Ballblazer

• Release Date: 1983
• Genre: Sports
• Style: Futuristic

Game Description

Ballblazer is a futuristic sports game played by one-player against the computer at nine different difficulty levels, or two-players competing. The object of the game is to get the ball into your opponent's goal at the opposite end of the playing field while piloting a Rotofoil hovercraft gliding across the playing field. The split screen shows a first person view from each Rotofoil, the time remaining, and the number of goals scored by each player. A force field surrounds each Rotofoil that allows the player to grab or shoot the ball. Once a player gets close enough to the ball, it sticks to the force field and moves with their Rotofoil. The player then tries to move the ball down to the opposing goal or try to shoot the ball into the goal, complicated by the fact that the goal posts move back and forth across the ends of the field or shrink, making for a smaller target as the match progresses. While you have the ball, your opponent can rush your Rotofoil and attempt to knock the ball away.

Review: Overall

Lucasfilm jumped into the videogame industry in a big way with this superlative Atari 5200 title, Ballblazer, a sports game that non-sports fans can also enjoy. There are no plays to remember, no special button combinations to press, and no intermissions or replays to slow things down.

Instead, Ballblazer is all about fast action and intuitive play. The concept of the Rotofoil craft allows the game to be very user friendly with the Rotofoil orienting itself on the play field in two different ways: if you don't have the ball, your Rotofoil will face towards it; once you have the ball, your Rotofoil will always point in the direction of your opponent's goal. The beauty of the system is that you usually just need to hold the joystick in a forward direction to head where you need to go.

Even the energetic Ballblazer musical theme and celebratory fanfares help heighten the excitement since the music played during the match is subtle enough not to be annoying, but still conveys the urgency of competition. One barely noticeable feature of the background music is how it shifts with the action.

Although the range of AI levels provide a challenge (from the wimpy Drone 1 to the devious Drone 9), the single-player mode is more suitable for learning the game. The real fun of Ballblazer comes from two-player competition. The game is short enough and simple enough that you and your friends will enjoy competing again and again.

Review: Enjoyment

Great fun for two players.

Review: Graphics

The Ballblazer playing field is crisply depicted and smoothly animated.

Review: Sound

WOW! The best music (scored by Pat Methany) you will find on an Atari 5200 cart.

Review: Replay Value

This is one of those games too easy to play "just once more" about a dozen times.

Review: Documentation

Attractive and complete documentation.

Production Credits