0 to Z of Playstation 1 Games - Ballistic

        

Puzz Loop is an arcade puzzle tile matching game developed by Mitchell Corporation and released in arcades in 1998 in North America and Japan, with a European release the following year. The game would be ported to the Playstation in 1999/00 under the name Ballistic, the game would also be ported to the Game Boy Color, Windows and Nuon.

Notable people who worked on this title, lead programmer Kenichiro Kubo worked as a game designer onf 2012s Yakuza 5. Akihiro Akaishi who worked on the original concept, later went on to work on the Nintendo titles Magnetica and Magnetica Twist in 2006 and 2008, he also worked on concept designs for the 2012 3DS title Tokyo Crash Mobs.

This is a puzzle game with no story or story elements so this section will be gameplay only, the game has a spiral track in which marbles are travelling closer and closer to the player, the player fires coloured balls at the encroaching marbles aiming to match three of  the same colour to remove them.

When the player clears several sets of three marbles in succession next to each other the marbles in front if there were any come to a complete stop, this is how you prevent the marbles from reaching the player and destroying them, creating a gap between the front of the ball train and the remainder provides vital time for the player so they can tackle them much easier and not get overwhelmed as the marbles move pretty quickly if left unchecked.

The game has three modes to choose from, the first is versus mode in which two players can face off against each other in a split screen mode, this mode does not have power ups or bombs and the difficulty can be altered for each player. During the course of a 2 player versus match when one player creates a chain more balls are added to the opponents spiral

 

Panic Mode has one simple aim extend the gameplay as long as you possibly can and reach the highest score you can by clearing as many balls as possible, as the player destroys each string of balls  the speed in which they move increases.

 

After the player has completed 10 strings a rocket will appear which will push the balls toward the players cannon at the centre of the spiral, if the player destroys the rocket then speed will increase even more, the player does have a weapon in their arsenal though with bombs which can destroy every ball of a particular colour.

The final mode is Stage Mode which allows the player to clear a finite number of balls on a level to level basis, this mode has several differences to Panic Mode, unlike Panic Mode the game will pause once each string has been cleared. The player received the same bomb power ups, but now twisters will deflect your shots, clocks that appear can freeze the chain from moving and hollow balls and chests hold hidden surprises to discover.

Critically this game was very well received with the game not falling below an above average score from the eight critic reviews available, as usual we will start with the best which comes from games xtreme who scored the game at a highly impressive 91.

 

The reviewer compared the game to a standard Bust a Move type game and Columns and give it a twist in more ways than one. Concluding the review found it difficult to sum up the game, with the review recommending you look at the screenshots of the game to get a feeling of how it is.

French Publication Consoles Plus were the second highest scoring review for this game and had the following to say. Ballistic is neither Puzzle Bobble nor Tetris ... But fans of the genre will have fun for a while. A small drop in review scores follow with a group of review scores coming in at an 80 rating.

The first of these comes from Adrenaline Vault who commented on games companies trying to make the next Tetris, that perfect blend of challenge and reward, coupled with a simple interface and addictive gameplay seems to always be just out of reach for all but the most talented developers. The review continued by saying  that this game is the closest to a contender that they have seen in a while.

PSM Magazine had real trouble with this game and it disrupting their work, with people in the office just couldn't get enough of its fast-paced, exciting action. The IGN review has a love and hate relationship with the game which they concluded with that probably being the hallmark of a good puzzle title. They also called the game easy to pick up enabling players of any age to play.

Moving to the  lowest review score for the game we find GameSpot with the lowest review score which is an above average 67, with the review calling it a fairly fun puzzle game with a refreshingly new premise, they did however criticise the game as being simplistic in name and the sheer mediocrity of many of the game elements.

This is the part of 0 to Z where is visit four online retailers and see what the availability of the title is, and what price you would be looking at if you wanted to pick this title up, the sites that I will be using for this are Amazon.com, eStarland.com, retrogames.co.uk and Gamedude.com I know the last one is very location specific, but from a podcast I listen to, I’ve heard they have a huge stock of older games, Ebay has now been dropped unless the game is unavailable at other retailers.

So lets get down to business with Gamedude where this game seems very common, with Gamedude paying just 5 cents if you are looking to trade in your copy of Balistic. On the other hand if you are in the market for a copy of the game, then one can be picked up pretty cheaply at $2.

Retrogames.co.uk has one used copies of the game available this copy is in excellent conditions with only a minor crack in the bottom right of the case, the disc has a disc quality rating of 10/10. this copy will set you back £5.

Heading over to eStarland.com next we find just one copy of the game available as well, this copy is a complete copy of the game and is priced at $7.95 which converts to £5.86, this is the North American version so a North America console is required. eStarland also offer a trade in for the game, with the site paying up to $3.50 for a copy of the game, this price will vary depending on the completeness of your copy, with a disc only copy worth up to just $1.22.

 

Lastly we have Amazon.com where we find a small number of copies but a largely complete collection of copies to choose from with prices starting at $8.53 for a good quality used copy. This copy does ship with Amazon so a minimum $25 spend of Prime membership is needed for the free delivery.

If you are doing neither of those two not to worry, a very good quality used copy can be picked up for just 7 cents more at $8.58. while there are several more fulfilled by Amazon copies here are also several that are not with prices reaching around the $10.50 mark for these, a like new copy is also available but this will set you back around $19.

A handful of new copies are also available the first is priced up at a similar price to the like new copy that is available, from this point new prices do take a jump in price with the next priced at $29.99 but does come with free shipping, from here prices for a new copy reach the $40 and $49 mark for the two remaining new copies.

Written by

P J Gibbon