This (www.rndlabs.ca/bv2/downloads.php) is a freeware game that has claimed the hearts of many across the world for the simple fact that it is pure FUN. Let me first get into a description of what the game is like:
Babo Violent 2 (BV2) is strictly a multiplayer shooter game. The Babo's are actually simply balls, for which you can customize the colors & patterns. Now how does a game about balls become fun? When you equip them with an array of weapons & have them blow each other up in a glorifying explosion of blood, that's how. After playing this game so much, I sometimes get worried about kicking any sort of ball with the fear that I might get bloodstains on my clothes.
The perspective is top-down, like the classic GTA series. You roll your Babo around with the WSAD keys, & point & shoot your gun with your mouse. Maps are simply rectangular areas with walls that follow a strict block-building rule: everything is at right-angles. Weapon selections for each respawn are: SubMachine-Gun, Dual Machine-Guns, Shotgun, Sniper Rifle (more on this later), Chain Gun, Bazooka, Photon Rifle, & Flame Thrower. Alternate weapons include Pop-Up Knives, which when used slices any Babos touching you, the Kamikaze Nuke, which after a short alarm gives a terrific white-hot explosion that decimates everyone near you, & the Shield, which temporarily reduces damage dealt upon you. You even come stocked with 2 grenades & a Molotov Cocktail.
The game is a real adrenaline-pumping fight. The Heavy Metal track rolls on in the background, the different sound effects of the different weapons really make you feel like you're in a battlefield, nearby explosions SHAKE the screen hard & make you deaf temporarily... See your own blood on the floor after getting shot, & you'll remember that that's YOUR bloodstain everytime you pass by it. & then you come back later & the floor & walls are completely covered in stains. It's at first a hilarious joke, which then escalates into a battle for supremacy, to be the best Babo on the field.
That was pretty much the short-version of the review. These mini-reviews will have much more details for those interested:
[b]Gameplay:[/b] There are 3 different, self-explanatory modes: DeathMatch, Team DeathMatch, & Capture The Flag. There are many maps on which to play, & once a match is over, it loads the next map in the queue, so the fighting is endless. If the majority doesn't like the map, they can vote to switch to the next map, which happens mostly when there are too few players for a large map. Maps can also be created with the in-game map creator.
Weapons work almost exactly as you would imagine them to. Each weapon has its pro's & con's, ranging in refire-rate, accuracy, damage, range, & feedback (yes your Babo actually rolls backwards if you shoot while standing still), aside from a couple of special effects. Bazooka shells obviously have Area of Effect damage upon explosion. Photon Rifles have a "Damage Over Time" effect, which hurts the target as long as they are touching the fading beam. Chain Guns have a heat meter, which when maxed result in you being unable to fire until it cools down for a few seconds. Shotguns have some strong buckshot, but require a few seconds to reload every 7 shots. All these weapons have infinite ammo.
The special (alternate) weapons were described above, & they work well. Popup knives can instantly kill a slightly damaged Babo, & are great when the fight becomes close-quarters or when you can't fire your weapon for any reason. The Kamikaze Nuke really wipes the screen up, but doesn't hurt people on the other side of a wall. The shield can protect you from what would otherwise be an instant death. All THESE weapons cannot be used in tandem with your normal weapons.
& finally we have the grenades & Molotov Cocktails. You start with 2 nades, which you can toss in the general direction of an incoming Babo, usually with good results. Or you can toss them over low walls (needs some experience to learn how to do properly) & blow up unsuspecting Babos to bits. The Molotov can either land right on a Babo, which would set him on fire & be a sure-kill (if he doesn't activate his shield to put out the flames), or just leave a puddle of flame blocking a bottleneck, which when crossed will give painful burns & regular death. You start with 1 Molotov only, & cannot replenish them until you die & respawn, but you can stock up to 3 nades by picking up the ones dropped by the dead.
The actual running... sorry, ROLLING around & aiming is done in a very novel & creative way. There is actual momentum, & the fact that certain weapons will push you back more than others when firing is a crucial element in strategy. Then comes the camera system: Like we said, it's a top-down view. What really makes this system great is that if you aim away from your Babo, the camera will shift a bit with your crosshair. What this means is that you will be "looking" farther, but you won't be able to see what's right behind you, just like in a proper FPS! It means that if you see a Babo pointing a gun in the direction OPPOSITE to you, chances are he can't see you even if you come up close to give him a full load of buckshot, or just pop a Cocktail on his head.
