Go Mecha Ball Review

Every once in a while, you come across a game that is exploding with energy and chaos. Go Mecha Ball, developed by Whale Peak Games, is one of the most colourful and action-packed titles that I have come across in a while. This roguelike title has you changing forms between a cute mech that has an arsenal of guns available to use and a large ball where you fly through the level using pinball-style physics. There are waves of robotic enemies attacking, and you will have to decide which method of attack will work better: smashing into them or using your guns to blast them into pieces.

Go Mecha Ball is set on the planet Spira. A portal has opened, causing chaos and destruction. The survivors dropped deep underground to research the enemy and create a mecha suit that would be able to stand up to the portal and save the planet. We take on the role of mecha pilot Cat Rascal; all she wants is to restore fun to this once lively world. As you progress in the game, there are three other pilots that you can unlock, giving you four different options to select for your run.

The stages that you are playing on are essentially like a crazy skatepark with ramps, curves, and platforms that will have you rolling, leaping, and bouncing around. To make everything a little more hectic, purple speed pads are placed around the level to give you a speed boost to launch you even further into the air. Besides being able to get away from enemies trying to attack you, this extra boost will allow you to do more damage to the foes you smash into when you are in ball mode. This is especially helpful with enemies who have a barrier that you can’t shoot through. Hit a speed pad and smash into them to do big damage; just watch out for the large laser that they are trying to hit you with!

There are a variety of layouts for the stages, so just as you think you have the locations of all the ramps memorised, they will get switched up. Each stage is full of bright neon colours, and with the purple speed patches, this planet feels anything but depressing and destroyed. Considering that they are under attack, this place is quite hopping. I especially love the portals that will take you back to the home base when you defeat three waves of enemies. You get to see your mech ball going through the twisted, swirling path to get you to the starting location. At this home base, you will be able to play through the tutorial that will teach you the controls (I used an Xbox controller) how to switch between the ball by holding LT when you want to roll around when you want to return to mecha mode, let go of the button. How to switch between your two weapons with X, if you pick up an additional gun, one will be dropped, how to fire the guns with RT, and how to smash into opponents by hitting LT and RT at the same time. There is a brief cool-down period after doing this, so you won't be able to spam it non-stop.

There is also an upgrade station available where you can upgrade three different areas of your machine, one titled Upgrades, that will increase your Max HP or increase the amount of damage your weapon does. The Ability section will give you extra attacks that you can perform that aren’t shooting your guns; these include things like placing mines or Ground Slams that allow you to smash into the ground and send your enemy flying. The final area is to unlock new weapons; once unlocked, these different guns can appear during your run. You will have to spend the blue glitch tokens you collect from defeated enemies to unlock any of these upgrades. Keep in mind that you won’t get them right away; it just unlocks them so that they have the chance to show up during your runs. Once purchased, they will be available for all the future playthroughs that you do. There is no shortage of upgrades to purchase; with more than 50 upgrades and 25 weapons to buy, it will take a long time to get them all!

Go Mecha Ball is fast and chaotic, but it also requires a lot of strategy to successfully defeat all the waves of enemies and the bosses that stand in your way. You won’t be able to win if you only smash into your foes in your ball form or if you just walk around and shoot away. The weapons you use have limited ammo and will require you to pick up more bullets to continue shooting. Fortunately, destroyed enemies do drop ammo clips, and they fit any gun, so you aren’t restricted in what will be replenished. There are also strong enemies with shields that will block bullet fire, so you will have to be resourceful and use one of your other abilities, like mines or grenades, or find a way to land on their heads while in ball mode. Attacking from above like this is one of the most effective ways to take the enemy down.

Sometimes, when enemies are destroyed, they will drop health packs that will restore a bit of your health, though it’s only a small amount. When you defeat three waves of enemies, you will get to select from three different options of upgrades; these will be ones that you unlocked in the main base. There are a few that will give you more health or ammo, but be aware that when you start the next wave, you will continue with the same health and amount of bullets that you left off with. I thought that my health bar would be filled at this point, but it wasn’t, so it made the game quite challenging!

Go Mecha Ball has a great futuristic look to it, complete with cool neon colours and fun-looking enemies. There are four different areas to play through, each with a boss at the end to defeat. To go along with the extreme action, the soundtrack is incredibly upbeat and gets the adrenaline pumping for your run. I never got tired of the music, even though I’ve played a tonne of runs so far. This game is amazingly addictive! After being defeated, I kept thinking, ‘I’ll try one more time; maybe this time I’ll get a stronger ability or weapon to use against the enemies.’ One more run quickly turned into a couple of hours, but that’s alright because I’ve been having such a great time with this title.

Go Mecha Ball is such a fun game filled with fun moments that have you bouncing around like a pinball, mixed with a huge collection of fun guns to use against the enemy. Who doesn’t want to use the Ducky 2 weapon — that looks like a rubber duck with a gun in his mouth — it’s described as being better than Ducky 1! It can get frustrating to constantly be defeated by the variety of enemies here, but it makes you switch up the technique that you are using to try and find something that may be more effective for your next run. I wish there were more opportunities to replenish your health in the game, but I guess it means that you will need to be more careful to avoid the incoming shots coming at you.

Go Mecha Ball is so much fun, and it’s truly a rush of adrenaline. The controls are great; it looks super cool and is a great combination of combat and strategy at the same time. The nice part is that it probably isn’t a title that will demand a huge time commitment, as for the first time, chances are your longest run time will last for less than 30 minutes. Even if you get through all the stages and to the end, at that point, you will have your technique perfected so that you will fly through the earlier levels until you reach the more difficult areas towards the end. This is a game that you need to try out if you love games full of action, excitement, and crazy combat!