Go Mecha Ball Review (Xbox One)

STAFF REVIEW of Go Mecha Ball (Xbox One)

Tuesday, August 6, 2024.
by Adam Dileva

I’m always a fan when a developer tries something new like mashing up two genres, especially when it’s something unique. Sometimes this doesn’t always work, but other times, like Go Mecha Ball, it shouldn’t work, yet does. Mixing pinball-like features with a twin-stick shooter sounds like an odd genre mashup, and I was skeptical at first, yet it oddly just works. With also having roguelike elements, there’s plenty of reasons to come back and go for another run.

While there’s technically a story, there’s not really much to be said for it. On planet Spira, Cat Rascal and her friends were simply looking to have some fun. One day, a portal appears in the sky, bringing chaos to the world. Everyone went into hiding underground, trying to find ways to unravel the portal’s secret. The solution they came up with, building a mecha suit that could withstand the portal’s energies. Cat Rascal takes this upon herself as she dons the mecha suit, giving her the ability to fight back and hopefully return fun for everyone. While I appreciate there was an attempt to have a narrative, you’re going to forget all about it within the first few minutes. You’re a cat in a mecha suit blasting away at waves of enemy robots, that’s really it. Don’t expect any other dialogue or cutscenes, just some chaotic gameplay that never slows down across a couple of different worlds and biomes.

Your new suit grants you the ability to morph into a ball, allowing you to traverse faster and dash into enemies. If you’re reminded of Sonic’s spin dash, it’s very familiar. The levels are set almost like you’re inside a pinball machine, as there are ramps, jumps, bumpers, tubes and more, allowing you to zip around the small enclosed stages as you aim to defeat every enemy as to start the next wave.

There are four worlds, each having three stages, and each stage having three waves. At the end of each world is a boss fight that was bar far the highlight, yet also challenging. Each of the worlds have a different biome and theme, and you’ll fight some new enemies in each, though the structure stays the same and the levels are the same each run. You need to defeat every enemy before you can move onto the next wave, and you’ll eventually earn upgrades and modifiers that improve your skills and abilities as you progress.

Being part twin-stick shooter, I made the mistake of trying to play it primarily as one. This doesn’t work because you run out of ammo quite quickly, and the only way to refill is to dash attack enemies. Played in an isometric view, you’ll always have a view of what’s going on, but things can happen so quickly and there’s sometimes so much happening on screen that it’s chaotic at the best of times. You start with a single weapon, but can hold two, as well as have two abilities.

I was initially only using the ball and rolling to evade enemies, but once you realize that the dash attack is one of your best offensive moves, the game completely changes. After a few runs, I actually started playing completely the opposite as I started, not using my weapons often at all. When you start utilizing the ramps and bumpers to your advantage, it becomes a much more controlled chaos. Rolling is also how you utilize the ramps and tubes that will move you from one area to the next.

Some levels are quite vertical which I found the most fun, but this also makes it harder to keep your combo up. The higher your combo the more currency you’ll earn, which is then used for upgrades just before bosses and on new runs. Other levels like the desert world was the most frustrating, as some enemies will be up on a platform, but you can’t shoot at them unless you’re on the same level, so you need to find the ramp that will launch you in that direction. Trying to do this while keeping your combo going is the real challenge.

With over 25 different weapons, you’d think there would be a wide array to choose from and find a favorite, but they need to be unlocked first. Even with a large selection of guns, they all feel generally the same and I never really found a favorite of the bunch, though it didn’t matter much once I used the dash attack to do the majority of my damage to enemies. What annoyed the most though was how weapons don’t automatically swap when you run out of ammo. There’s also over 20 abilities you can unlock, mapped to the bumpers, which can be quite useful. These range from spinning discs, jump attacks, and more.

Being a roguelike, when you die in your first few runs, you’ll start all over, but can purchase new weapons and abilities and perks with your earned credits. Runs will take anywhere from a half hour to an hour if successful, depending on how efficient and quick you can dispatch waves of enemies. There’s also other characters to unlock, so you do have something to work towards long term.

Before each boss you’re able to spend your earn credits on health refills, new abilities, perks or weapons. There’s only three choices and it’s random which are offered on each run, but the costs seem to be a little too high to be helpful in some cases. Having to usually purchase the heal, this left me unable to buy other upgrades most of the time. With a bunch of passive upgrades, like more ammunition, more damage, increased fire rate, more health, etc, these are great to get, but it doesn’t tell you exactly how much your stats increase.

With how quickly you need to constantly be moving, it can feel like quite a lot at the beginning. The first few runs were overwhelming with how chaotic the screen gets. The colors are bright and vibrant, the neons are eye catching, and you’re constantly moving at a fast pace and dashing from enemy to enemy. Gameplay is very smooth and I had no hiccups even when chaos was happening.

While the dashes, rolling and attacks can overpower the audio at times, the soundtrack is dynamic, seemingly changing to what’s occurring on screen at times. The electronic soundtrack can be mellow at times, then quick paced and frantic sounding the next. When it’s chaos on screen, the audio represents and sets the tone.

Go Mecha Ball surprised me. Half pinball, half twin-stick shooter, it shouldn’t work on paper, but it really does. Once you can embrace the chaos and find the best way to play for yourself, it can be exciting. Feeling like it’s truly an original experience, Go Mecha Ball is a fun trip as you dash from one enemy to the next do it all again in the next run.

**Go Mecha Ball was provided by the publisher and reviewed on an Xbox Series X**

Overall: 7.8 / 10
Gameplay: 8.5 / 10
Visuals: 8.0 / 10
Sound: 7.0 / 10

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STAFF REVIEW of Go Mecha Ball (Xbox One)

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