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Get out your Competition Pro joystick and Hop To It!
Cosmic Bouncer is one of those purely fun games, lots of heart in it and requires almost no familiarization to get started. In this sense it is more reminiscent of an arcade game which was developed straight for Amiga, instead of the other way around. You will learn how to play within the first 10 seconds, as the only trick to the game is to just keep from falling off the scrolling levels. But the amount of variation and imagination which Euroline packed into the gameplay is really outstanding. Being able to turn a simple concept into an engaging game is no easy feat, but Cosmic Bouncer has done so.
The game itself is all action, the introduction storyline being static and non-essential like many coin-ops are. Basically, an intergalactic tennis ball has come to life and needs to be guided back home. The game has 22 levels of increasing difficulty, but only 11 of which are true gaming levels. The other 11 are quick bonus levels where one cannot lose any balls. But don't think that 11 levels are going to be a cinch, it isn't hard to find ways of perishing, and levels restart from the beginning after every death. Some players may find this frustrating, however the game is specifically designed to place your joystick skills to the test.
The progression of game difficulty is really well executed, revealing how much thought was put into every level design. As the game introduces more challenges, it always does so within a balance towards ensuring the amount of fun remains the same. I also find that having no extraneous explanations of what every kind of platform stands for and not providing useless names for enemy characters allows players to involve their own imaginations into the game. Useful hints and secret-platforms are placed throughout levels if one only has the skill to navigate onto them, and discovering how each new element of the game is friendly or deadly becomes a large part of the fun in addition to completing a level. There is even something oddly satisfying about the pleasant swish-sound that occurs every time one finds a new opportunity to be poofed into oblivion.
Graphics and gameplay are consistently smooth, of the same technical quality as something like Pinball Dreams and high-end OCS games. The visual quality is what creates a sense of wonder as you encounter all manner of strange levels and their inhabitants. Yet these visuals are never allowed to overshadow or complicate the basic play mechanics, which is important to preserving the core of game.
The sound is also subtle, used in a manner to emphasize interesting points of the game without becoming repetitive. The game music consists of only one long, repeating midi-style track, but amazingly its quality and tone accompany the gameplay perfectly and without becoming tiresome. Think of the Super Mario theme only with ten times the effort and musicianship behind it.
To be critical, Cosmic Bouncer doesn't attempt to go outside the very fixed game mechanics it was given. Players who do not enjoy games that never deviate from set formulas may find Cosmic Bouncer to be repetitive, as their is no component of strategy involved. Reflexes and skill with a joystick are primarily required, however, a lot of intuition is also necessary to pick out the best routes to take. But because there is a great deal of variation within the fixed limitations of the game, it allows for some very dynamic play even though Cosmic Bouncer stays very simple throughout. I think the game is an excellent example where the designers recognized how it is far too easy for complexity to ruin fun, and so they developed their main idea to its fullest.
Apart from a title which doesn't offer players any idea what they're getting into, the game is solid and well planned fun. So, if you ever found that wandering around an arcade and dropping a roll of quarters down a machine was worthwhile, then Cosmic Bouncer will be in your court.
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Consistent and smooth, on par with high-end OCS games. Visually intriguing.
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Repeating midi-track is of exceptional quality and manages not to become tiresome.
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This is a drop a quarter in the machine style game. Simple scrolling game mechanics, you can learn everything in 10 seconds, yet it is still ever more challenging and surprising as you progress.
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| Has a lot of heart and imagination crammed into very fun arcade-style gameplay. Nothing extraneous to slow it down, just hop to it and enjoy. |
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