"Soccer, only simpler and not as much fun"

Ball Blazer is an obscure Lucas Films game released only in Japan. The is very little text and all of it is in English, however, so you do not need to worry about translation issues if you still want to check it out. Basically, Ball Blazer is an extremely simplified version of soccer that you may want to check out, but won't be anything you'll find very impressive.

GAMEPLAY (2/10)

To imagine how this game works, imagine a game off soccer. Now make that a one-on-one game where you can only face forward, the goal moves from side-to-side at the end of the field, and the goal width shrinks every time you score. That's the gist of the game right there. In fact, you only need the A button to play as this will either shoot the ball in your possession or knock it away from your opponent if they have possession. You can make the game anywhere from 1 to 9 minutes long and you can play against a human opponent or 9 difficulties of computer opponents. If you look at the space between the two split-screens, you will see 10 circles, 5 on the left and 5 on the right. To win, you just have to fill all ten of those circles or have more filled when the time expires. If you shoot right in front of the goal, you get 1 point. Further away is 2, and there is a way to get 3, which I presume, occurs if you shoot from really far away. When you're opponent scores, the fill some of these circles as well, so you must score AND stop your opponent if you want to win. Some problems with this game are that it can be hard to track the ball when it is bouncing all over the field. Also, your shots will go in funny directions unless you stand perfectly still, so be prepared to miss a lot while the computer will seem to get things perfect every time.

STORY (?/10)

If there is a story to this, I'd really like to know. Even then I doubt it would be any good.

GRAPHICS (1/10)

The field is a light and dark green checkered pattern. The players are funny look things that look like funky chess pieces. You are pink and your opponent is orange. The ball flickers back and forth between pink and orange depending on who has possession. This can be confusing, especially if the ball is loose. Sometimes you will be pressing the A button to steal the ball, only to find that you had it and just shot it away. When someone scores, their screen flashes pink, which can be annoying and does not make the game look any better.

SOUND (1/10)

Title music, scoring music, shooting the ball, hearing the ball bounce of the edges of the field: those are the sounds that you are mostly likely going to remember and that's it. They are nothing special nor are they entertaining, so playing this game with the volume down won't deprive you of anything significant.

FINAL RECOMMENDATION

This game can be fun for about 5 minutes or so, but then it gets monotonous and frustrating, especially when even the easiest computer difficulty starts scoring on you out of nowhere. Maybe this game is fun to play with a buddy, but I wouldn't know. I'd definitely recommend checking this out if you're in need of a quick way to shorten your attention span.

Reviewer's Score: 1/10, Originally Posted: 11/29/04