After the Portal release, the genre of spatial puzzles won popular love. Physical tasks and manipulations with various objects in the militants from the first person no longer just annoy anyone, but quite the other way around. Well, Igrodel's fantasy just give a new field where to turn around ..
The story of The Ball begins with an accident that occurred during archaeological excavations on the slopes of a sleeping volcano in Mexico. The main character falls into the cleft and after a long flight is in a small cave, where he discovers the remains of an ancient civilization.
According to legend, many centuries ago aliens from space helped people build cyclopic sizes in the bowels of the Earth. It is a confusing labyrinth, which you need to proceed from the end to the end under the close observation of the representative of the alien race. When visiting each new area, a small screensaver tells about the contribution of “green men” to the development of natives. A little more information about the appointment of the maze can be gleaned from the secrets scattered in terms of secrets – a kind of analogues of audio days from Bioshock.
Once in the dungeon, the hero will immediately find an ancient artifact resembling a hybrid of a vacuum cleaner and a hammer. His true purpose will remain a mystery almost until the final. But the whole game will have to use the unit, because it is with its help that you can control a huge metal ball.
This ball is very similar to Portal Companion Cube. With it, you click on numerous buttons, overcome obstacles and get off with opponents. It easily conducts current, is distinguished by amazing strength, does not suffer from immersion in water (the speed of movement slows down slightly, and only) and can be attached to other objects.
The left mouse button pushes the sphere in the right direction, and the right pulls it to your feet. In the lower right corner of the screen there is a special indicator showing at what distance from the hero the ball is and in which direction it must be sought.
On the use of the ball and numerous puzzles of the game are built. At first, it is easy to deal with them – at first everything is limited to calm rolling the object from one switch to another, but over time you will punch flimsy walls with its help, and then move it from place to place using a complex system of magnetic cranes. The authors were clearly afraid that their work would be too complicated for an unprepared user, so they placed tips with arrows and hinting symbols in levels, and in key places they made recesses from which the ball was not rolled out. In addition, the game has a built -in assistance system explaining what needs to be done in a particular room (caused by the h button).
But from getting at the dead end, this all will not protect you. The key to success – attention to the little things. It is not enough to think in a horizontal plane here, it is necessary to take into account the entire level of level and outline routes not only for yourself, but also for the ball. Often the authors make you move along the upper floors, while the sphere will roll somewhere below on a hot lava or above your head on special rails.
With the help of an artifact, you can not only interact with the ball. He also “hits” in special subjects (they are marked with a shining blue sign), switching the chipsters or pushing heavy cubes. Sometimes, for a variety of diversity, you will have to break your head over the proper arrangement of platforms or solving mysterious ciphers.
The only serious drawback of the gameplay is the abundance of "jumping" elements. Since the time of Mario 64, it is known that the platforms hanging in the air do not particularly knit with 3D. It is possible to perform suicidal jumps from one narrow platform to another would not be so scary if there were more auto -safety points at the level?
The Ball from Portal also differs in the presence of a full -fledged combat system. Both a metal ball and an ancient fellow gun with an eloquent image of a skull are often used as a weapon. From the first levels you have to scatter with their help of revived mummies. Subsequently, you will find a meeting with much more dangerous opponents, who, due to their dimensions, are not painfully afraid of a ball rolling on them. And to eliminate each of the game bosses, you will have to select individual tactics.
The list of opponents is not too large, but exotic: monkeys, giant birds and worms, overgrown beetles and healthy lizards. However, the battle of special difficulties do not cause.
The design is designed in the same style. The developers were clearly inspired by the works of Howard Lovecraft. From his books, they gathered not only love for forgotten gods, but also craving for the scenery of enchanting dimensions. The authors do not exchange for trifles, building high pyramids, beautiful cities, dizzying tower heights and colorful ruins underground. It is only a pity that all this remains almost unequivocated in terms of the gameplay. Incredibly high ceilings and bulky buildings perform only a decorative function.
The language does not turn to call the game a technological or artistic breakthrough, but also a special hack, which is often manifested in games created on the basis of modifications, was not noticed. A pretty lighting system gives the schedule the necessary gloss, there are not so many special effects, but they are executed on a high quality. But the sound effects of a secondary role are given here. Only once for all the passage you have to encounter a mystery requiring to listen to the surrounding world.
