Here comes another brickbreaker game. Great! And I’m not being sarcastic. Beatshapers is bringing in a new Minis game available in the Playstation Network called WizOrb. The premise is simple. You have a small platform at the bottom of the screen which you control to go left or right in order to have a ball bounce against it repeatedly. The objective is to get this ball to break all bricks on the screen. But there’s more to it than that in WizOrb.
The story is pretty simple for this type of game, but it still quite creative. You have the Kingdom of Gorudo under attack by evil spirits. Luckily, a magician named Cyrus is here to the rescue and to restore peace. Specifically, he has taken his magic wand and turned it into a platform. And from here, you have an idea of what to expect…more brickbreaking action!
WizOrb has 5 worlds to go through with each consisting of 12 levels.  It should be of no surprise that you’ll be able to perform magic during this brickbreaker gameplay. You have up to 5 magical spells you can pull off. But they do consume part of your magic bar depending on what button you press and when you do this. The more powerful or effective the spell, the more it consumes your bar.
When you press the X button, you’ll unleash a fireball at bricks and enemies, which consumes a bit of your magic bar. But if you press the same button right when the ball gets into contact with the platform, you’ll turn it into a Magma Orb which destroys everything in its path. By pressing the Square button, you’ll have wind blowing across which would change the path of ball. However, if you press this same button when the ball hits the platform, you end up with the Fairy Orb which you can actually control its movement temporarily.
There’s also other magic you can perform. For example, if you let the ball hit the bottom of the screen, thereby making you lose a life, you can pull off the teleportation magic and have the ball land on any spot of the screen as you please. Also, if you let the ball hit the platform enough times without getting in contact with an enemy or block, you’ll start to replenish your magic bar.
Within the levels themselves, you’ll have a variety of blocks that either would require more than one hit to break or would need to be broken from behind. WizOrb also has switches which you want to end up in matching colors in order to destroy them. And of course, there are blocks that leave power-ups and items, including magic potions and coins. But they can also drop things that can hurt you such as those that slow down your platform.
The blocks can also drop keys and these are needed to unlock doors. Once that happens, you need to aim your ball to hit this particular door so that you can enter into either bonus stages or shops. The latter will give you the chance to stock up on power-ups. It’s this very feature that makes WizOrb unique and fun. Players then get more involved with the diversity in gameplay.
At certain points of the game, you’ll go around the town meeting a few characters along the way as they share with you their stories. You’ll hear how one has lost his house while the other will tell you how the farm has been destroyed. This is where the coins you’ve earned come into play. These actually can be used to help rebuild this town. Hence, the more you progress, the more of better shape the town will appear because of your generosity.
Throughout the levels are enemies that move around. They too can be destroyed along with the bricks. Once you reach the last level of the world, you’ll encounter a boss battle. They’re actually kind of touch yet interesting to engage in gameplay. While this feature has been introduced by previous games like Shatter, it still provides a worthwhile experience.
WizOrb incorporates an 8-bit style to its graphics. This gives the game a retro look that definitely is worthy of appreciation. And whether you play WizOrb on the PSP or PS3, it still looks fantastic with the various color schemes that manages to keep everything looking great. The sound effects and music also work quite effectively with the graphical design. However, if you’re wanting a game that has absolute 3D effects and such, then you may be turned off by WizOrb. But don’t let looks fool you as it still has a lot to offer.
At the end of it all, I had a magical time with WizOrb and you can too. This game can be purchased from the Playstation Store for $3.99. If you are the type of person that loves a good brickbreaking action but with a little twist, you have to check WizOrb out!
