Everything you could want from an indie game, and a multiplayer too! Relatively unknown game that packs a lot of fun!
Boys, was I surprised by the quality of this game... :o
Single player campaign is comprised of 10 chapters that make a cute story about Babos (balls) - inhabitants of Babolon.
Basically the Babos have to defend their world from the invading force of Mercenaries, that want to take a source of tremendous power and rule the galaxy.
There are 2 factions of Babos: B-D-I (Babolon Defense Initiative) and Scorched.
Each faction has 5 classes, respectively:
1) Heavy ( Robo/Magmor)
2) Assault (Oculus Orbus/Horn Head)
3) Support (Jenkins/Aescu)
4) Flyer (Boba/Daemonak)
5) Runner (Eidolon/Pett)
Every class from each faction has 2 unique abilities that are unlocked during gameplay and a variety of weapons at their disposal for both factions alike.
The second thing that I just LOVED are unlocks.
Basically, you start with almost no weapons and no skills, but as you play you unlock and use them. Not only that, but there are unlockable skins (that are being made every week by Playbrains)
and of course, there are 3 skins to unlock just by finishing the SP campaign with both factions). There are also ranks and 2 extra weapons, that are unlocked after you reach top rank.
Playing SP is optional, but if you want 3 skins that are awarded for completion of the campaign, and you don't want to buy it as DLC (that costs measly $1), you'll have to finish the campaign.
And the campaign is a lot of fun and not to hard, but still hard enough to master. But SP is vital if you want to get a hang of the game before going online and get owned by more skillful players! :D
Weapons...a lot of weapons, and in total 4 types of damage- Impact, Fire, Cold and Energy.
Each weapon can pack only 2 types of damage, so if you want to hurt the Magmor, for example, that is resistant to fire and takes extra damage from cold, you'll have to take a weapon with those 2 types of damage. If you use impact/energy weapon, you'll do normal damage, and it will take more effort to kill the opponent.
That adds to the complexity of the game, which took me completely by surprise, as I thought it would be fairly simple due to Madballs being a cute indie game and such.
Multiplayer...ah, the thing that puts this game WAY UP!
What can I say-10 characters, a LOT of new and old skins, tons of weapons with 2 fire modes, 2 special skills per character, grenades, molotovs, jumping ramps....what more can you ask for?
Oh and did I mention 5 game modes!?
Skirmish (each ball for himself), Team Skirmish (B-D-I vs. Scorched), Invasion (players make the map by placing pieces and voting for best base and capture point displacement; after the map has been created it's basically Base Attack mode), Base Attack (destroy the base) and Capture the Flag.
There is also a clan support introduced into Madballs-now you can set up your own clan and see if you have what it takes to be No.1 :)
Another thing is the developer-Playbrains.
This developer really does it's job. They support the game very actively and their spokesman, winterwalker (that's his username on Steam forums), is always there to inform us of new things and upcoming updates. Not to mention he reads the community feedback about bugs and gameplay, and acts on it.
And I already said they make new skins every week, you just have to be online and play the game for 2 hours with the rest of the community, and you'll get the new skin as a reward for kickin' it with the guys and girls.
Playbrains is really awesome (for making this game and giving us free content AND skins; if you miss the weekly skin and you want it, it's only $1, and that's practically free anyway), and the guys over there have all my support.
This game is really the best game of the year for me. Big budget games are all they should be (well, except Rogue Warrior xD), but for an indie game Madballs really delivers, and then some.
So..you're still reading this review?! What are you waiting for?!
Go get Madballs and see you online! :D