In my opinion DX-Ball 2 is a very high quality breakout type game. It offers an easy mode, the ability to import *many* different boards, and multiple players (though not concurrently). The game rewards you for making things difficult for yourself, so if you want one of the highest scores, you have to have lots of skill.
The sound effects are spectacular for a game of this kind. From random explosions to the standard block being broken, there are enough audible stimuli to prevent monotony. One of the particularly memorable effects is the lightning charging before it explodes the remaining blocks into oblivion. Another one is the gunshot sound that the ball makes when it hits your paddle at a particularly high speed. These sounds tend to add to the intensity of the game. The visual effects are also very good. The special exploding effects are phenomenal and well done. The explosions and lightning look realistic and clean. It has many small effects that are just icing on the cake. For example, when the ball is going at maximum speed, when the ball hits your paddle, sparks will shoot off of your paddle from the sheer force of the ball.
The powerups are numerous and sometimes deadly. There’s the: thru brick (lets the player’s ball pass through the blocks without impeding its path), the dynamite (blows up all exploding blocks), fireball (turns any brick the ball hits into an exploding brick), the laser (let you shoot laser beams!), the ball catching field (can catch the ball), extra life, level warp, brick zapper (lets all bricks be destroyed), slow ball, paddle expander, eight ball (turns a ball into eight balls), ball doublers (turns all balls into two), explosion multiplier (makes all bricks touching combustible bricks combustible), and mega ball (makes your balls huge). As for the bad effects you can have, there’s the: Skull and bones (kills you), ball shrinker (makes your balls small), fast ball (makes the ball go the max speed, paddle shrinker, the super paddle shrinker (makes your paddle the smallest it can go), and the falling bricks (makes the bricks go down one level every time a ball hits your paddle).
With all of these powerups and audiovisual stimulation, it is a hard game to put down. Just be careful that you don’t waste your whole day just trying to beat your friend’s top score. ;)
Written by:
~porkphreak
