PS5

Published on September 27th, 2024 | by Nay Clark

Go Mecha Ball Review (PS5)

Plunge down the shooter lane and destroy your targets in this fast pace, rougelite, ball of a time! Go Mecha Ball is an asymmetric arcade-style twin-stick shooter developed by Whale Peak Games, published by Super Rare Originals, and released on PlayStation 5 on September 26th of 2024, but is also available on other platforms. In Go Mecha Ball, your goal is to continuously defeat enemies in multiple waves. The twist is that the world is framed as a pinball machine. Bounce on bumpers and use boost pads to gain the advantage in these chaotic brawls based solely on survival. 

Cat Rascal and her friends live on planet Spira where the objective of fun reigns supreme. A portal randomly opens up one day and sucks Cat Rascal, her friends, and Spira into the unknown. Trapped in this odd world, the group are able to build a mecha suit to safely traverse it and withstand the swallowing power of these ominous portals. Cat Rascal jumps in and scurries off into this mysterious new world. The story is unfortunately straightforward and uninteresting because it takes a backseat for the rest of the game which sadly makes it feel forgotten. Go Mecha Ball is highly focused on its gameplay and the story only serves the purpose of being a backdrop for the characters and the world.

Go Mecha Ball’s gameplay is incredibly smooth and the dynamics of the powers and upgrades you come across make this a really fun game. Cat Rascal’s mecha suit can do a few different things. The standard mode is to just walk around; from here you can fire and switch between your weapons. The crux of the gameplay is when you roll up into a ball. The mecha suit can morph into a pinball and you are able to speed around the battlefield to dodge incoming fire, get the upper hand on an enemy, or quickly change your course of action. You can burst while in your ball form, which runs on a cool down, and if you burst into an enemy right before they unleash an attack you will “deny” them which leaves them in a staggered state in which you can take advantage of.

Besides blasting your enemies away with the variety of different weapons, traversal is an important element that you have to keep up with as well. The constant switching back and forth between your mech and ball modes, dodging enemies incoming fire, denying enemies before they can attack, and dashing around the levels to find and take down these robotic fiends are all paramount to your success. Jumping off of bounce pads to soar through the skies and riding through air chutes that shoot you into a new area are a commonality which can sometimes lead to your failure if you are not careful. Some levels you have to approach in a more slow and methodical manner like if there are bounce pads laid all throughout the area, it switches up how you’ll tackle these enemies. Different strategies like coiling up into a ball while airborne to propel yourself in a direction faster are the types of approaches you may consider to assure your victory.

Enemies are diverse and problematic. Some enemies will hunt you down and follow you around the map. There are large robots that bounce around the levels in an unhinged way, leaving no room for errors. Tiny spider robots deal chip damage while fast green ones dart around to replenish the health of their friends. There are droids that snipe from far away that can be a real nuisance when you are trying to take down other enemies. The further you get into the game, the more erratic your adversaries become. The game is hectic and it is hard to prioritize in the chaos so it takes a great deal of skill to effectively overcome the difficulty of the game. You really have to be on your toes if you want to come out on top, but the challenge is half the fun so it’s not that it is frustrating in a way where you want to give up. Like many rougelites, the more you play and the further you get, the more you understand. Sharpening your reflexes and jumping back in to conquer a previously lost level is incredibly rewarding.

Your arsenal is extensive and there is a lot here to experiment with if you are good enough to earn it. After every wave of enemies, you can gain a random powerup that will help you in your run. Defeating enemies and simply playing the game will net you with some funds that you can spend on upgrade chips, weapons, and abilities back at the hub area that allows you to have more of a choice and fighting chance when continuing through this pinball world. Abilities like Disc let you throw two discs in front of you and the ability EMP stuns nearby enemies and even damages them if the ability is used to deny their attack. Useful buffs can be added to your Armory that act like temporary boosts in your run like health upgrades, damage output, and increase in ammo. There are a plethora of weapons to utilize and unlock like the rapid fire Meower or the Spreader that has a wider range.

There are a lot of upgrades, but the game sadly never applies them effectively. Unlocking more upgrades, weapons, and abilities is all good and well, but they never get better. It seems as if a lot of the new things you get are strictly situational based and even then, getting that upgrade or ability you need is still luck based. If you ever find yourself stuck on a certain level, you are going to have to keep trying to get that one extra thing you need that will make it easier or just get better. While the game offers a wide variety of options for you to have fun with, the game still pressures you to up your game and to “get good”.

The game looks glossy and vibrant. Characters pop and enemies have a nice glossy finish that looks fantastic when they break apart. Things can get confusing at times with the constant mayhem happening on screen though. At one point, I was in the middle of my best run yet and hardly even got touched. I was fighting multiple enemies at the same time and somehow I got stuck on a box. I had no idea that I couldn’t move due to the small lip in the environment and got bombarded with enemy fire. Incidents like that happen from time to time can ruin a run in annoying ways. 

The music is futuristic and sounds like how you would imagine a pinball world’s music would sound like. There are a lot of metal clanging and funky heart pounding beats. The main theme in particular is pretty memorable and I like the slow downed version when you go into the options menu. All of the sound effects from your character zipping around in ball form and the thump from firing heavy hitting weapons sound fantastic and make using them feel gratifying. The clitter-clatter of the ball rolling on the metallic sheet metal flooring also sounds and feels impressive.

Final Thoughts?

Go Mecha Ball is a unique and inventive game that surprised me with how fun and layered a game with this concept could be. It’s incredibly original and the combat is layered in a way that intelligently encompasses the roguelite element in a beautiful way. The weak story, skill gap between stages, and luck based upgrades can cause some uproar, but it doesn’t make it any less compelling. Controlling Cat Rascal is a blast and tearing down the opposition through environmental hazards or bumping them off platforms is extremely fun. Go Mecha Ball is an eccentric delight that I would highly recommend to anyone that is curious or wishes for a unique gaming experience.

About the Author

Nay Clark Gaming holds a special place in my heart and I never stop talking about video games. I really love all types of games and have an interest in games that have complicated stories and lore because I enjoy untangling the mystery of it all. When I'm not gaming, I unsuccessfully try to control three amazing and incredibly bright kids.

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