Go Mecha Ball – PS5 Review

Go Mecha Ball is a twin-stick shooter from Swedish studio Whale Peak Games.  But, unlike the glut of twin-stick shooters on PSN, that description only tells part of the story as this game combines some pinball style mechanics to really craft something unique in a genre that doesn’t usually offer up many new ideas.

In this game you play as a mech pilot who has to clear out each stage using an array of guns and techniques.  At first it might seem a little overwhelming but the starting tutorial helps you figure it all out pretty quick. On the face of it, the idea of Go Mecha Ball seems fairly straightforward.  You’ve played a twin-sticker before and this behaves like most of them.  You move with the left, aim with the right and shoot with R2 (annoyingly, as ever we prefer ‘aim to shoot’).  However, where the game gets interesting is when you have to rely on other ways of attacking.

This is mainly down to the fact that ammo is pretty limited and you absolutely will run out of it at some point.  Being able to pick up a second weapon helps mitigate that but mostly you’ll need to rely on collision attacks to make up the difference.  This is made possible by your ability to transform into a ball by holding L2 (although passing over boost areas on the ground will also transform you).  At this point you’ll be flung around the current level like you’ve been booted by the Invisible Man.

Colliding with an enemy has a few functions.  It’ll potentially deny their next attack, it’ll do damage to them and, if it kills them, they’ll drop ammo (and, very occasionally, health).  It’s a powerful tool for you but, combined with the various boost areas and ramps, can be unpredictable.  Instead of gently kiting enemies or sniping them from distance, you’ll often find yourself wrestling for some control and stability as you go crashing around the levels.

Each level is split into three waves where enemies randomly take their place around you and have to be cleared if you want to move on.  Between each level you’ll grab a new ability or perk, Vampire Survivors-esque.  And after every two levels you’ll get a boss battle.  These can be pretty tough though especially as health pick ups are rare and purchasable heals are very expensive (the economy on this game is a little bit too mean to be honest, it takes ages to save up enough credits for anything and there are no permanent upgrades).  And if you die anywhere in the game, it’ll be back to the very start for you which can be a bit of a chore after a while.  We love rogue-lites but rogue-likes are more often than not a pain in the arse.

There’s a lot to like here though.  It maybe doesn’t foster the addictiveness that’d come from a better upgrade system but the action is frantic and fun with the controls holding up very well considering what you’re expected to do during the game and it all benefits from Go Mecha Ball‘s excellent production.  The game uses an isometric viewpoint but with the high-res futuristic-but-cute style of something like the Astro Bot games.  Sure, it’s not quite as well finished as Sony’s mascot series, there are noticeable anti-aliasing issues when the action finally settles down but the colourful, detailed visuals are certainly a cut above what we’re used to from most indie devs.

That said, the randomly generated stages all lack a bit of identity and just feel like bits put together which is often an issue with that type of level design.  Also, the game doesn’t do quite enough with the pinball aspects of the gameplay.  It might have been nice to throw in some racing sections or puzzle bits just to mix things up.  So while Go Mecha Ball surely delivers on its core mechanics, it shows its indie roots in some of its design choices.

Twin-stick shooter fans looking for a new spin (arf!) on the genre would do well to check this one out but you might find the upgrading system a little too flat and the difficulty just a tad frustrating.  There’s an absolute ton of potential here, and we’re so keen to see what Whale Peak Games do next, but this one falls just a little short of greatness.