• • •
The Ball makes a very pleasant impression. This is a complex puzzle that requires a player not so much perseverance as ingenuing and a fresh look at the environment.
Verdict: The debut was a success. The developers have created a fascinating puzzle in which non -trivial tasks are combined with fleeting battles and decorations inspired by the “call of Cthulhu”.
[[Break]]
It all starts with the fact that the hero is in a strange room with a stone staircase. Pick up a weapon right there and go forward.
Rise up, knock on the button (the left mouse key) and spread the staircase. Then go to the gate and click on the blue button. The barrier will fall, and a metal ball will collapse from the ceiling. Practice a little in interaction with it and continue moving.
Soon you will find yourself in a small room with a recess in the floor. Cut the ball down and press it with its two buttons, after which two strips will appear at the top, by which you can go to the blue button. She, in turn, opens the next passage.
In the next room, where you will be told about the history of the relationship between the inhabitants of the Earth and the aliens, whom they took for the gods, break the flimsy wall on the right. Disconnect the magnet and cross the bridge. The hero will be at a dead end.
Turn on the blue button, after rolling the ball to the high platform and jumping on top of it. In the room opened, press the ball on the key, lowering the elevator, and then pull the sphere to you so that the platform takes off. Click on the next button there. The door will open on the left.
Jump a hole with spikes and move on. Open the doors (simultaneously by pressing the blue and yellow button) and that there is urine, knock on the ball so that it hit the next switch that removes the stake. The ball will go down.
Return to the previous hall and, turning into the left opening to the room with lava, knock the ball on the button. A small partition will be advanced to go to the next room. There, click on the blue key and roll the ball along the edge of the room, taking it out of the room.
Return to the central hall and roll the ball according to two planks to the gates that opened at the top. In the next room, tie the ball to the square cobblestone (roll it to a special flashing mount and press E) and pull the granite block from the output. In the next room, twist the walls with a ball and drag the huge metal cubes hiding behind them into the central room. Put them opposite the corresponding shining indicators. The next gate will open. Roll the ball into a wooden elevator and go down. Fall into the water, press the button and break through the wall. The end of the level.
Crush the monkeys and enjoy the screensaver. Roll the ball through three gradually rising flashes. Go straight and destroy the next partition. Feel free to clash the sphere in the water and jump after it. Passage – at the bottom. Pour inside, press the button and lower the water. The exit will open further.
Go to the next room and press the switch. Water will rise again, and the ball is blocked. Swim to the upper right corner, go into the dry room – there is another button, press. The ball is released, the gates are open.
Go to a large hall with an elevator and turn right. Inside you will find a trap with arrows. Pull the ball to yourself and, under its cover, overcome the dangerous area. Go straight, shoot the sphere at the switch and swim to the blue button opening a narrow tunnel at the bottom of a flooded room.
You were below. Turn right into the corridor and soon get into the Great Hall. "Tap" on two switches with a hammer – the elevator will drop. Roll the ball into the opening part of the room and break the wall. Go forward along the corridor, then left. See a well with a resin. Mack the ball into it and push it to the blocked opening with an expressive bicford cord.
From there, direct the ball to the torch. The fire will spread to the explosives, the passage will be released. Go there and turn right twice. Having risen to the second floor, pull the stone into a wooden elevator, and the gate below will open.
You will fall into a kind of ancient station. Do not yawn, because after clicking on the blue button, mummies will climb into the room. Press them with a ball. Having dealt with opponents, go to the left, and then roll right. Kill mummies and cover up from fiery clots flying in you. You can deal with gonerics by destroying a wooden overlap that supports the platform (hit it with a ball).
Pull the stone staircase to the platform where the zombies stood. Press the button – the door will open on the left. Go ahead, kill the mummy and turn on the elevator.
Going down, go to the left. You will find yourself in a room with two magnets, to one of which the ball will immediately stick. To disconnect it, you need to raise the partition in the center of the room. To do this, go to any of the tunnels and, jumping through a few dangerous pits with spikes, get to the button. Disconnect the magnet and roll the ball into a closed half of the room along the same corridor where you just jumped. Go into the opening and turn left.
