So I’ve played games that combine dungeon crawling with trivia games, Minesweeper, and lots of other crazy pairings.  But I’ve never played one that combines dungeons with…pachinko?  Pachinko is a kind of arcade machine where you drop balls that fall and bounce around pegs and you hope that they land in certain spots at the bottom.  It’s very popular in Japan.  Anyway, so in Dungeonballs you play as a group of anime styled characters who must venture into dungeons to battle monsters and earn money to rebuild their house that got burned down for some reason.  It’s available to download on iOS and Android devices, but reviewed on iPad here.

Each level in the dungeon is a single screen room, and you can take up to four characters with you.  You’ll meet more characters as you progress.  Tap anywhere on the screen, and balls will be tossed in that direction, and the balls with have pictures of whatever characters’ face you’ve choses.  Use the balls to hit enemies and defeat them, open doors, flip switches, and open treasure chests.  If you fall off at the bottom, or get hit by enemies or traps, you’ll lose hit points.  Lose them all and you’ll have to start the level room over again.  In MOST rooms, you must defeat all the enemies to pass it.

Each character has his or her own special skills.  Tap on the character at the bottom of the screen to change the balls to have their face on them.  You can only take four characters, so choose wisely and look carefully at the room preview before you start the level.  There is a carpenter character who can fill holes with wood when she rolls over them.  Another character can freeze fire traps, and another can burn wooden obstacles.  Others can open gates and treasures faster, defeat enemies quicker, or bypass spikes. 

Every level has missions that will earn you a star when completed.  Sometimes you may have to finish the level quickly, collect the stars in a room, finish without losing a certain amount of HP, and more.  You’ll want to gather as many stars as you can, because that’s how you unlock new areas.  Earn coins from defeating enemies and finding treasure.  When you have enough coins, you can upgrade your house and level up your characters.

While the game is unique, it does have a few problems.  Since you don’t have precise control over where your balls go, it can get a little frustrating sometimes.  Also, you have to collect a lot of stars to unlock the next world, and may have to go back and replay older stages more often that you’d like to get them.  And while there is text that explains how to play, it’s so poorly translated that some things can be a little hard to figure out.  You just have to play a while to get the hang of it.  But other than that, the game is pretty unique and has some cute character designs, so you may want to check it out anyway if you like those things.

Kid Factor:

Nothing too violent here.  You just hit cartoony enemy monsters with balls and they disappear when defeated.  Some of the characters’ outfits are slightly revealing, but it’s all done in that campy anime style.  Reading skill is needed for the text, but may not be very helpful as it is poorly translated.  Some younger gamers may get frustrated with the challenge and lack of precise play control.  But it’s still a fairly likable game once you figure things out.

Tags: Game Reviews