcome break from the difficult single player campaign. There are four specifically designed co-op levels whose puzzles are only solvable by working together, and are a perfect demonstration of how to utilise Microsoft's Live service, as talking to one another and plotting your route are paramount. There's also a race option which pits you against up to eight players on four maps and much hilarity ensues as it becomes more about knocking your opponents off the course then it does about winning.

The Achievements are reasonably well spread about but many of them are concentrated around completing the levels as quickly as possible. This goes somewhat against the grain of the gameplay in my opinion. To me, Switchball is that lazy afternoon game akin to the Sunday Times crossword - not something to race around at break neck speed. Marble Blast Ultra, Switchball's nearest comparison, was much more geared toward this sort of gameplay, as many of the levels were built around flow and gradual acceleration. The Achievements do however add more life to the game and the completists among you will no doubt glean many more hours out of the game trying for those elusive gold medals on each map.

Xbox Live Arcade, no matter what side of the fence you sit on, is certainly a better place with a game like Switchball in it. At 800 Microsoft Points which equates to a couple of Big Mac meals and a side of chilli cheese tops, it definitely offers the kind of quality that some say is lacking at the moment at a more than reasonable price. However, do be warned that the game gets insanely difficult half way through and although the multiplayer modes are fun, it's fleeting. Although Switchball ticks all the right boxes in terms of things we like to see from an XBLA title, it won't be the unifier that it so easily could have been.

7 / 10

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About Mike Bowden

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Comments (31) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Frosty840 #1 4 years ago

    Can someone please explain to me why every new ripoff of Ballance is treated as a wholly original and novel concept?
    This, is, what, the third time someone has pretty much just copied Ballance in its entirety and once again it's getting reviewed as a completely original concept?
    Hell, I'm half-certain that Ballance ripped something else off anyway (I don't mean Marble Madness, although, y'know...).

    Bah to you! BAH!

  • menage #2 4 years ago

    The tearing did screw this up for me. Although I was never that interested to begin with. Does look very nice in places.

  • morriss #3 4 years ago

    It's an original XBLA game. Not an original game in the broader context of the gaming world at large.

  • zooms #4 4 years ago

    tearing is evident, but not something that would put me off.

  • Tiel #5 4 years ago

    I thought this was ballance, it is so similair.
    And the tearing makes it a no show for me...it is that bad.

  • myoptika #6 4 years ago

    I must be the only person who hasn't noticed the tearing then. I am still on SD, though.

  • Xerx3s #7 4 years ago

    myoptika: Second that. People often claim about tearing while I have no tearing problems on me SD screen. SD > HD. \0/

  • jamespo #8 4 years ago

    looking at the videos on youtube this does rip off ballance A LOT

  • Burkey #9 4 years ago

    Fix the tearing and I'm sold on this one. Just can't play it with it present :(

  • barnard666 #10 4 years ago

    there is a bug in one of the levels in the last world that stops the checkpoints working...other than that its great...not as good as marbleblast though

  • Artemis_Matsas #11 4 years ago

    Sorry, a little off topic:
    I live in Greece and there is a sale in Careffur Markets for the 360 Premium bundled with Tombraider legends and Perfect Dark for 199 Euro. Unfortunately it's not the HDMI model. Does it worth it, or should i go for the HDMI model (whish costs about 350 Euro)?

    Thanks and sorry again for being out of topic ;)

  • Refrenz #12 4 years ago

    Tearing? I've been playing using a VGA cable at 1360x768 on my LCD TV and can't say I've been put off by any tearing. Maybe I've been too absorbed in the gameplay to notice.

  • Arcadiian #13 4 years ago

    I absolutely hated this game. I've been playing Marble Blast Ultra for too long, this just felt incredibly slow and mundane. The tearing really is awful too, there's no excuse for it.

  • Psychotext #14 4 years ago

    Thought the game was good fun, but there's no way I'd buy it until they've released a patch for the tearing (which was extreme on my CRT).

  • Darren #15 4 years ago

    Yep, the tearing is awful and very offputting. I refuse to buy the game for this reason although it is one of the better XBLA games of late I'll admit. That such a visually simplistic game should have tearing is shocking: is the Xbox 360 really that underpowererd? Or was it coded by Traveller's Tales by any chance (the new LEGO Star Wars games has shit loads of distracting tearing in it too)?

  • Waldo #16 4 years ago

    Damn. I wanted to score some cool points by mentioning Ballance first, but someone beat me to it. :(

    The demo for Switchball was good, though. If you've never played Ballance. ;)

  • Lukus #17 4 years ago

    I can honestly say this is the worst review I have ever read.

    ;) just in case.
    Edited by 1 at 18/11/07 @ 17:30

  • jynxce #18 4 years ago

    Lazy. I wonderwhat you would consider the VC ports on Wii if the nostalgic factor didn't weigh in as heavily as it does. Give XBLA some credit at least w/supporting online play and leadership board options to the devs regardless of your outright distastes for the service...

  • morriss #19 4 years ago

    I really like the service. I don't know what you mean, tbh?

  • JonFE #20 4 years ago

    Artemi ORMA :)

  • BBIAJ #21 4 years ago

    Erm, you control the the ball with the left stick, actually!

    The right stick controls the camera FYI.

  • morriss #22 4 years ago

    I hold my controller upside down when I play...

    /coat
    Edited by 1 at 18/11/07 @ 21:05

  • Artemis_Matsas #23 4 years ago

    @JonFE

    Ooops! Thanks! (Geia sou Patrioti - Sorry for the Greek)

  • Mr_Dodger #24 4 years ago

    No tearing here either.

    I keep seeing tearing complaints on games where I don't see it. I really think it's got a lot to do with the individual tv.

  • JonFE #25 4 years ago

    Artemi, Geia soy kai sena (sorry folks, had to :)

    I don't know what interest you may find in the x360, but less than 200€ for a premium plus two games is a steal (as long as it is actually a premium - I've seen their Christmas catalog and it does mention a 20GB HDD plus wireless gamepad, but at first I thought it was a typo) and with a 3 year warranty against RRoD you can set aside any worries.

    That said, getting a HDMI model could be more reassuring in the long run...

  • menage #26 4 years ago

    I have an SD and see a lot of tearing. The whole notion that the tearing isn't visible on different TV sets is quite absurd. It doesn't change the output of the 360 IMO. Maybe different SKU's?

  • Artemis_Matsas #27 4 years ago

    @JonFE

    Thanks man. I'll buy it on Christmas. I think that it is a very good deal actually, just needed to get some more expert opinions.

  • krudster #28 4 years ago

    I'm also in the "I don't see tearing" camp. It's certainly visible on some games (Saints Row, Mass Effect) , but apart from those it's really not a problem I'd get hot and bothered about. I'm convinced it must be an individual TV brand/model issue. Maybe it's simply down to the way that certain TVs display their image that exaserbates the problem?

  • morriss #29 4 years ago

    Well my TV is 1080i only so the 360 scales the 720p signal to 1080i. That could be the reason. However, I don't get tearing on all games, only a few.

    Krudster, you must have noticed it in Heavenly Sword?

  • menage #30 4 years ago

    So you already have ME, lucky you.

  • smelly #31 4 years ago

    I quite liked this game.. but it gets too fustratingly hard later on to the point of being unjoyable.