The best example for this camera system is the Sniper Rifle. When you move the crosshair away from your Babo, the scene shifts to pitch darkness, with the only thing you can see in a circle that is your Sniper's scope-vision & crosshair. Though you can see very far, & see through walls, you can't shoot through walls, & you're vulnerable. It's great for scouting though.
Finally, there's the minimap, on which you can see the location of every one of your teammates (if any), & the enemy's arrow blips on it whenever they fire a shot. You can actually take advantage of this by luring people on the other team to you. only to have your mates toss in 5 grenades once they get to you. Strategy is key.
[img src="http://www.dpk.com.ua/files/u4/observer_02.jpg"]
Killed Babos drop whatever grenades they had on them & a healthpack which restores a good sum of your health.
Playing 1-on-1 can be fun for a while, especially if your skills match, but the fighting REALLY shines when you join a server with some 15 other Babos in it. There's nothing like running around in a DeathMatch with people killing each other left & right, or working mutually or with a plan as a team to outsmart & overpower the opposite team. There's nothing like grabbing the enemy flag & running to your base with it, & surviving while your team tries to retrieve your flag so you can score, only to find out that momentum is screwing with you, you can't touch your own flag properly, then a grenade gets tossed over the wall.
[b]Graphics:[/b] The graphics are simplistic, with the maps being a bunch of textured blocks that have a range of different colors & environments, & the spherical Babos that roll around with their weapons on them like a headset, but this is ideal for such a simple game. There are many resolution settings, so it's not bad at all.
Particle effects of bullets, rockets, flames, & explosions really rock, & seeing your Babo explode in a spray of blood can make you cringe. The white-hot flash of a Kamikaze Nuke going off is stunning & fun. Grenades leave a colored trail to show where they're coming from, & the color represents whether it is a friendly nade or an enemy nade. "Blood Vision" happens when you get hit.
[b]Sound:[/b] The music, well, it's a very suitable Heavy Metal score, I just don't have much to say about it because it fits just fine & I don't think there's more than one track.
The sound effects on the other hand are top-notch. You can usually easily tell what kind of gun is shooting offscreen at the moment. They are very distinctive & help alot when it comes to deciding how to fight the Babo that's probably coming your way right now. The explosions are very loud. In a big fight, explosions are almost constant, & your speakers will be asking for mercy what with blaring the absolute mayhem that's going on on-screen, then ask for more.
Most importantly, the [i]SPLOTCH[/i] sound of a Babo can be extremely satisfying or extremely cringe-worthy, depending on who just [i]SPLOTCH[/i]ed.
[b]Pro's:[/b] Simple game, simple-to-great graphics
Fun mayhem
Fast-paced action
actually strategic & based on skill
[b]Con's:[/b] Some cases of H4X
Some bugs that keep the game from running
[b]Conclusion:[/b] Babo Violent was originally an application developed to benchmark the network systems of a library, & it rose like a fiery phoenix of destruction & explosions to give us thisgame that is, like I said, pure fun. There really isn't much to complain about the game. You get into it expecting simple graphics & a simple game, but if you push hard enough, & keep your eyes open, you'll realize just how fun & challenging this fragfest is.
Babo Violent 2 (BV2) is strictly a multiplayer shooter game. The Babo's are actually simply balls, for which you can customize the colors & patterns. Now how does a game about balls become fun? When you equip them with an array of weapons & have them blow each other up in a glorifying explosion of blood, that's how. After playing this game so much, I sometimes get worried about kicking any sort of ball with the fear that I might get bloodstains on my clothes.
The perspective is top-down, like the classic GTA series. You roll your Babo around with the WSAD keys, & point & shoot your gun with your mouse. Maps are simply rectangular areas with walls that follow a strict block-building rule: everything is at right-angles. Weapon selections for each respawn are: SubMachine-Gun, Dual Machine-Guns, Shotgun, Sniper Rifle (more on this later), Chain Gun, Bazooka, Photon Rifle, & Flame Thrower. Alternate weapons include Pop-Up Knives, which when used slices any Babos touching you, the Kamikaze Nuke, which after a short alarm gives a terrific white-hot explosion that decimates everyone near you, & the Shield, which temporarily reduces damage dealt upon you. You even come stocked with 2 grenades & a Molotov Cocktail.
