Review: Starball

Overview

Starball is a simple casual game where you roll a green ball around the screen picking up stars, and avoiding red balls. There are occasional power-ups too. Each time you collect a star a new red ball appears, with the screen continuously populating as your score increases.

Features

Three difficulty levels are included, and each one changes the gameplay. In normal mode with every star pick-up there is one red ball added. In hard mode there are two red balls for each star, and in easy you can pick-up two stars for one red ball. Power-ups include time freeze, invincibility, shrink, and ball buster. OpenFeint is included for online high scores for each difficulty. The entire game is tilt based, as you just tilt to move the green ball like you would in Labyrinth. A recent update added a doodle theme where the green ball is a fly, and the stars are poo.

The Good

The game is straightforward and simple. Just tilt the green ball around the screen, and collect stars. A simple premise that is fun to play a few times to better your score. The controls are fine tuned, and able to be calibrated for pinpoint movement between the red balls. The game is well designed from the polished wood background, and sheen on the green and red balls, to the simplicity of the doodle theme and piles of poo. Two very nice soundtracks are included, and the sound effects of collecting stars and power-ups are pleasant. As the title says the game truly is simply addicting. It's just so easy to go again after losing. You'll just want to play again to better your score. OpenFeint helps too with high score tables.

The Bad

The game's simplicity is nice, but it's a problem with the ever increasing depth and value of iPhone titles. After a couple of minutes you've played the entire game with both themes, and all three difficulties. You'll never see anything new the rest of the game. The main problem is that there are many better casual options in the App Store. Starball isn't necessarily bad, but it's just too simple to compete with the great casual games on the platform. There are no achievements either. It's addicting for only a few replays, but is just too simple for anything even worth $0.99.

The Verdict

Starball is a simple game that is executed nicely. The prodcution values are nice, and the controls work really well. Online high scores are included too. The problem is that the game is too simple in the gameplay area. You've seen the whole game after a couple minutes, and that just won't do compared to the deluxe casual games in the App Store. Starball is not worth $0.99 because there are better choices available. For some better choices see the casual games appguide. If you want a causal tilting game check out our sneak peek of Tilt to Live.

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