Friday Flash: Balls, Balls, Balls

Since this is Friday, it must be time for another three games to play all weekend long, or even (don't tell anyone!) the following week. Most games rely on the Adobe Flash Player, and they have all been tested on both Windows and Mac OS X.

Last time I said we'd talk about balls this week, and talk about balls we shall. Simple things, balls, and yet able to be used in complex ways. As simple things, they are often used in games, including video games. Since they can be used in complex ways, these games are often actually quite interesting. Today's games all have one thing in common: balls.

Dyson sells vacuum cleaners. Fancy ones. And their high-tech vacuum cleaners rely on a ball (instead of wheels). What better way to publicize this fact than to develop and release — for free — a game called The Ball? I can't think of any.

In the game, you've got a ball that won't stop moving, and all you can do is steer to avoid crashing into walls. I hope that the vacuum cleaner doesn't work that way. Come to think of it, I'm not entirely sure this is the best message to send, but it makes for a great little game. There are twenty levels, and you just steer to the right or left (from the perspective of the ball, which can get tricky) and find the goal. That's all. Easy, right? Only it's not. The ball won't stop moving. The ball is relentless. The ball has quite a wide turning radius (again, pretty much the opposite of the message they hope people learn about the vacuum). The ball is in the middle of a very large maze, only a small portion of which you can see at once.

Oh, sure the first level's easy. You can get through it in six seconds easily. But later levels? You'll find yourself memorizing 35 seconds or more of twisty turns to get through it all.

There's no music or sound, and the game remembers the levels you've completed, keeping track of your best time on each level. So even once you've completed all twenty, you can go back and try to improve your times. And why not? It's fun!

This week I'm going to cheat, but I think you'll be happy. Instead of three games, I'm giving you six. And games two through six are all from the same site. In fact, they're basically four parts in a series, with part three a two-parter, for five nearly-identical (in style and action, not in challenge) games.

Article Author: Phillip Winn

Phillip Winn was the Chief Geek for Blogcritics, and a blogger since 1995. He may currently be found and followed as @pwinn on Twitter.

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