Cannonball Bounce – Review – A fun and nicely designed puzzler

Our rating:

By: Michael Wildermuth

Version #: 1.1

Date Released: 2011-12-01

Developer: Michael Wildermuth

Price: 0.99

User Rating:

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Puzzle games come in all shapes and sizes. Some of rather obvious that they are puzzle games, while others blend elements of other game genres into puzzle so that you forget your are solving puzzles. Another prominent feature of puzzle games is that a good puzzle game does not need flashy graphics, or amazing sound to capture a gamers attention. A well done puzzle game will suck you in to its world without much in the way of flair. Today we look at Cannonball Bounce, a game by Michael Wildermuth, which features simple graphics and gameplay. Does it have what it takes to keep your interest through one hundred levels of cannon bouncing fun?

In Cannonball Bounce, the object is your hit your target. Unfortunately the target is not that easy to reach sometimes, and so your must solve the puzzle to figure out how to get the ball to its mark. There are of course blocks to bounce off over, and even switches that open gates. As you progress the game introduces more elements to challenge you like clouds and various gravity.

For each level it is enough to simply beat the level by touching the target. There are no star ratings or hidden goals that force you to replay level you already won. Every level you solve unlocks the next one. The graphics remind me of flash cartoons your find of sites like newsgrounds.com. There is a simplicity that, while unusual for the iOS market, isn’t too much of a burden on the play ability of the game.

The early levels are laughably easy. I was really speeding through them. Luckily the difficulty increased at a good rate once the gravity level starts and introduces clouds that fall from the sky to get in your way. I even found myself momentarily stumped on a few levels.

The controls for the cannon are easy to use and evoke a helpful way to fire at the same trajectory. Tapping on the cannon allows you to rotate it while letting go causes the cannonball to fire. You lack any ability to adjust the cannon’s firing power, but it can be modified by what objects you fire against.

Cannonball Bounce is a fun game if you dig far enough into it. The initial levels are repetitive but once you play through those levels, the game starts to increase in difficulty. While the linear increase of difficulty may turn some people off, later levels do give a fun challenge that remind me of times of the classic Enigma game on Mac/PC and then later on the iOS.