There’s nothing worse than having a cracking idea only to waste the opportunity by being too tentative in the execution.

Likewise, going way too far and blowing it is equally frustrating. The happy medium is the territory for which to strive and it’s never easy to find.

Little Metal Ball, despite promising moments, doesn’t quite make it. By virtue of its complicated controls, it departs from the simple pleasures of similar ball-rolling platformers like Labyrinth 2.

If nothing else, this is a game that shows just how easily things can begin to unravel if you overstep the mark, even slightly.

Labyrinth love letter

To be fair, it’s a lot more ambitious than Labyrinth. The game spans 40 levels in four different zones that grow larger as you progress, each one calling on a collection of new features and hazards that would initially seem more at home in a platformer.

At times, it really works. Your aim is to move your little metal ball to the finish line as quick as you can by tilting your handset. On the way, you can pick up stars, each one adding seconds to the ever-ticking clock that counts down throughout. The more seconds you have to spare at the end of the level, the higher the medal you’re rewarded.

Of course, some of the stars are so out of reach that going for them – with all the restarts involved – is barely worth it. Sometimes the wiser option is simply to make a dash for the exit, ignoring stars as you go, but Little Metal Ball is designed to make things as trying as possible. The times when you can throw caution to the wind and fly straight through to the finish line are few and far between.

Jump start

Little Metal Ball never tires in giving you hurdles – both metaphorically and physically – to leap over.

Jumping over gaps becomes commonplace (how long you hold a finger to the screen determines the power of a jump) and there are also buttons to press that set off moving platforms – staying on them when in motion is a task in itself.

In fact, you can’t fault Little Metal Ball in terms of sheer scope: the interactive elements keep things fresh and the visual design, despite looking fuzzy when captured, is actually a surprisingly crisp treat in motion. That, however, doesn’t make it a treat to play.

Arguably, for a game where the bulk of the controls are so straightforward, the levels are conversely too unforgiving. Checkpoints are too far apart and the difficulty ramps up too hard, too soon. Not to forget, holding your finger down to jump never really gels with the otherwise snappy gameplay.

Little lengthy ball

Levels are entirely too long, feeling like a mash of several separate levels. Rather than organising levels into bite-sized chunks for portable play, the game relies on long runs that test your patience.

It’s a set-up that completely kills any momentum. Smooth runs through the first half of a level are dramatically cut down by a couple of mistakes later on, the seconds that are chopped off with each run-off track quickly turning any semblance of fun into utter frustration.

What makes it all the more unforgivable is that, when one part of the longer levels is nailed, it feels entirely fruitful. One moment you’re celebrating success, the next cursing failure.

Such bipolarity prevents Little Metal Ball from reaching that vital middle ground necessary to keep this good idea rolling.

The post Review: Little Metal Ball appeared first on AppTrawler.

The 40 levels included in LMB are spaced out evenly across 4 different areas (jungle, ice, fire, and “techno” themed). Progression is made by completing the first five levels in each area, which unlocks the next area. The difficulty ramps up at a pretty reasonable pace over the course of the game, but I recommend that most players play the last five levels in each area only after beating the first five in all of the areas, as these are generally much more challenging and will demand a total grasp of the game’s controls in order to get a gold ranking.

In each level in LMB, the goal is to reach a little checkered sphere that marks a finishing line of sorts. To get there, players will have to navigate narrow platforms, hard-to-avoid-bumpers, and various inanimate obstacles that threaten to send the little metal ball into the abyss. In each level, there is a time limit, but this time limit is usually quite generous. Most levels can be completed in 2-5 minutes, although there are some more difficult levels later in the game that can require either a lot of skill or a little more time. The time limit is included not intended to make players fail; it’s a way to encourage high-score chasing and improvement of best times.

A bit of needed variety spices up LMB through the use of several powerups, all of which are activated by jumping (which can be done by tapping on the screen for a short hop or holding and releasing for a larger jump) while on a purple powerup location. Powerups include a smaller ball (which allows passage through tiny gaps), a giant ball (to roll over otherwise dangerous holes), or the activation of nearby moving platforms. Those moving platforms play a large part in some of LMB‘s levels, forcing players to react swifly to avoid oncoming obstacles while avoiding falling off the edge and tumbling to a time-consuming doom.

Every moment of LMB‘s action requires a mental balancing of the risks vs. the benefits of pursuing nearby stars. On the first run through most levels I ignored stars, collecting them only if they were directly in my path. On second playthroughs I often got more risky with my star collecting, taking dangerous jumps to get to a blue star in hopes that the few extra seconds earned would pay off in a gold medal. Aside from the usual “race” levels, there is a fair share of bonus levels in LMB that ask players to collect all of the stars in a level as quickly as possible. These levels are generally less linear than their not as “bonusy” counterparts, and do a lot to help improve the game’s pacing.

Unfortunately, there are no online leaderboards in LMB, but Debacle Software has confirmed in our forums that they (and tilt calibration, another omission from the first release) will be coming in an update. Another small complaint that users in our forums have expressed is the seemingly low-resolution of the artwork, which is otherwise fantastic.

While there are some key features that needed to be added via update to Little Metal Ball before it’s a truly great game, I have no qualms about recommending it in its current state. LMB is good, simple fun, and is great for quick pick-up-and-play sessions. For those who like Labyrinth, Little Metal Ball is a great game with a similar feel, but expanded and unique adventure-style gameplay.

App Store Link: Little Metal Ball, {content}.99

The post Review: Little Metal Ball appeared first on AppTrawler.

The 1.7.0 version update includes the following features:

• Improved performance
• User interface improvements
• Improved in-game graphics
• Sound system improvements
• Stability improvements
• 5 Labyrinth 2 levels

Yep, play some of the new levels, complete with the new additional obstacles from within the original version. Labyrinth 2 has not yet appeared in the App Store, though we assume that it will appear at any moment. In the meanwhile, give the new levels a spin — though they do feel a bit out of place in the old versions of the game, and you miss out on the more gradual introduction of elements that is found in Labyrinth 2.

App Store Link: Labyrinth, .99, Labyrinth Lite, Free

The post Play 5 Levels of ‘Labyrinth 2’ Right Now appeared first on AppTrawler.