Ballz 3D

"What this game does not have."

Geez enough with the lame fighting games already. In case you don't know Ballz is a 3D fighting game with all of the characters made out of balls and back in 1994 this game was hyped up to the extreme but it never lived up to it(I kept seeing ads in it every time I opened an issue of EGM or Gamepro and they also kept showing that commercial on T.V with the whacked out teenage kid playing this game pretending it is the greatest thing ever). Well anyway Ballz is just a disgrace to the SNES and why they made it is beyond me. With the concept and all this could have been the most revolutionary fighting game since Street Fighter 2 but in the end it just flopped big time. Well let us get on with my review on this monstrosity.

Graphics
They are one of the high points here(And probably the only high point of this game). Graphics wise imagine the graphics from the first Virtual Fighter but with the fighters made out of balls instead of legos(They were not really made out of legos but you know what I'am talking about)and add a little more Mode 7 effects. They were good for an SNES game and they did show it was capable of doing 3D type graphics. The backgrounds of the arena you are on are 2D and there is this monitor in the back that keeps showing random trash talk at you or your opponent. For a game that sucks the graphics here are good.

Gameplay
Terrible! Fighting your opponents in one player mode is just not fun at all and whose idea was it to put limited continues in here(Also if you are on hard mode then you only have one continue which is total bullcrap). The CPU is cheap and at times whenever my opponent grabs me he then takes off huge amounts of my life and then I lose. The Vs. mode is not fun either but you get the option to choose what kind of karate belt you want to fight in(Red to Black) but still that does not really add anything here and is only a cheap afterthought. Let me just that the gameplay here is the total opposite of fun and provides zero entertainment.

Sound
The music is mediocre since I just didn't like it and most of the tracks are just jumbled up tunes. There are not many character voices which is really a good thing because I don't just don't like em either and they sound annoying. Not good sound wise.

Control
Awful is the best word to describe it. You can move around anywhere but it feels off at times. Punching and kicking is awkward and some of the move take away too much damage. Also they had to add in a separate jump button which just plain sucks and you need real skill to master jumping. Another thing why do the characters move so slow which makes just walking a real hassle. This really has to be the worst control there is in a game.

Replay
If you are looking for replay value then I'am sorry because you will not find it here my friend. This game is just not fun at all and the replay value is nonexistent so there you have it.

Final Word
If it were not for Street Combat(or Ranma 1/2 Part 1 if you live in Japan) then I would say Ballz is the worst fighting game ever but it was barley saved. This is yet another fighting game that I despise and it is one of those games that should have been cancelled during pre production. If you see this anywhere then do Doctrine Dark a favor and walk away from it as if it were a visible land mine.

Reviewer's Score: 1/10, Originally Posted: 04/23/01, Updated 04/23/01