Go ahead and in a spacious room on the shore of Lavva Lava deal with a couple of mummies. Then look into a small cleft and click on the button – the gate will open to the tachas.
Roll the ball to an unusual vehicle and hit the road. At the "Station", deal with the zombie and go to the corridor. Fall from the bridge into the water and float with the flow. Soon you will be thrown ashore, where the village is located. Crowds of mummies live there. Go towards the pyramid. With the help of a ball, get a couple of stones from the passage. Go inside.
Go down and sit down behind a new tachank. The trip will end sadly: the unit will squish into the water. Swim forward and soon find yourself on land. Turn left. In the next room, the ball will again take the magnet. Turn left and quickly run along the corridor. Do not pay attention to the mummy. Jump over the water, go up the stairs and press the button. The ball will break the hole in the floor and disappears. Go after him. Break the next overlap and soon find yourself in a room with huge scales. Leave the ball into the recess in front of one bowl, and go to the opposite angle yourself and stand on the scales.
Now quietly pull the ball on yourself. He will fall on the bowl, and you will have the opportunity to get to the switch. Two rails will appear in the room, on which the ball is placed. Get down under them and shoot the sphere at the switch located under the ceiling. Go to the opened opening, dive under the water and fall to the bottom. There press the switch with a ball. Move forward until you find yourself in a huge room with drains. Go up and turn on the water flow, and then use the ball as a cork by installing it in the corresponding connector.
The water level will rise and you can get to the button at the top. Press it, and then pull out the sphere from the recess. Go forward to the opening gate and calmly roll the ball into the lava. He clicks on the button, and two rails will stretch to the wooden platform. Go up them and go to the next room. This is a large arena, separated by several partitions and a set of switches. Press blue and yellow buttons, raising partitions and rolling a ball from one end of the room to the other.
Once on the other side, do not forget to ride the ball to the magnet in lava. Then a rather difficult task is followed. Alternately pressing two blue buttons that control two magnetic cranes, you must drag the magnet from one edge of the room to another. It will be problematic to do this, since the mummy hunts you. Running away from the enemy, follow where the magnet is located. Having sorted out the task, push the ball onto the shaky boards and fall into the formed opening. Overcome lava by creating an impromptu bridge of fragments.
In the next room with a huge rotary mechanism, hit the blue markers to rotate the walls of the room and gain access to closed rooms. You will find yourself in a room with a hole from which steam is falling. Go down and with the help of a hammer break the stone fortifications holding the platform. She collapses down, forming a convenient congress so that you can press the button with a ball. Now jump into an air stream and you will take you up. Grab the ball and go to the previous room. Turn the walls and you will notice that previously closed opening is now open. There and go there. In the next room you will see a wooden superstructure. Roll the ball under a flimsy structure, get up the stairs and click on the blue button.
The platform will rise, and you can jump onto the bridge. Rise to the very top and click on another button. Then fall down and go to the opening door. Another interesting puzzle awaits you here – a maze filled with lava. You can only move along the upper floor, and the ball will swim in magma. First go forward and drag the ball behind you, press the button in the right corner. Then pull the ball into the spacious arena and put it in the center (there is a special mount of two stone skirting boards).
Come on to the far edge of the Fresh Bet sister sites room on several small platforms (don't fall!) and press the blue button. Now go back to the ball on the other side. A small opening on the left, at the end of which there is another button. Click on it, and a large seal touches the ball. Next, drag the sphere to the part of the room where the tiny platforms are worth. The gate opened in the extreme right corner. You there. At the end of the corridor you will find a little surprise. Do not be afraid and jump into the pit. You will get down and, having leaked into the next opening, will find yourself at the end of the level.
Listen to the story about the city and get ready to solve new ridds. Go forward along the bridge, roll the ball forward into a recess, in the middle of which there is a tall obelisk. Press the buttons, it will go down. Destroy the stone pedestal with the help of a ball and get ready to repel the next attack of mummies. Go up, go forward into the huge gate and turn left.
In this room you will see three wells. At the bottom of them are sharp spikes and blue buttons. First throw a ball into these recesses, and then jump on top. Repeat the procedure three times. New gates opened ahead, go there.
