WIZORB - REVIEW (ONGOING)

I would have had this review finished a long time ago if it wasn't for something particular, but I'll get to that point later on.

 Wizorb is the name of the game and what it's about - that could be quite confusing when regarding just the name. Essentially it's block breaker in a retro 8 bit aesthetic but up to date by ... hmm, being released today? It's an innocent £2 on Steam for PC & Mac but has also been released on Xbox as an Indie game for, I dunno,  about the same amount of Xbox points as a sock for your avatar.

 The game takes place in a beautifully created nostalgic fantasy world in which you, the wizard, must turn into a ball and break blocks, monsters, chests, secret doors, bosses and more blocks, to rid the world of evil (probably). At the beginning of each level you see you, the wizard, but only for a split second before he's turned into an orb and his staff into some sort of bigger staff which is now horizontal. It's this panel / staff that you control to rebound the orb to take out the blocks and monsters etc. Though strangely you have this constant portrait of the Wizard in the top right corner who at the end of a level, gives a big youthful smile to you as if he had just won a round in Street Fighter.

 The mechanism is simple and the game is somewhat addictive if it weren't for that big problem festering on the side of it and which is taking me forever to get this review done. That being the fact that you HAVE to destroy every last block in the level before you can go on to the next. At first I thought by taking out the enemies / monsters I would advance to the next level, but no, it's like cleaning up after a party and everyone's left - you're left there tediously trying to rebound your orb in the hope that it hits that one last block which is sitting, laughing at you, from behind an indestructible concrete wall. This really kills the flow and fun of the game for me and even though you get spells which can come in handy to tackle this problem, it's not always possible as blocks aren't always in the firing line for your spells for you may be out of mana.

 If you're a retro fantasy / block breaker lover who loves the same 8 bit tune being repeated constantly and doesn't make tedious work, then this is £2 well spent. For the rest of us, £2 is a steal for what could be a great game but one which is crying out to be changed to a more enjoyable one.

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