Bang-On Balls: Chronicles

Genre: 3D Platformer

Players: 1-4 Co-Op / Competitive (Local Wireless / Online)

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Review:

Bang-On Balls is a 3D Platformer released in 2023 on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. This game puts you in the role of an anthropomorphic ball jumping and bashing its way through various historical periods via TV sets it jumps into.

It may seem a bit odd to make the player into a ball… as well as all characters, enemies, animals, and even parts of the scenery… but this doesn’t seem to have a great effect on the gameplay. Sure, you’re bouncing and speeding around, but so do Mario and Sonic. In fact, replace your ball character with Mario and enemies with goombas and koopa troopas, and the game wouldn’t seem terribly out of place for a 3D Mario adventure.

The worlds you have to explore here are surprisingly large, full of detail, and with tons of destructible elements and enemies. The layout isn’t haphazard either – there is some genuinely good level design here that really encourages players to explore all the nooks and crannies of its world, with lots of fun secrets hidden around, from funny scenes nestled away throughout the world, to treasure chests full of the tiny glowing orbs that represent this game’s currency, used to buy cosmetic upgrades off of friendly characters you encounter.

There’s very little in the way of written or discernable spoken language in this game. The ball-characters generally all talk in a high-pitch almost-gibberish where you can sometimes make out words, but you’re not really intended to follow what’s being said. That character jumping with glee after you busted down a locked cage they’re in is undoubtedly friendly, while the character making angry eyes at you is probably craving a fight.

Combat in Bang-On Balls is one of its weakest elements. Players can acquire throwing weapons, but mainly they’ll be fighting by using a dash move to bash into enemies. This move is imprecise, and the need to constantly dash around to evade enemy attacks results in everything seeming extremely frenetic and hard to keep track of. As much as I loved exploring this game’s worlds, that joy turned to frustration any time I ran into a combat section I apparently couldn’t avoid.

Sadly, there’s another problem here that’s playing a major role in making the game hard to follow. The Nintendo Switch version of the game suffers from some pretty low resolution and massive slowdown on top of an already low framerate. I don’t have numbers, but this game is rough, and it made it agonizing to play this game on Nintendo Switch.

While I still have some issues with its combat, I otherwise feel like Bang-On Balls is a pretty solid 3D Platformer… or at least, I assume it is a solid 3D Platformer on other game platforms. On Nintendo Switch, the graphical issues made it just too difficult to get into this game in the way I would have wanted to. It’s a shame, because this game seems like a perfect fit for Nintendo Switch, but trust me when I say that if at all possible, you want to play this elsewhere.

tl;dr – Bang-On Balls is a 3D Platformer where everyone is an anthropomorphic ball. While I’m not fond of this game’s combat, the worlds this game has you exploring are delightful. Unfortunately, the Nintendo Switch version of the game suffers from such severe technical issues that I highly recommend you seek this game out on another platform instead.

Grade: C+

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This game has been nominated for one or more of eShopperReviews 2023 Game Awards:

Runner-Up: Most Overrated, Worst Port/Remake, Most Disappointing

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