The Ball (2010)

 PC
User Score
6.3

Mixed or average reviews- based on 62 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 25 out of 62
  2. Mixed: 23 out of 62
  3. Negative: 14 out of 62

Review this game

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
view
per page
  1. tech-noir
    May 13, 2012
    9
    As soon as you start the game, you will notice that the mood, setting, and atmosphere are superb. The storyline is mysterious and well thought out, with interesting to watch cutscenes. The lighting effects further enhance the overall flavor of the game, and adds an eery feeling as you explore each level. The game mechanics are well implemented, but they do take a bit of getting used to, asAs soon as you start the game, you will notice that the mood, setting, and atmosphere are superb. The storyline is mysterious and well thought out, with interesting to watch cutscenes. The lighting effects further enhance the overall flavor of the game, and adds an eery feeling as you explore each level. The game mechanics are well implemented, but they do take a bit of getting used to, as initially, the controls may seem clunky. The game rewards you with an achievement for killing innocent bystander monkeys and even keeps track of how many you have killed, which is rather pointless and mean. Regardless of the monkeys, there are plenty of monsters to kill that will come at you relentlessly. With that said, there is not much variety in who your enemies are, but this does not feel too repetitive or boring, since you will be doing all you can to control the ball and attack them with it, and there is a great amount of excitement and fun in the process. This mechanic really isn't as simple as it sounds, and it does take getting used to and learning the techniques. Killing the monsters makes them splat with some gore and loose body parts. These moments are incredibly tense, exhilarating, and action packed. The Ball manages to put together various aspects from a few genres and implements them quite well. It feels like a first person shooter, adventure, puzzle game, slightly reminiscent of the Portal series. The level design is outstanding, and truly sets out to make an experience that is memorable, tense, edgy, creepy and extremely satisfying. The buildings and other structures are masterfully crafted and placed in the game world for much enjoyment. Simply looking around each level is an absolute delight by itself. In The Ball, there is an overall feeling of loneliness, as you must progress through the dire situation of being lost all by yourself, without anyone helping. It also manages, through its mood, setting, and atmosphere to positively produce emotions of fear, despair, worry, and awe. Being inside the various tombs, caverns, and other structures presenting a theme of ancient Mexican civilizations is truly amazing. Everything has near perfect timing, expert design, wonderful execution and flawless placement. There aren't that many bosses in The Ball, but the few you will encounter are skilfully crafted, and a joy to watch and fight against. The puzzles are all quite intuitive and requires the perfect amount of thought in conjunction with action dexterity. They are all well developed and enacted, providing much satisfaction as you complete each one. If some of the puzzles may seem a bit complicated, the designers have included a hints system that allows you to get on the right path of puzzle solving without sacrificing the gaming experience and other plot elements. Adding to an already extremely positive overall experience, the ending was thoroughly satisfying. Once you're done with the campaign, you are also given the option to go through small, new levels not found in the campaign, in the so-called Survival game mode. It is an interesting change from the campaign, but it does not compare, as it is taken from an entirely different context, and has a whole different approach. This has been the best overall experience in a first person game since Half-Life 1. The Ball is that amazing. The environments are beautiful, the game play is rich and interesting, and it never gets boring. It is also perhaps the most fun you will have as a virtual, in-game archeologist. The Ball is a truly magnificent experience. It took me about 8 hours to complete.… Expand
  2. JonesR
    Aug 19, 2011
    5
    You are given a nerfed gravity gun that only affects a large ball and you either stand on switches, position the ball on switches, or do both to solve puzzles. The puzzles have a Tomb Raider feel to them, but for the most part are rather simple. You get to use the ball as a weapon bowling over irregular hordes of monkey men, but the campaign is nothing spectacular and often times boring.You are given a nerfed gravity gun that only affects a large ball and you either stand on switches, position the ball on switches, or do both to solve puzzles. The puzzles have a Tomb Raider feel to them, but for the most part are rather simple. You get to use the ball as a weapon bowling over irregular hordes of monkey men, but the campaign is nothing spectacular and often times boring. Survival mode is much more fun and action packed. Too bad it isn't co-op otherwise it might be a game to recommend.… Expand
  3. Cat5
    Feb 13, 2011
    9
    The ball is an enjoyable, single player romp. A unique mix of game play and puzzles make the 8 hour campaign well worth the $20. Achievements and trying to find 30+ well placed secrets adds to the replay value. There is really no story to speak of, any combat of note is puzzle based, and there is no penalty for dying except picking up from where you left off. That's actually a goodThe ball is an enjoyable, single player romp. A unique mix of game play and puzzles make the 8 hour campaign well worth the $20. Achievements and trying to find 30+ well placed secrets adds to the replay value. There is really no story to speak of, any combat of note is puzzle based, and there is no penalty for dying except picking up from where you left off. That's actually a good thing, as you can focus on the puzzles, and admire the level design, rendered beautifully with the Unreal 3 engine. The levels tend to be huge, and have a retro feel, which made me smile remembering the first time I saw lava in Duke Nukem 3D. The 4 Survival mini games feel tacked on, but show the same great attention to detail in the level design as the campaign. Easy to beat if you stay between 2 traps and just swing your ball around.. Almost feels like a testing ground for co-op, which would be awesome with some more interesting, unique monsters... They did skimp on the beta testing, as there are a lot of places where you can get "Stuck" when secret hunting. Given it only takes maybe 30 seconds to reload and get back to where you were, and a $20 price tag, I'll give a pass.

