Wizball (Commodore 64) - Let's Play 1001 Games - Episode 118
10A wizard in ball form trying to restore color to the land... boy games were weird in the 80's!
If you liked this video consider supporting the series ► https://www.patreon.com/GamingJay1001
Follow me on Twitter ► https://twitter.com/GamingJay1001
Check out the website ► http://letsplay1001.com/
Check out the book ► http://www.amazon.com/1001-Video-Games-Must-Before/dp/0789320908
I'm Gaming Jay: Youtube gamer, let's player, fan of retro games, and determined optimist... Join me in this series while I try out EACH of the video games in the book 1001 VIDEO GAMES YOU MUST PLAY BEFORE YOU DIE, before I die. The game review for each game will focus on the question of whether you MUST play this game before you die. But to be honest, the game review parts are just for fun, and are not meant to be definitive, in depth reviews; this series is more about the YouTube gamer journey itself. From Mario games to the Halo series, from arcade games to Commodore 64, PC games to the NES and Sega Genesis, Playstation to the Xbox, let's play those classic retro games that we grew up with, have fond memories of, or heard of but never got a chance to try! And with that said, the game review for today is...
Wizball
Released 1987
Developer(s) Sensible Software
Platform(s) Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, etc.
Genre(s) Shoot 'Em Up
Jay's Thoughts
OK so all the color is stolen from your magical land. Now you, being a wizard, what is your first move? If it's to transfigurate yourself and your cat into magical balls with the power to shoot lasers and then venture off into the colorless and oddly moon-like world in search for those colors, well then you sir, belong in the game called Wizball.
So the story of Wizball is kind of weird. Also, I don't fully buy the story. The background of the game clearly makes it seem like you're out in space, and the grey landscape makes it look like the moon. So was this really a game that was developed as a game that takes place in some medievil fantasy kingdom? Or did they just develop a space game where you bounce around as a ball and decide at the last minute your ball is actually a wizard? Hmmm...
Anyway, let me preface my whole review by saying that I had never played Wizball before, and while I appreciate some people may have grown up with fond memories of this game, I personally found this game very challenging. To start off, when the game first starts your only means of locomotion is to bounce, and it is very difficult to control your speed and direction when you're bouncing, so you kind of just bounce all over. However, if you get lucky and kill a few enemies you can purchase an upgrade which lets you hover and move freely in 4 directions. Essentially, once you buy that upgrade, the game becomes a totally different game. I don't get what the point of bouncing was other than to waste a bit of time and occasionally kill you through randomly bouncing into an enemy, as it seems like everyone's first upgrade will be the movement upgrade.
Once you get the ability to fly, the game becomes much easier, though still rather difficult. You can gradually buy more upgrades, such as better lasers or even a small companion (your cat in ball form), and these upgrades do help, but it's still quite easy to die. Once you have most of the upgrades the goal seems to be to kill random enemies and collect certain colored paints to recover the stolen colors of the world. This wouldn't be so bad if you could collect the paints yourself but instead you have to have your cat do it, and you control your cat a little awkwardly by pressing the movement keys after you hold down the shooting key (which locks you in place as long as its held). It's a little hard to explain but suffice to say, it seems a little needlessly complex.
All in all, Wizball I think is just not my kind of game. I found it difficult and not very intuitive. The idea of buying upgrades was neat and actually, to buy upgrades you had to wiggle your joystick. That may sound like yet another convoluted control but honestly, that worked quite well so I have no complaints. I don't think that Wizball is a horrible game or anything like that, but I do think its the kind of game that has a limited audience, and so for that reason I really wouldn't recommend this to anyone who's never played it before.
➙ Must You Play It?
Wizball is an odd and challenging game by today's standards. Though fans of these older types of games may enjoy such a retro challenge, as someone who had never tried this game before I found it just too weird and difficult. If you grew up with this game I suspect you will still enjoy it today. But for people who've never heard of it before I suggest skipping it.