Name
Foamballs Full Release
Author
CHAOS 256 Colors
Category
Game
Release Date
2018-03-26
Rating
(2.5/5)
Tags
Version
7.0
Requires MegaZeux 2.02 to 2.51 or newer.
Downloads
Foamballs Full Release
Foamballs is a freeware game by Kevin A. Lucas

About 20 Levels and 1 Bonus Level

Only 4 Powerups
4 Different Bonus Points
Changable Character Levels
and 4 Bosses!

Controls:

Left and Right to move player
A to Jump
SpaceBar to Grab/Throw Crate
Lachesis  said:
Link
Last modified 2019-10-09 06:20:56
Foamballs is a MegaZeux side-scrolling game with 20 fairly short levels. You're... the Foamballs! Apparently. It doesn't really explain anything about the characters you're playing or generally what your goals are until the end. This is game was made fairly recently despite its claim to have been made in 1998. I don't understand why someone would claim they made a game like this as a toddler, but I guess it's not the worst fake date to pick; The Stafen War was supposedly made before MegaZeux or even ZZT existed.

Foamballs plays like a bootleg of Squirrel King. You move around levels, pick up boxes to throw at enemies or to find items, and find the exit of each level to continue to the next. Some levels require a certain number of items to be collected before they'll let you continue. Every fourth level is a boss fight, which are usually interesting (if slow). The graphics are fairly low tech but generally do their job well. The sound is an unusual mixture of Sonic music, Christmas music, Windows 95 sound effects, and... whatever the sounds the Foamballs make are supposed to be <_<.

Foamballs isn't a very fun game, unfortunately. Even at the recommended speed the controls aren't responsive and the characters jump at an awkward fixed height. Boxes disappear when you're carrying them, and when you throw them they move in strange arcs that usually miss what you're aiming at. Many things will damage you even when it looks like they missed. Some levels have a bug where if you hold 'A' too long the jump breaks and causes you to fall to your death. Finally, stages 2-2 and 3-3 can't be completed at all due to different programming mistakes, so a couple of bosses need to be played from the editor.

I think there are interesting things here, particularly the bosses and the box mechanics (conceptually, at least). With some polishing this could be turned into something more enjoyable. In its current state I can't really recommend it, though.
GetDizzy  said:
Link
Last modified 2020-01-26 11:40:47
In the interests of keeping this review useful, I will provide a quick summary before providing some notes I wrote while playing this game for a review.

Foamballs is a MZXer's First Platformer, a product of the 2010s attempting to make you think its from 1998 both in its style and in the fake copyright at the beginning of the game. It is playable and somewhat impressive for what it is, but is let down by ponderous, far-too-high fixed jumps and some strange level design, including some bugs that make progress more difficult than intended.

Foamballs has some style, especially for one of CHAOS 256 Colors most original releases. I found its particular graphical style colorful and striking enough to be drawn in, but unfortunately towards what I assume was the end of the first level, the game lost me when it immediately killed me for falling back down from a screen I'd jumped upwards to, and seemed to do that whenever I attempted to ascend the tree.

I am also unsure why this game uses a swap world, but it makes quitting back to the title screen to start the whole game over rather annoying.

Many of the animations are slow at the chosen speed and some of the menus are somewhat unresponsive. The music is actually pretty decent, though I don't recognize most of it.

It took a little while to figure out the controls.

I had a much better time with level 2, for some reason marked as "Stage D" when it loads.
Eventually, I have a major hard time landling on a moving platform on "Stage E", game over, and decide to go to Stage 3 from the main menu, expecting to be placed in "Stage E" again. Instead I am in Stage G.

This game's internal organization is inconsistent to say the least.
Greensleeves is very interesting as christmas music. I end up trapped on this stage at a door it seems to be impossible to open. I then realize there is a key-grabbing mechanic in this game that I hadn't even been paying attention to.

The intentionally very slow inital loadin to the game gets quite annoying after a while.

The windows 95 sound effects are incredibly bizarre, in a way that almost makes me smile.

The jump height would be better served, if it needs to be a fixed height jump, at being much lower. As it stands, you jump far higher than most obstacles or platforms you need to reach, making the game feel slow and ponderous.

Overall, I would actually call Foamballs worth a look, though perhaps not a complete playthrough. It wears out its welcome after a few stages.

3 Stars.

As Lachesis notes, I think this would be a much better game with some more polish. I think it might be worth putting this one back in the oven and releasing an SE version or something like it, perhaps lower the number of total levels and expand upon the best of the ones you've got.