    The possibilities are endless with the Ball, and I hope to see a sequel soon. Nothing better than having a couple of Balls :)

    No idea what SuperTakashii is talking about. The Ball becomes transparent automatically when
    appropriate, and you have the option to make that a constant. The graphics are very nice and smooth, maxed out on my I7-860 + GTX470 rig, running XP at 1280x1024

    I think Hellbot got confused, as this game was only just reviewed by PC gamer 01/18/11, with an 81.. http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/01/18/the-ball-review/    … Expand
  4. Othrandur
    Nov 13, 2011
    4
    On paper, this game might seem like a cross between Portal, Tomb Raider, and Twin Sector, but it sure doesn't feel that way when you play it. The graphics are nice enough, but nothing to fall on your knees for. The atmosphere might work if there were a decent plot, but it's basically: you fall in a hole, find a gravity gun and a big ball metal, so "obviously", these must be used to helpOn paper, this game might seem like a cross between Portal, Tomb Raider, and Twin Sector, but it sure doesn't feel that way when you play it. The graphics are nice enough, but nothing to fall on your knees for. The atmosphere might work if there were a decent plot, but it's basically: you fall in a hole, find a gravity gun and a big ball metal, so "obviously", these must be used to help you press the glowing blue and orange buttons. Oh, and to crush innocent monkeys. The whole thing just feels contrived and meaningless, so there's no sense of immersion and you're left shaking your head and asking, "why would someone have built this place?" You're always aware that you're in a game solving some artificial puzzles that are so simple, if sometimes awkward, that you wonder why they didn't just put the exit right by the entrance. And there's something missing: a hero/star/protagonist. You're certainly not it. In this game, you're nothing more than the guy who's taking the ball out for a walk. Your ability to interact with the environment is nil, except for the occasional blue button. The ball isn't it either. It's just a big, stupid ball that's in your way half the time. Damn thing isn't sentient or cuddly like a weighted companion cube. It's not the gun. All that does is tug at the big stupid ball or push at a handful of things, and usually not the things that you want to push. And it's not the environment either. It has about as much personality as the ball. It's not a completely horrible game. It's pretty and except when you get stuck between two pebbles and are forced to restart a level, it doesn't feel too badly crafted, but it's just not much fun or interesting or exciting. Oh, and I was going to give it a charitable 5, but this pet peeve of mine just lost it another point: the strength of a force field, like gravity, is inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the source. That means that if you're half the distance, it's 4 times stronger. If you're 100 times the distance, it's 10,000 times weaker. The gravity gun in this game has a constant strength regardless of distance, so you can tug at the ball from 300 yards as if it were on your lap, but it's too weak to lift the ball out of a hole if you shoot it point blank. Suspension of disbelief can only go so far.… Expand
  5. SuperTakashii
    Jan 22, 2011
    4
    This game looked so fun. The Ball whizzing around ancient ruins with some epic 3D graphics and puzzle elements thrown in. Yet when I played the game I found something very different to the generic Super Monkey Ball gameplay that I'm very fond of. A commonly overused and irritating gameplay element is the idea of pushing a ball around, trying to make sure it doesn't skid off the edge of theThis game looked so fun. The Ball whizzing around ancient ruins with some epic 3D graphics and puzzle elements thrown in. Yet when I played the game I found something very different to the generic Super Monkey Ball gameplay that I'm very fond of. A commonly overused and irritating gameplay element is the idea of pushing a ball around, trying to make sure it doesn't skid off the edge of the map. This is a horrible, gruelling form of gameplay that seemed to be made to be frustrating and stupid. Why anyone would base an entire game off it is beyond me. The Ball is huge, so you can't see what on earth you're firing it at. The graphics are poor and inefficient, constantly lagging. Even the screen resolution options are limited as if it was created in 2000, when about 4 screen resolutions were used. The game as a whole is frustrating and excruciating. The only place where this kind of game works is when you're in direct control of the ball.