There is another meeting with mummies. Go ahead, soon find yourself in a beautiful square, where there is a huge obelisk, on the top of which there is a blue button. The column needs to be lowered, for which it is required to solve three puzzles.
First, go left to the room into which it is impossible to roll the ball. Go down the lift with two cubes. Install one on the left by the corresponding button, and the other on the right on a special mark. Spray into a cube. Press on the blue button and come back.
Adhering to the left side, go forward and turn left. Get down and click the ball on the button. Behind your back you will drop a platform. Stand on it and pull the ball. The column will rise. At the top, click on two more buttons.
Return back and examine the right side of the room. Find a beautiful descent under the trapezoid arches. Go down and click on two buttons.
Soon you will find a room with two aggressively configured mummies shooting fiery balls at you. It is impossible to get to them, but on the left you will find a blue switch, pressing which fill the hall with water. Mummies will drown and you can continue. Lower the water with the same switch and attach a small wooden raft to the ball. Take it to the niche obliquely from the stairs. Remove the ball and rocket it on a wooden platform.
Then turn on the water again, and the ball will rise to the second floor. Roll it inside the corridor. At the end, you need to once again tie a ball to a strange mechanism that blocks the gear. Eliminate it and see how the water level has risen.
Calmly throw the ball to the bottom, and go to the left yourself. Dive into the doorway at the very bottom, and then float up to the clogged windows, near which there is a blue button. By pressing it, go back to the obelisk, which has already completely sank. Eliminate mummies and press the button – the passage will open forward.
Go straight until you get into the room with a large gutter. Rub the wall on the left and go down the cube. Put it near a special button, and the beams that block the descent down will disappear. Roll up the ball to the pit with spikes and hit it properly – it rolls through a dangerous field and click on the button, however, the door will shut behind it immediately.
Return back and go to the new pass on the right. Move forward, jump on the platforms and soon find your favorite ball. Press the button and continue moving. You will find yourself in a room with an elevator, which only two cubes can open. Turn left and straighten with a couple of mummies. Here the ball must be used as a platform to get to the switch that activates the magnet.
Then drag the sphere to it, jump on top of it and get to the cube along the narrow wooden paths, which will have to be pushed to the closed gate. Now go to another opening to the room with a huge column, on the top of which stands the second cube. The premises operate an anti -gravity field, so getting a ball is much easier. Open the gate and go to the elevator that will raise you up.
At the end of the long corridor, a room will be found, in the center of which there is a magnet, and blue buttons are located in the corners. Run over them, activating presses with spikes that will crush the mummies that have hung on your tail. Do this operation four times, and the magnet will release the ball, but it will be available only on the second floor in a special wooden groove.
Do not worry, you can easily manage them. Roll it on the ceiling in the next room and turn left. There is a switch at the top that needs to be pressed with a ball. He will open the following passage, where it is required to press two buttons. The main opening with Magma waterfalls will open. Four mummies will come out of the door alternately – they need to be pushed into magma. Now take the ball from the room with four spiked platforms. Another corridor will open on the left, at the end of which there is a "living corner". Go forward to the end of the level.
There will be several platforms in front of which you need to beat with a hammer.
Your task is to get to the other side of the corridor and press the blue button there, which will remove all the columns and clean the road for the ball. Go ahead. Here is a room with strange protruding logs on the right side.
Do not pay attention to them, go to the left in the room completely finished with wood. Go down and roll the ball to the elevator. He will go down. On the left you will see a rising and descending narrow platform. Stand on it and go down.
Immediately look under the elevator and knock on the bottom with a hammer. Then urgently climb up on the same platform and press on the blue button from the opposite side. Now return to the room with protruding logs, roll a ball a little, and then release it so that it rolls by inertia and presses the button.
The elevator will drop, and you can roll the ball into the hole and press the yellow button at the very bottom, opening the next gate. Having overcome a long corridor and a small pond, go strictly forward. At the very end you will see a room with a blue button. Click.
The grate will open, letting it inside the ball. A little labyrinth awaits you ahead. Go straight, then to the right, left, then straight, then left, then right again. You will go to the wall with flickering symbols. Hit them in the following sequence: middle, right, left. The door will open on the side. Do not forget to drag the ball behind you. You will find yourself in the hall with columns and floor, dried spikes.
