Some games are not meant to be passed up!  Funkyball Worlds is solid puzzle/platformer, check it out!

Funkyball Worlds ($2.99; FREE)

Funkyball Worlds is a groovy physics-based platform game that is as beautiful as it is challenging. Guide the realistically weighted Funkyball across the platforms against the clock, collecting the stars to improve your time.

My Take

Well?  Accelerometer games are always a plus on an iPhone. It’s a feature that can’t be applied on any other portable game device.  Funkyball utilizes the tilt, while adding a casual platformer and a bit of a puzzler to boot. Platformers to me have a certain criteria.

They must have hard-to-master timed jumps, obstacles, bonuses, and hard-to-reach bonuses.  It’s an easy casual fix to conquer a level here and there, or to grind out all the levels in that particular world!  Funkyball delivers the goods under these rules of the road.  Read on to get some details on the game.

Presentation

Always a fan of vector-based graphics, Funkyball’s foreground and background have a good balance.  In their synopsis pulled from the itunes page, they say it’s a 3-D game.  I know it’s part of the selling point, technically it’s not. But the background is subtle enough to create an illusion.

I’m a huge fan of distorting reality in games. A lot of games on the Super Nintendo did the same, although it took a couple of years. Donkey Kong Country did with a developed engine and pre-rendered graphics.  But Funkyball is simplicity at it’s finest.  It’s a sharp, well presented game.

Game Play

The object of the game is simple, tilt the funkyball to the swirling portal at the fastest time possible to proceed to the next level.  It’s a simple point A to point B objective.  There are 24 levels in 3 worlds, which each level the difficulty increases.  They are locked up until you complete the previous, the usual in a puzzle game. With the platforms requires the jumps, touch and hold down on the screen to increase the length of the leap, to make it to the next plane.

Some are moving, some are protected with mines, and if you dare, you could skip a few platforms to reach your destination in a lesser timeframe. There are checkpoints thankfully in case you take a dive.  There’s no set number of lives, but your time still continues, giving you a reason to take it slow if you want to score a decent time.

As for the bonus part, there are gold, silver and bronze stars that shave down your time some, sort of a mulligan helper in a way. But again it’s how fast you can complete a level determines if you receive a gold, silver or bronze star by means of a set time limit given by the game developers.  To me as a true bonus, OpenFeint is involved with the usual achievements and global scores.  Truly the gameplay and competition make Funkball a solid game.

Suggestions

A few to consider. Although it’s easy, it wouldn’t hurt for a playing walk-through tutorial. Dealing with the handprint on the mines to defuse them successfully. Also on the platforms, create some corners to rest the moving ball so you can either calculate your next jump or figure out a best method. It’s a temptation factor adding to the level.

Finally the load time int he beginning is long, although I think it’s because the entire game is loading. It might be beneficial to load up one world at a time. Finally,and this might be splitting hairs, but all three worlds should have an easy, medium, and hard level setting. That would definitely lengthen the game. Otherwise the game is very good, easy to play, and good for anyone who prefers one of the three genres I mentioned.

Conclusion

2.99 is right on the money for this puzzle/platformer.  The devs are updating, but within reason it seems they update in large amounts over minor details.  Funkyball Worlds is a gem and also one to keep on your device.  Never let this title get buried in the AppStore, such a good game!