    Generally, this game is a complete and miserable failure in most aspects. It had a lot of potential, but the developers almost seemed like they wanted to create a game around awful core gameplay.    … Expand
  6. neogeronimo
    Jul 21, 2011
    9
    Yes the challenge it's not very difficult..
    Yes it"s ugly
    and YES IT'S FUN ! A good fps puzzle game :)
    If you 've loved Portal i think you may love THE BALL
  7. sarojz
    Nov 14, 2010
    10
    A review of The PC Game â
  8. HELLBOT
    Feb 7, 2011
    4
    Another dud! Played for mabye a hour. Unistalled and threw away. Nothing worse then a shooter without a gun. Just some big ball you have to drag around. Just plain boreing. PC gamer gave this the action adventure game of the year over assasins creed and Bioshock 2. It seems they need to get out more. Or mabye play a good game now and then.
  9. ThoughtWolf
    Apr 3, 2011
    9
    The Ball is a unique puzzle game that fills a niche left in the gaming community as a First-Person puzzler. The environment is nice, although some of it a bit repetitive. The puzzles are original and gameplay mechanics are focused on just moving though the levels with your ball while completing various tasks, with a bit of fighting. Its worth the money, but doesn't have a lot ofThe Ball is a unique puzzle game that fills a niche left in the gaming community as a First-Person puzzler. The environment is nice, although some of it a bit repetitive. The puzzles are original and gameplay mechanics are focused on just moving though the levels with your ball while completing various tasks, with a bit of fighting. Its worth the money, but doesn't have a lot of re-playability, and something more could have been done with survival, its just a long drawn out fight sequence with traps. Well worth the price though.… Expand
  10. JimCorbett
    Jun 23, 2012
    5
    This game had an interesting premise, and looked like a fun game, but ends up failing to deliver. The puzzles are all extremely simplistic and you will never get a sense of accomplishment when you finish an area. The graphic style looked interesting at the beginning but repetitive areas make that feeling go away very quickly. The story is non existent unless you go out of your way to findThis game had an interesting premise, and looked like a fun game, but ends up failing to deliver. The puzzles are all extremely simplistic and you will never get a sense of accomplishment when you finish an area. The graphic style looked interesting at the beginning but repetitive areas make that feeling go away very quickly. The story is non existent unless you go out of your way to find secrets which will reveal some of the history behind what has happened. The ball controls funky, and will often get stuck on nothing when you try to push it and can also end up circling around you when you try to pull it back towards you. The combat is boring as well, the giant hammer you carry around can't damage them - only push them back a few inches. You'll have to rely on the ball for that, and even then it gets very repetitive quickly, and the death animations of enemies is very bad as well. This title would have been better suited as an action/adventure game. There is basically nothing in this game that is fun and you can find plenty of other, cheaper games that are much better than this.… Expand
  11. dumle
    Oct 7, 2012
    6
    ´The ball was a pleasant surprise. The campaign takes a little under 10 hours to complete and is surprisingly good. The combat, platforming and puzzles work quite well and the games visual design gives the game a atmosphere that i really enjoyed. The puzzles could be a little more varied but otherwise is the campaign also quite varied much more than i would expect from such a cheap´The ball was a pleasant surprise. The campaign takes a little under 10 hours to complete and is surprisingly good. The combat, platforming and puzzles work quite well and the games visual design gives the game a atmosphere that i really enjoyed. The puzzles could be a little more varied but otherwise is the campaign also quite varied much more than i would expect from such a cheap game. Some complaints that i should mention is that the puzzles could be little harder, the combat could be little more varied and that a few puzzles-designs were a little strange. In the end though its still a good game and if you are interested in the genre "the Ball" could be worth checking out.… Expand
  12. rasta_man2357
    Jul 10, 2012
    8
    The Ball is a clearly underrated game with its stunning graphics, deeply moving music and perfect balance of combat, exploration and puzzle solving, well in my opinion, its great.
    I did pick up my own collectors edition copy for fifty pence but that is besides the point. I would pay (almost) the full price for this game after I have seen how entertaining it is. I would like to bring    The Ball is a clearly underrated game with its stunning graphics, deeply moving music and perfect balance of combat, exploration and puzzle solving, well in my opinion, its great.
    I did pick up my own collectors edition copy for fifty pence but that is besides the point. I would pay (almost) the full price for this game after I have seen how entertaining it is. I would like to bring gamers to their senses: give the ball a go and I am sure that the majority shall be highly entertained.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

99
#99 Most Discussed PC Game of 2010
71
#71 Most Shared PC Game of 2010

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
68

Mixed or average reviews - based on 22 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 22
  2. Mixed: 16 out of 22
  3. Negative: 0 out of 22
  1. Absolute Games
    Mar 14, 2011
    50
    Teotl Studios had the concept and the tools they needed to make The Ball a great game; they only lacked patience and experience.
    Read full review
  2. PC Format
    Jan 29, 2011
    80
    Smart design... Lacks visual innovation. [Jan 2011, p.110]
  3. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Jan 15, 2011
    70
    Stylish environments and smart puzzles create great working space for all virtual archaeologists with domesticated ball. Weak story and redundant duels prevent The Ball from becoming a new Portal. [Issue#199]
See all critic reviews »