[REVISITED] Bang-On Balls: Chronicles – Must-Play Co-Op Sandbox

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• DEVELOPER: Exit Plan Games
• PUBLISHER: Untold Tales, CouchPlay Interactive
• PLATFORMS: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch
• GENRE: Adventure / Sandbox
• RELEASE DATE: October 5, 2023
• INITIAL PRICE: 24.99€
• REVIEWED VERSION: PC

Bang-On Balls: Chronicles is a combination of adventure and 3D platforming, where, in addition to bouncing through different parts of the maps, you will have to defeat various bosses and enemies. Although the focus is not placed on the combat itself, it will certainly be fun to roll your ball, which you customize at the start to your liking, all over the world.

Don’t be surprised when you first enter the game and are immediately bombarded with cutscenes that don’t show you too much, because the game doesn’t waste time, but on what awaits us during gameplay. It is up to you, the player, to explore the world you are in yourself. Accordingly, the game is conceived in a way that you are on a movie set, passing through different areas: film scenes, and solving set goals to ultimately create your own story and shape it into a single movie.

Creating Chaos is the Main Point of This Game

Our little ball, named Bob, can roll, double jump, dash, and smash into enemies, walls, doors, crates, etc. You will visit the Vikings, participate in a space race, defeat the Conquistadors, and visit multiple time periods in a Japan-themed world. It is precisely the creation of chaos and destruction that is the main point of Bang-On Balls, with a vast amount of landscape and maps to explore to collect as much blue currency, or money, as possible, and open new paths.

Yes, the game gives us several missions or quests on each map that we must solve to advance further, whether we have to destroy pirate ships, launch a rocket, defeat bosses, or simply explore the area. Additionally, the goal is to collect film reels, various weapons for combat, cosmetic items like clothes or hats, and get acquainted with every type of enemy and additional mini-bosses.

Various cosmetic items are located around each area that can be equipped not just to make Bob look different, but some can grant him powers. This means you can then imitate Thor with a hammer that creates lightning, a space gun that freezes enemies, or a jetpack that allows you to fly for a short time. Not all found and unlocked items will grant powers, but those that do will certainly come in handy.

Items can also be unlocked by solving different puzzles, for example, you have to jump on several buttons to open a secret room, offer a certain amount of money to various other balls scattered around the map that can provide various useful things, or simply defeat specially marked enemies.

Lots of Diverse Bosses

After completing the objectives of each area, we face giant bosses that take on an area-specific appearance, for example, samurai in the Japan-inspired area, and come loaded with heavy attacks and a lot of health. You also have health that you must watch out for, because if you happen to die, you lose half of your collected currency and start from where you left off; that is, you don’t have to repeat everything from the beginning.

Lost currency can be picked up if you return to your gravestone before dying again. In my opinion, the boss fights are very well done, each presenting a unique challenge: the Kraken in the pirate world, which, in addition to attacking with its tentacles, also has interesting attack patterns and spawns various enemies. Mini-bosses, on the other hand, are easier to defeat, and there are a lot of them, all followed with different types of enemies.

The visual elements, the detailed worlds, the maximum utilization of the Unreal Engine 5, the music, and the voice acting show that the quality and value of this game are at a top-notch level, and I have to admit that I did not encounter a single bug or error that would affect the gameplay experience itself. I would dare to say that Bang-On Balls contains some of the most detailed and rich worlds you can encounter in video games.

Bang-On Balls can also be played in multiplayer, where others can drop into games through random selection or you can invite your friends. Multiplayer is fun, but it’s not essential to enjoying the game. Also, there is no way to communicate with other players, so all you can do is watch and read each other’s minds.

Clean Gameplay

The title does have a few flaws. The camera likes to get stuck behind objects or simply can’t keep up with what’s happening. There were also sudden frame rate drops when too much chaos occurred in one place. The currency is not that useful; you don’t even have to use it to beat the game. You can generally rush through the game; there are speedrun elements, however, I would have liked the exploration to be a bit slower.

Bang-On Balls is truly a beautiful game with excellent level design. Expect about 10-15 hours of value in this if you are willing to explore absolutely everything; otherwise, you can finish the game within 5 hours, and it will certainly keep you occupied with its exploration elements. This title will not disappoint you; it offers a lot of content, and the developers promise to add new maps over time.

Review copy provided by the publisher