The Ball Review

I had the privilege of running over this game from the guys at Teotl Studios while it was in beta and even back then the game impressed me, for those who may have missed our preview you may read it here.

You assume the role of an unnamed and mute protagonist in Mexico circa 1940. Due to an unfortunate archaeological dig accident, you find yourself deep underground with no immediate method of rescue.
With nothing to hand in order to pass the time until a rescue party arrives, you are told to explore the area, doing so you uncover some hidden ruins, possibly dating back to Aztec times with a thought of the old 80's cartoon series "Mysterious Cities of Gold" and wondering if we'll come across Esteban in his quest to find his father.

During your exploration you come across some mystical device which has the power to control giant metallic balls which also have the ability to go translucent so you may see through them, which is quite useful when you're lugging one of these things around the levels. Utilising both device and ball you solve rudimentary puzzles before exploring deeper into this hidden temple complex, filled with traps, hidden dangers and not so friendly inhabitants. You soon realise that only though clever use of the devices you have found can you escape this nightmare-ish hell hole.

As you may have guessed, The Ball is essentially a FPS title, just without the shooting element, naturally one would assume it would be compared to Portal, but it wouldn't be fair to do so due to the different nature of each title. While Valve's title will make you think differently, think outside realms of our own perceived reality using the Portal technology in that game, The Ball actually creates very challenging puzzles which makes use of the tools you are provided at the very start of the title. This increase of puzzle difficulty is just through very creative design, the number of times I've sat at a puzzle with no apparent way of solving it, only for the light to dawn in my mind during a moment of clarity is testament to the team at Teotl, even more credible due to this being the company's debut title.

As I stated in the preview, the graphics are quite stunning, utilising Epic's Unreal Engine 3 to good effect. The intricate carvings on the wall from this ancient civilisation, the bugs crawling over your face as you walk though an old dusty cobweb, the impressive vista's as you exit a tunnel to be greeted with a huge towering temple. The mummy models along with the other assorted nasties you will encounter look very well done indeed, the huge muscle exposed gorilla has to be seen with your own eyes to be fully appreciated.

This has no doubt been a fairytale story for Teotl Studios, from starting as humble Unreal Tournament modders to coming through the "Make Something Unreal" contest with a number of honours to now having a fully fledged stand alone title published by Tripwire Interactive, the team have been on somewhat of a roller-coaster ride to get this far. If The Ball is an indication of what the team can do, I expect a lot of good things to come from this developer.

The Ball is available through Valve's digital distribution network Steam for £14.99 and is fully integrated with 17 Steam achievements and Steam leaderboards, so there is plenty of gameplay in this title for a bargain price.