Micro deal developed and published Airball in the late eighties. With its silly premise, great graphics, and intriguing level designs, it quickly became an influential and addictive ball and maze game for the PC format.
You are no jet pilot, knight errant or futuristic robot warrior. You are a beach ball. Life was going well for you until an evil wizard decided to metamorphose you into a colorful air ball and has transported you to another dimension. To make matters worse, you have a slow leak and must find a room with a pump in it every few minutes or you will deflate and die.
Micro deal developed and published Airball in the late eighties. With its silly premise, great graphics, and intriguing level designs, it quickly became an influential and addictive ball and maze game for the PC format.
You are no jet pilot, knight errant or futuristic robot warrior. You are a beach ball. Life was going well for you until an evil wizard decided to metamorphose you into a colorful air ball and has transported you to another dimension. To make matters worse, you have a slow leak and must find a room with a pump in it every few minutes or you will deflate and die. Overusing the pump will cause you to explode. A yellow meter in the corner displays the
amount of air left in the beach ball. The user can equate this to health or hit points in any other platform game, and instead of picking up food or energy, the user has to find the pumps as pick up items. They are sparse, so keep an eye on the air supply. So much to learn for the being that was a normal human boy just hours ago! The goal is to find the wizard’s spell book amongst the levels, and return to being human again.
There are over one hundred and fifty ingeniously designed rooms, filled with great colors and fun animations. They are also filled with things that can be considered horrors for a beach ball. Unfortunately for the ball, having too much pressure or deflating are not the only ways to die. The rooms of the alternate dimension are riddled with sharp and potentially deadly objects. There are traps, stairs and narrow passages all bordered with sharp things. When the ball strikes one and dies, a small red cross will appear on the ground to commemorate the event. On the next turn, the user is able to collect the cross like one would a power up item. These crosses are some of the ingredients necessary to make the spell that will turn the ball back into a human being. There are other items needed for the spell that can be found around the rooms, as well as other bonus items that are useful for exploring or for gaining points.
In summary, Airball is a strange little game that is strangely addictive. For such an odd protagonist, the beach ball really grasps people and you will find yourself cursing or muttering “ouch” out loud when the ball strikes something sharp and pops. The game features decent graphics for its time, amusing game play, and many levels to keep the player moving. In short, it is highly recommended for download. You won’t be disappointed, I promise!
