Snowball

This is the third of Overkill's games I've played so far, and I think it's simultaneously both the best of them all and the one I enjoyed least. On an immediate level, it's a big step up from Wuv and Molasses Meow just in terms of polish: there is music and an animated title screen and a neat level-select feature and a clever central game mechanic that has to do with building giant snowballs and using them to flatten children and as platforms to new areas. It's a much more professional-looking game, and this is precisely where it fell down for me: it meant I played the game not so much as a bizarre and interesting amateur experiment but as a project which tried to be a "real game" in a more conventional sense and failed in the attempt. It made the flaws that much more noticeable.

The one big flaw is the physics. As a game almost entirely based on the idea of rolling snowballs around and watching them get bigger, the mechanics of the snowball itself will always be a big factor. The snowball in this game either pretty much lacked things like momentum and weight or they were just too badly implemented to be noticeable: you can pile up your snowball until it's half the size of the screen, but even casually glancing it with your character sends it ricocheting off wildly. There is no real sensation of an object with actual mass. This also leads to some awkward design choices: there will frequently be parts of the game where you need to turn your snowball around or jump on top of it, but as it's so volatile the slightest touch sends it bouncing offscreen these parts get kind of frustrating. You can kind of tell the developer(s) noticed this, too, because one of the keys lets you pass directly through the snowball. It's not a bad workaround but it doesn't help immersion.

I wanted to be more forgiving to that part of it because I always prefer some imagination to perfect gameplay, but the game didn't really help there either: the graphics and music were good but generic, there was a story about rampaging elves which was also kind of good but generic. It gives you points for crushing children with gigantic balls of ice so I give it credit for that but it wasn't enough to redeem the whole thing for me! One thing I think all independent developers should take into account is the idea of CHARM, which costs nothing and takes no talent to implement but always enhances enjoyment. Odds are there's a ton of more technically accomplished games out there than yours but noone will care if you manage to make yours more charming. 'Snowball' is a physics game with weird physics and without the style or imagination or weirdness to make me care regardless. I wouldn't call it a waste of time and there's certainly enjoyment to be had here if you can get past that but yeah.

ARBITRARY NUMERICAL RATING: il ike snowballs ofnce i threw a snowball at a dog ;p