Go Mecha Ball

I highly recommend playing Go Mecha Ball — just know that it’s more limited than it might seem on the surface. I’d probably feel better about the game if it were a short, linear experience with crafted levels instead of a roguelike, and in its current form, just a few small updates to add a bit of variety would be enough to pique my interest again. Even now, I’m certain that I’ll be dusting it back off in a few months when the experience isn’t so fresh in my mind. As a way to spend a few blissfully chaotic nights, it’s hard to do better than Go Mecha Ball, even if it falls a bit short of greatness.

Go Mecha Ball is great at delivering fast-paced action thanks to its collision combat. You constantly balance rolling into enemies and firing with your weapons while dodging attacks. The enemies you face constantly attack you and the boss battles are challenging. The game isn’t perfect, as it constantly forces the tutorial on you and you sometimes spend too much time chasing enemies. But for a game that gives you a quick action fix, it’s hard to dislike Go Mecha Ball’s frantic pace.

The bottom line is that Go Mecha Ball is an arcade snack that you won't spend dozens of hours playing, but which fits perfectly into short breaks when you just want to have a quick game. For this purpose, the imaginative mix of pinball and two-stick shooter is actually really good. It's just a shame that it lacks an equally strong level design and more options for experimenting with different play styles.

It’s in these combinations that the fun really begins. In order to unlock more of these abilities, weapons, or upgrades, you’ll spend another resource back in the hub world and they’ll unlock randomly from a flashy gumball machine. Sometimes it’s an ability that will snag you the kills, or get you out of danger quickly, and you’ll soon have your favourites. Go Mecha Ball is an otherwise run-of-the-mill roguelike, which is not a damning implication. It’s a bit ‘by the numbers’ but it makes for an addictive delivery of dopamine, one that will challenge your skills, and sometimes your patience.