Game Review: Xpandaballs for iPhone

The name of the game is Xpandaballs and the goal is to destroy the expanded balls on the screen. However, there is a twist!

Xpandaballs by Craig Caldwell

Now here is an innovative game idea! Xpandaballs is a puzzle game that requires you to destroy the expanded balls on the screen. You use a single ball to destroy the expanded balls, however, there is a twist.

In order to destroy the expanded balls, you have to hit them by the number that is seen on them! On top of that, every ball that you use to destroy the other ones becomes an expanded ball (expands to fill the space) that it itself must be destroyed. As you destroy more balls, you get more points and if you can destroy two or more with a single ball, you get extra combo points!

But you need to watch out because the more expanded balls that you have on the screen, the less space you have to play and the more likely you will lose your lives. With three lives per game, you have to be savvy!

The only hazard that you must watch out for is the Boundary Line that lays near the bottom of the play area. If any of your balls that you fire hit the Boundary Line, you lose a life. Through my gameplay experiences, I found that it was extremely easy to hit this line, so you need to be careful on how you angle your shots.

The game includes three difficulty modes (Easy, Medium, Hard) and five different ball types to play with. Each ball type carries a different characteristic, so you need to maximize your shots each time as to not waste the power balls! I will list the ball types and their characteristics below:

  • Normal Ball (Red): Default ball that has no enhancements
  • Speed Ball (Green): Travels much faster than the normal ball and results in harder wall bounces that can hit more balls in one shot
  • Power Ball (Blue): Destroys any ball with a single hit.
  • Black Ball: This ball is much harder to destroy (takes 5 hits) but counts for more points
  • Golden Ball: This is the epic win. This is a special ball that can bounce off the Boundary Line and ensure maximum damage if you aim it right

Xpandaballs delivers an incredibly addicting gameplay experience. I spent a full afternoon this past weekend working my way into the Top 10 on the Easy and Hard difficulty modes and yet it was still a challenge to put the game down! The game has good visuals, good sound options that include toggling the background music off in place of your own iPod music, a great $0.99 price point, and online high scores so you can track your progress against the world. Xpandaballs is scored a well deserved 5 out of 5!

I really like this game. I like it so much that I am going to give-away TWO copies of the game! To score yourself a free copy, simply post a meaningful comment below about the game and I will see YOU on the leaderboards!

You can check out Xpandaballs in the iTunes App Store for $0.99!

Enjoy!

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Winners chosen at random; Contest ends July 20, 2009 at 11:59PM

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