Go right, and the air flow will take you to the second floor. Click on the blue button. Jumping from one platform to another, get to the opposite edge of the room. Be careful as the columns rise and fall.
Having reached the destination, click on the blue button. A column with a yellow button will drop on top. Now you need to roll the ball just on the platform, which is located under the button. Return back, jump into the flow of air up and press the button. The ball will clamp between the two stone presses, and the door will open in the opposite side. You there. Move forward, deal with mummies and lizards, and you will find yourself in the second half of the huge city.
Four branches go from a wide alleys. The first two – right before leaving. Turn right. Here is a room with three cells in which there are buttons. Using a rotary mechanism, it is necessary to place a ball, cube and yourself in these cells by pressing the corresponding buttons. It is easy to do this.
After a simple operation, a button will appear in the same room, which you need to click. Do not forget to free the ball. Now go to the left branch. Here you need to turn a similar mechanism once to the left, thereby placing the platform in the right order. Jump them upstairs and get to the roof.
Go through wooden floors to the blue button and jump on it. The gate will open. Round the ball into the room by clicking on the corresponding button, get rid of mummies.
The next two tests are much more complicated. Go forward and turn right. On the right side you will see a small arch. With the help of a ball, hit the three fragments of the bridge, laying the passage on the second floor. Go up the stairs and press on the button. Go left in the same room and roll the ball along the rails. Pay attention to vertical signs on the walls. Here you need to carefully knock out the ball so that it presses on a button located on a vertical slab.
Where the rails end, you will find another switch that needs to be activated by a ball. Now go to the left branch. Open the grill and fall into the hole. You will fly through the rods, and the ball will remain at the upper level.
Here you have to press the yellow buttons to charge the ball with energy, which can be released by pressing the blue button. This operation has to be repeated repeatedly until you destroy all mummies.
Soon you will reach the lift and change places: the ball will roll down, and you will remain walking with the mummies upstairs. Continue to charge the ball and kill enemies, moving forward. At the very end of this absolutely direct corridor, press the button, roll out the ball and activate the elevator.
Now you can click on the button fixed on the descending obelisk at the end of the alley, and open the big gate. Inside you will find two switches, yellow and blue. By clicking on them, you shoot a ball with an explosive with a special opening.
At the same moment, a boss will run out of the closed gate-a huge gorilla zombie. To win, you need to hit it three times with a burning ball. It is not so difficult to do, the main thing is to constantly move and monitor the position of the gorilla.
As a result, doors to the bridge will open. Kill the mummies and go down on a huge elevator even lower.
You will see a huge vehicle with two grotesque stone wheels. This design is driven by a ball that is attached to the front of the machine.
Go up the stairs to the cabin and hit the road. Soon you will see three bulky pyramids in the middle of a huge wasteland. Drive up to the entrance to the first and leave the transport (do not forget to pick up the ball). Go down and go into a small room with a wooden structure in the middle. Turn right. The mummy will begin to shoot at you. You can't roll the ball there. Detlate from enemy shells and climb the pipes forward.
At the end of the corridor, click on the blue button and go back. The door will open on the left. Get a ball there and put it on a small platform on the left. Now jump onto it, and from there – to the blue button. Return to the ball and roll it on the floor with spears to the descent filled with lava. Press the yellow button.
Go back to a small room and click on a yellow switch, then jump into the pit. A flock of beetles will be waiting for you below.
Next is the labyrinth, which is lit only by the ball itself. Hold on the right side and soon see the blue button. Go straight, dive into an opening beam. Get ready for the battle with the boss – a huge worm. It’s easy to kill him, you just need to hit the beams – and the monster is the end.
Behind the monster, a passage to the room is opened where you need to click on the button. Go to where the door to the elevator opened. You are at the top of the pyramid. Press the yellow button and go down.
Sit down in a tractor, roll on the way to the next majestic structure and go down again. Get to the yellow button and fall with the ball into the pit.
Ahead zone with reduced gravity. Subsequently, this property will be transmitted to the ball itself, which will generate a similar field around itself. Overcome a huge abyss (with a new opportunity to the ball it will be quite simple) and find yourself in a spacious location, at the corners of which there are three blue buttons.
