If you want standard pinball, you go and play Pinball FX from Zen Studios. But if you want to be whacked from pillar to post with a full sensory overload whilst playing pinball, it’s Go Mecha Ball you should be firing up.
An absolutely unique take on the standard pinball offerings, this is a twin-stick shooter that will have you pinging, bumping, dashing, rolling and shooting your way to glory.
Mixing pinball mechanics with twin-stick shooting isn’t something that I ever really thought could work. But it does and it works quite brilliantly. In fact, the only thing holding it back from utter greatness is the grind found in the roguelike mechanics that are offered up. Perhaps that’s a personal thing.
Go Mecha Ball is a twin stick shooter set inside a pinball world. You play as a humble protagonist, eventually picking from a choice of four Mecha-suited, you’ll initially start your foray into Go Mecha Ball with Cat Rascal, a little feline who is fully kitted out for the adventure ahead.
Thrust into a series of levels, your goal in Go Mecha Ball is to clear each stage of all enemies; multiple waves of which try to take you down. Do so and a warp hole emerges, dragging you in, whisking you off to the next stage. Throw in some boss battles and tons of weapons and you’ve got everything you would consider essential in a twin stick shooter.
Where this one switches tact though is that at any point you can roll up into a ball, dashing your way around the stage, making the use of bumpers, boosts and the like. It’s a brilliant way of getting around the fairly small stages, as you look to hone your movement skills and traverse, vertically too. As a ball, you can bash into enemies, depleting shields, taking down their health levels, picking up ammo, emerging back onto two feet for another blast of your weapons. It’s a combination of that shooting and that bashing which you will need to utilise.
Frantic, futuristic, extremely fast and occasionally unpredictable is the best way of summing up the action of Go Mecha Ball. But at all times it is utterly fluid, ensuring it’s a cinch to become one with your character. And if you play things right, at times it becomes a little strategic too, rolling in, taking a shot and getting the hell outta there again, mustering up further courage for a second hit. We’d say that, ultimately, your success will be dictated by the tactics you use.
The stages of Go Mecha Ball are brilliant. Whilst it may not initially feel like it, after a short while you’ll really begin to feel at one with the flow of the pinball-table arenas, harnessing environmental features, destroying others. Flinging yourself around as a ball, into the air to rain down with bullets and specials is a real joy. When it goes right, Go Mecha Ball flows like no other. And only occasionally have I been left frustrated by the mechanical side of things. What’s more, rather strangely, the only time the game has ever slowed down is during some brief level-to-level cutscenes.
But it’s in the roguelike nature, re-runs and weapons where it all gets interesting. Or at least it will for those happy to embrace some roguelike grind.
Twin stick shooters live and die on the weaponry available and Go Mecha Ball has tons. In fact, it’s got multiples of unlockable weapons, abilities and upgrades, all of which can be purchased with in-game pick-ups, gathered from each run. You’ll find the likes of grenades equippable, along with EMP blasts, throwable discs, spin attacks, mines and more. We’ve found these abilities to be absolutely crucial to progress through Go Mecha Ball; without them, runs may last just a few mere minutes.
Upgrading health points, adding stun points and collision damage is par for the course too, but the real fun is in the amount of weapons. There’s something for everyone, with a couple available for use at all times, swapping in and out. We’ll leave you with some gun names – Meower, Woodpecker Laser Race, Lightspitter – and let your imagination run wild with how they work. We bet you won’t be far off. Combined, there are the best part of a hundred weapons, abilities and upgrades, meaning Go Mecha Ball is kept fresh.
An in-game shop will aid with runs, with help coming in the form of mid-level card boosters ready to be chosen from. By making the most of what is on offer, and taking in a fair bit of grind, eventual progress will be made. Just be ready for a number of unsuccessful runs with your early moments of Go Mecha Ball.
All this looks and sounds great too. Full of detail, colour and vibrancy, we’ve been extremely taken with the visual style utilised in the character designs, plethora of enemy types and levels. With a range of foes requiring various tactics – some big and shielded that need some hit and run tactics, whilst smaller enemies require a fast blast and many a bullet – Go Mecha Ball is more tactical than you may think too.
And frankly, the soundtrack that brings it all together is a stunner. Much like the action on display, it’s fast, hard-hitting and will pound your ears. Play Go Mecha Ball with headphones on and you’ll be treated to an aural delight.
On the whole, there’s not much to dislike in regards Go Mecha Ball. It runs super smoothly, no matter how fast and frantic the action gets, and the roguelike nature means that new runs with differing loadouts are never too far away. But it would be interesting to see how this one would have handled a more standard gaming route, running a variety of levels one after another, with a proper end-goal always within reach.
Aside from that, Whale Peak Games have done a great job in the creation of Go Mecha Ball. A unique game that mixes genres that probably shouldn’t ever be mixed, it turns out to be highly successful. If you want a pinball fix with a twin-stick shooting twist, this is one that should keep you going for a while.
