Guess what? It’s another one of those “ball rolling” games. Fortunately, Equilibrio isn’t quite like most of the other games in this genre. Instead of infinitely rolling and jumping, or even having a definite but long level, Equilibrio’s levels tend to be short for the most part. Also, unlike most ball rolling games, the levels aren’t very linear. In fact, some of them would be pretty hard to follow without the mini map in the lower left corner of the screen. Sometimes the level designs are a bit frustrating, but for the most part they are actually pretty decent, and usually they are fun.
Basically, you start at point A and must get to point B. You use the accelerometer to move the ball left and right, and physics handles everything else. The more you tilt the faster you go, which helps you jump over things. If you need to fall of a cliff, just roll to the edge. Sometimes there are teleports that will take you to other parts of the level, and at other times there are cannons that will fire you off to new locations. The cannons are affected by your tilting just like the ball is. Along the way you’ll encounter stars, and you can pick them up for extra points. Your ranking on a level is based on stars collected and the amount of time it takes you to pass a level (I think number of tries might be included in there as well).
Beware The Bounce
On certain levels you’ll get different types of balls, which greatly affect game play. For instance, the rubber ball can be hard to keep under control if it starts bouncing off the walls (literally), and the stone ball breaks if it falls too far or collides with something at too fast a speed. The differences in the way the balls behave makes the game even more interesting, but it can make certain levels induce some hair pulling moments. Thankfully, even though each subsequent level is locked until you complete the current one, you can actually choose to skip a level and complete it later if the level is too troublesome for you. I’ve had to take advantage of that offer once so far.
The game has three modes that you can play. Conquest allows you to go sequentially through all the levels. This is a good place for most people to start. Challenge mode is interesting because the game randomly picks 5 levels, and you must beat all the levels to win. Some levels you just have to complete, while others require you to complete them under a certain amount of time. For timed levels picking up a star will add 2 seconds to your time. Finally there’s random mode, where the game just picks a level at random for you to play. I think this one would have been a bit more fun if the game would have asked if you wanted to continue after each level instead of just dumping back to the main menu. It would have been the same number of taps (1), but the flow would have been better in my opinion.
The graphics are okay. Menu and interface elements, such as the speed meter and mini map, actually look really polished. Even some of the special effects, like the ball kicking up dust when it lands or the particles when the ball disperses after hitting something, don’t look too bad. The background textures are decent at times as well. Unfortunately, the balls look like small, bland 3D renderings, and much of the level graphics look like simple wide line brushes or carved out spheres from paint. There’s just a really inconsistency to the level of quality in the visuals.
Level Of Fours
Sound effects are pretty decent, especially when it comes to the noises the ball makes when rolling or tapping against something. I also like the sound of the acid bubbling. The music is all right, but it seems like the only play the first few bars of the track when you’re actually on a level. The music played during the menu seems much more extensive.
Equilibrio is a nice change of pace from most ball rolling games. The puzzles are challenging but for the most part surmountable without too much stress. There are 60 levels, three different game play modes, and several prizes to earn that should keep you busy for quite some time. This game existed before the rise of the social network, otherwise it seems like it would be a perfect candidate for OpenFeint. While the audio and visual elements aren’t nearly as nice as many other games in this category, the game play more than makes up for it. This is a bit of an older game, but if you haven’t tried it yet, and especially if you like this style of game, I highly recommend giving Equilibrio a try.
Final Verdict: Recommended
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