It’s time for a rescue mission as a girl has been kidnapped and taken to a castle. You may think I’m talking about Super Mario Bros. but I am in fact talking about Kid Ball Adventure, one of the newer games from publisher eastasiasoft and developers Ratalaika Games and Spoonbox Studios. Here’s my review of the PS5 version of this cutesy 2D platformer.
Kid Ball Adventure is a precision platformer that anyone can easily pick up and play. The story is light here as it follows a ball who has had another ball who he loves get kidnapped by a dragon and taken to a castle. You have to navigate the 100 castle dungeon levels in order to save your love. While this is a precision platformer and that can mean challenging, I wouldn’t put this on the same level as say a Super Meat Boy. I know some people like a challenge in their platformers but not an overbearing one so rest assured what is here is manageable.
Every level is a single screen where you’ll be jumping around trying to collect a key that will unlock a door for you to escape through and move onto the next level. In your way are enemies and obstacles the like of which you’ve probably seen before such as saw blades, spikes, fireballs, swinging maces, and more. There is nothing really to say about the controls as you just move your ball which is always bouncing. Because it always is you have to be patient and time where you’re going correctly as to not bounce into an enemy or a hazard. Dying can be annoying too as levels are grouped in fives and if you run out of lives in the fifth level of a group you have to restart back in the first level of that group. I really didn’t like this decision especially for a game that doesn’t give you much control over your character.
I really don’t have a lot to say about the visuals and music as it looks and feels like a lot of the other games that eastasiasoft publishes. The visuals are colorful and the backgrounds change every ten levels or so to try and help keep things fresh. It is of course another game aimed at trophy hunters as the 12 trophies here are very easy and quick to come by asking you to only beat a fraction of the levels included.
Kid Ball Adventure doesn’t do anything special to stand out as a platformer but it is a solid one nonetheless. The cutesy visuals and simple control scheme will be approachable for anyone and there are plenty of levels here to bounce your way through should you want to.
*Kid Ball Adventure is available now on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. PlayStation 5 version reviewed. Review copy provided by the publisher for this review.
Kid Ball Adventure
$4.99
Pros
- Easy to grasp controls and just enough platforming challenge
- Plenty of levels and modes
Cons
- No real variety in the gameplay over the course of the game
- Having to replay levels if you lose all your lives is a drag