Click on them by moving using the anti -gravity field. Then, in the same room, the passage to the large cavity filled with lava will open. Jump over it, press on the buttons and fall down. The ball will successfully demagnetize.
Below, again a dark basement with beetles and mummies, but there is a bright zone with a powerful air flow. He will throw you up and the ball up. Continue to go forward to meet the next worm.
This time the tactics of fighting him is different. First you need to fill the room with water. Make the boss hit each of the buttons located around the perimeter. Then go to the transformer (go to the crack), roll up a ball to it and push it into the water. The electric discharge will fail a monster.
Return back and jump into the elevator. You are at the top again. Press the button – and run to the foot. Sit down in your favorite tractor and go to the third pyramid. You again down.
To go further, put the ball under the opened gates and set off the button. A hearing test awaits you inside you. First turn left and listen to the audio cod, then go to the right to the room with three yellow switches. The sequence is as follows: middle, left, right, left. Paul with spikes sank. Roll the ball to the edge of the abyss and boldly jump on it.
The next dark maze is located below. Look carefully at the floor – there are arrows indicating the direction. Fall into a hole, kill mummies and destroy the wall. Having made your way through a narrow stone opening, you get to the last worm. Evasion of attacks, click on the blue button. Now run to the elevator, do everything you need, on the roof, and forward, to the tractor. Stop into the last pyramid faster, avoiding the shells of the zombie-top.
Attention! Here mines begin to meet, look under the feet. To open the gate, it is necessary to resume energy supply. Pull out the extinct generator on the left, and on the right, direct the electricity to it through the ball. Sit behind the wheel and drive the lava to the great forge (where, by the way, this ball was created). Eliminate the obstacles arising in the way of your monster-car, and open the gate, jump with anti-gravity and do not forget to turn on all the buttons.
Inside the first barrier you will teach your ball a new trick. In a special furnace, it can be heated to an incredible temperature, and then burned with its help barrier.
In the same location, you will meet a new type of opponents – something between man and Godzilla. Destroy it is quite simple: heating the ball, push it into the enemy. After two strokes, the toothy freak will die.
Alien forge will not meet you too affably. Stand right under a pipe sucking hot air, and it will transfer you to another platform. Deal with enemies and drive the ball into the installation that will wrap it with mines.
Kit the sphere with you, leaving an explosive path for monsters. Go further into the next pipe. In the next location, you will have to kill the lizard with the help of electricity (you need to guess so that the enemy falls under an electric charge). Jump into the next pipe, leave the forge and sit on the raft. The trip along the hot magma river is not particularly saturated with events, so just enjoy the landscape.
Press the mines with a ball and go further along the corridor, destroying the mummies. Then turn right. You will find yourself in a room with two lizards. It is impossible to kill them yet.
Turn left and use a cube turn on the electric current. Board the enemies and place steel cubes around the room to ensure the flow of current from one generator to another.
Will have to tinker a little, but soon the next doors will open on the contrary. You will fall into the room with a huge turbine. Turn right and sit on a tachank. You will break through a couple of clogged passages and get into the next cave, where you need to click on the blue button.
The fan blades will begin to rotate, and the switch will appear near the entrance. Click on it, and the wind will take a dozen mines towards the minotaurs, laying them on the spot. Go right along the main road and go down the left to the end. Spend the zombie and open the gate on the left. This time, two mini-jails need to be eliminated with fire. To do this, load the ball into the fuel oil and pushing it to the fire with all your strength.
He will light up, and with him the monsters, who were caring in the resin. After the death of the giants, the gate will open, from where a crowd of zombies will pour. Get rid of them and light the torch at the end of the room – lay a path from fuel oil to it. Come out of this location and go straight, then turn right, and then to the left to the first open door.
Here is a flying saucer, in the center of which you need to roll up a ball. Suddenly a zombie will trample from the closing doors. Destroy them with fire, standing on the blue button (the ball is more unavailable). Now it's time to launch a plate itself. To do this, you need to hit with a hammer on the mounts in a certain order (from left to right): 1, 3, 4, 7, 9, 5, 8, 2, 6, 10.
In the finale, jump off the plate and wave the handle to colleagues-archaeologists. Congratulations, you have successfully finished The Ball!
