Xbox Indie Review: Radiangames Fireball

I kinda stink at twin-stick shooters. While I appreciate Geometry Wars and its ilk, it just seems as if their nuances and thus the fun somehow elude me. It’s as if my brain instructs my hands to simultaneously avoid enemies and blow them to smithereens, but my hands just go “oooh shiny,” and careen into the neon shapes. But as frustrating as they may be, and despite the ungodly amount of clones they’ve spawned, they’ve also enabled a new generation of descendants that add delicious flavors and innovative mechanics.

Fireball, like its predecessors Fluid and Inferno, is a prime example of altering the formula and crafting a totally new experience. As with Radiangames‘ prior releases, Fireball takes a fairly simplistic concept that is instantly recognizable and instantly addictive and executes it nearly flawlessly. It’s kinda like a twin-stick shooter without the shooting, but it amplifies the rat-stuck-in-a-cage madness to Spinal Tap magnitude.

The point is to maneuver the snake-like ball of fire around an enclosed space with the left stick while avoiding an ever-increasing horde of pursuing foes. While the fireball has no direct means of attack, there are pink time-bombs that spawn throughout the level, which can be armed by flying in close proximity. An armed bomb will explode after a second or two, and blow everything in the blast-zone into spacedust.

Thankfull the bomb cannot hurt the glowing gaseous hero, but just about everything else floating in space will, and that includes the bombs themselves. For some reason my brain instinctively labeled those pink orbs as my salvation and I had to train it to not cruise directly into them. Destroy enough enemies and you’ll advance onto the next wave but, just one death resets your score and the requisite kills needed to advance.

The glowing orange spacedust of obliterated enemies also replenishes a turbo meter, which provides the extra oomph you need to squeeze between the swarms of enemies, and believe me, you’re going to need it. The enemies spawn far faster than most twin-stick shooter-type games, and there is a bit of a helpless feeling since you have no direct means of attack. Blow up fifty or so baddies, and another fifty will spawn in a matter of seconds. The pacing is perfect, and the game provides tension like no other. Within half an hour, I was weaving through mobs and squeezing out of situations that seemed nearly impossible, and that’s what makes Fireball so exciting: there were countless times when it seemed like I was a goner for sure, and yet I’d manage to stop on a dime, turn on the jets and pull of some ridiculous maneuver to escape peril and detonate a chain of three bombs.

There are lots of simple details that combine to make Fireball so captivating. Since the bombs don’t detonate immediately, there is a nerve-wrecking feeling of trying to stay near the bomb so the enemies are close enough to the blast, but obviously still avoiding the horde. When a bomb detonates, the game very sleekly informs you how many enemies were destroyed, which only increases the inherent desire to blow up as many colored blobs at once. As a result, Fireball has a very compelling risk-reward system that no doubt fueled the majority of my deaths, but also makes the game feel constantly challenging and fun. Greed may have contributed to many-an-orphaned fireball,  but with online leaderboards and personal pride at stake, I really wanted to maximize the devastation!

Like other arcade-style games, it’s a super simple concept, but often the mental and physical execution is easier said than done. I cannot remember the last game I played that was both as constantly stressful and whimsically exhilarating as Fireball.  If you’ve played any of the other Radiangames titles (and seriously, why wouldn’t you have?), then you know what to expect here. The graphics are packed with flashy neon, the controls are tight, and the game feels completely polished. A bit of variety in the backgrounds, or multiplayer would help, but at least there are online leaderboards and challenge-room style levels. But those are mere minor complaint and do nothing to diminish the fact that Fireball is a fantastic game, and well worth laying down the dollar.

Visit the Xbox Marketplace to add a free demo of Radiangames Fireball to your Xbox 360 download queue.

Radiangames Fireball was provided for review by Radiangames. It is available for 80 MS points ($1).

By Mike Wall at January 22, 2011.

About Mike Wall

Mike grew up and lives near Philadelphia and has been intrigued with games ever since his parents preached that they rotted his brain. He studied journalism at Penn State and got his master's degree in secondary education before realizing that not even summers off would make that job palatable. He now works in marketing and is trying to find time to continue writing a book about zombies, aliens, vampires, the end of the world, and a talking cat.