Do you like physics? Do you have skills? Do you like physics games of skill that involve launching coloured balls into like-coloured vessels and an ensuing smug sense of misplaced superiority? Then good news, new friend, because BucketBall 2, from Komix Games and Gamebalance, is here to meet all of your bouncing, blasting, ARRRGH I WAS SO CLOSE THAT TIME needs! Hurray!
The idea is simple (and similar to the first game in the series, Bucketball). You have balls of various colours, and you have matching buckets on screen. You want to get the ball into the appropriately coloured bucket, by any means necessary. Well... provided those means are clicking on a ball to mark its trajectory, and clicking again to launch it in that direction. Click and hold on a ball, and drag your mouse to pull the ball in the direction of the cursor. Easy, right? Well, except for the magnetic panels. And the teleporters. And the... well, you'll see. Are there rampaging Canadians whose booming "Eh"s reverberate with such force that they impede your projections? You'll have to play to find out. (Hint: There are not, but what a game that would have made, eh?)
The game features premium upgrades and five additional stages that can be purchased through Heyzap. But with fifteen free levels, and another nine that can be unlocked via the appropriate high scores, as it stands BucketBall 2 is the perfect size to fit into that afternoon coffee break.
Analysis: BucketBall 2 is one of those simple games people hang over their friends' shoulders, watching them play and secretly thinking, "I could do better than that." It's the digital equivalent of every puzzle toy every one of us has ever snatched out of a younger sibling's hands and said, "Give me that, you're doing it wrong." Because the trail of thought goes that if it looks simple, it must be easy. (And if someone does better than you, they must be cheating.) BucketBall 2 takes a simple idea, getting something from point A to point B, and shows us how tricky that can be.
Of course, "tricky" here should not be read as "difficult", exactly. While some levels require some timing and reflexes, or feel particularly fiddly, for the most part all that's really required is patience while lining up shots. Implementing challenges, such as medals based on how few shots you used or the time it took you to complete a level, would have been a nice touch and added that all-important stroke to the gamer's ego. "Yes, that's right. I've got gold medals. How many? All of them." As it stands, although it may take you a while to get there, once you're done, you're done.
But even without that aspect, BucketBall 2 is still enjoyable. While the balls themselves feel a little heavy the first few times they're in the air, once you adjust to that aspect, the physics feel more-or-less right for the game. It would have been nice to allow us to earn those upgrades ourselves through our, ahem, mad skills, rather than requiring us to purchase them outright, but I never felt as though I needed them anyway. Sure you can fork over the extra cash for the supremo bouncy upgrade, but it's not necessary to complete the game.
With it's easy to master control scheme and accessible gameplay, BucketBall 2 appeals to a broad range of players, and the new gimmicks that are introduced as you progress through the levels keep the gameplay from feeling stale. If you're looking for lighter fare to fill an hour or two, you'll find something to like about BucketBall 2: Son of BucketBall. Or, wait! How about BucketBall 2: BucketBall Harder?... *sigh* Nobody ever likes my ideas.
You can also Play Bucketball 2 at Gamebalance
Poor ball interface. When I'm trying to get a ball to jump out of a tight spot, I have to click it twice just to get into targeting mode. When the ball is rolling, that window of opportunity is small, and that extra unnecessary click is oftentimes enough to prevent me from advancing. I finally just gave up after 10 minutes of this.
Yeah, I agree. Horribly cumbersome interface. I'm sitting here with the first level, and I can hardly get the balls to move. The problem I see is that there's a timer before the ball returns to normal, which isn't long enough for me to get the ball pointed in the right direction. At the most, I can just make my ball roll from side to side.
Edit: Oh wait, just click and release. That seems to work.
I enjoyed the original BucketBall, and I liked BucketBall 2 even more. Improved game play and graphics made it more fun than the first version. It still has that quality where many/most levels can not be beat on the first attempt, no matter how dexterous the player is, and that will frustrate some. But that is one of the things I like best about this game. It recalls the old Mario days where you knew you weren't going to get it right the first time but that was all part of the challenge.
In case you guys haven't realized it yet, you can position the ball by dragging it from side to side. Then click it when you're ready to shoot. That's an improvement over the first version. In some cases, you can actually drag it into the cup without having to shoot.
The rolling balls are a bit unintuitive at first (clicking and dragging is the first thing that comes to mind when playing this sort of game), but very helpful after you get the hang of it. Not so helpful that the game becomes easy, but helpful anyway.
BucketBall 2 has improved a lot the original BucketBall idea, but it's still not my bucket of tea. Err, cup of tea.
FYI The original Bucketball seems to be triggering a malware alarm in Chrome.
My favorite thing about this is that they removed the frustration of trying to complete it in as few strokes as possible. After a certain point, I gave up and just played to unlock the next level, up until I actually couldn't complete the level. This is much more relaxing. The reward seems to come from setting up a very precise shot or set of shots, and they've given you better tools to do that.
Well, the 2nd bonus level seems similar to level 20 in the original game - in that, there's no way to really win unless you can thread a camel through a needle. After 20 attempts, the game is just pointless.
How do you beat level 5? I cant figure out how to beat it.
Level 8 has too much water
I've beat all 15 levels & opened 4 of the bonus rounds but i can't seem 2 get a high enough score to unlock the last 2 bonus rounds but i'm still trying, Just keep playin them all and figure out how 2 get the best possible combos u can and eventually u will rack up enough points to open sum bonus rounds!
Can someone post the maximum highscores please? I completed 15 baselevels and now have unlocked 2 bonus ones but cant seem to scoop the extra points...
thnx!
This game has plenty of upgrades which would enhance gameplay and fix some of the horrible gameplay issues. However, for every little upgrade (such as lighter balls, etc) they want you to make a micropayment (for each upgrade!). I believe this is what they call the "urinary tract infection business model".
All right, how do you beat bonus room 6? Looks impossible to me.
How do you beat level 12? For some reason I can't figure it out!! Please help.
Update