The game is a real adrenaline-pumping fight. The Heavy Metal track rolls on in the background, the different sound effects of the different weapons really make you feel like you're in a battlefield, nearby explosions SHAKE the screen hard & make you deaf temporarily... See your own blood on the floor after getting shot, & you'll remember that that's YOUR bloodstain everytime you pass by it. & then you come back later & the floor & walls are completely covered in stains. It's at first a hilarious joke, which then escalates into a battle for supremacy, to be the best Babo on the field.
That was pretty much the short-version of the review. These mini-reviews will have much more details for those interested:
[b]Gameplay:[/b] There are 3 different, self-explanatory modes: DeathMatch, Team DeathMatch, & Capture The Flag. There are many maps on which to play, & once a match is over, it loads the next map in the queue, so the fighting is endless. If the majority doesn't like the map, they can vote to switch to the next map, which happens mostly when there are too few players for a large map. Maps can also be created with the in-game map creator.
Weapons work almost exactly as you would imagine them to. Each weapon has its pro's & con's, ranging in refire-rate, accuracy, damage, range, & feedback (yes your Babo actually rolls backwards if you shoot while standing still), aside from a couple of special effects. Bazooka shells obviously have Area of Effect damage upon explosion. Photon Rifles have a "Damage Over Time" effect, which hurts the target as long as they are touching the fading beam. Chain Guns have a heat meter, which when maxed result in you being unable to fire until it cools down for a few seconds. Shotguns have some strong buckshot, but require a few seconds to reload every 7 shots. All these weapons have infinite ammo.
The special (alternate) weapons were described above, & they work well. Popup knives can instantly kill a slightly damaged Babo, & are great when the fight becomes close-quarters or when you can't fire your weapon for any reason. The Kamikaze Nuke really wipes the screen up, but doesn't hurt people on the other side of a wall. The shield can protect you from what would otherwise be an instant death. All THESE weapons cannot be used in tandem with your normal weapons.
& finally we have the grenades & Molotov Cocktails. You start with 2 nades, which you can toss in the general direction of an incoming Babo, usually with good results. Or you can toss them over low walls (needs some experience to learn how to do properly) & blow up unsuspecting Babos to bits. The Molotov can either land right on a Babo, which would set him on fire & be a sure-kill (if he doesn't activate his shield to put out the flames), or just leave a puddle of flame blocking a bottleneck, which when crossed will give painful burns & regular death. You start with 1 Molotov only, & cannot replenish them until you die & respawn, but you can stock up to 3 nades by picking up the ones dropped by the dead.
The actual running... sorry, ROLLING around & aiming is done in a very novel & creative way. There is actual momentum, & the fact that certain weapons will push you back more than others when firing is a crucial element in strategy. Then comes the camera system: Like we said, it's a top-down view. What really makes this system great is that if you aim away from your Babo, the camera will shift a bit with your crosshair. What this means is that you will be "looking" farther, but you won't be able to see what's right behind you, just like in a proper FPS! It means that if you see a Babo pointing a gun in the direction OPPOSITE to you, chances are he can't see you even if you come up close to give him a full load of buckshot, or just pop a Cocktail on his head.
The best example for this camera system is the Sniper Rifle. When you move the crosshair away from your Babo, the scene shifts to pitch darkness, with the only thing you can see in a circle that is your Sniper's scope-vision & crosshair. Though you can see very far, & see through walls, you can't shoot through walls, & you're vulnerable. It's great for scouting though.
Finally, there's the minimap, on which you can see the location of every one of your teammates (if any), & the enemy's arrow blips on it whenever they fire a shot. You can actually take advantage of this by luring people on the other team to you. only to have your mates toss in 5 grenades once they get to you. Strategy is key.
[img src="http://www.dpk.com.ua/files/u4/observer_02.jpg"]
Killed Babos drop whatever grenades they had on them & a healthpack which restores a good sum of your health.
Playing 1-on-1 can be fun for a while, especially if your skills match, but the fighting REALLY shines when you join a server with some 15 other Babos in it. There's nothing like running around in a DeathMatch with people killing each other left & right, or working mutually or with a plan as a team to outsmart & overpower the opposite team. There's nothing like grabbing the enemy flag & running to your base with it, & surviving while your team tries to retrieve your flag so you can score, only to find out that momentum is screwing with you, you can't touch your own flag properly, then a grenade gets tossed over the wall.
[b]Graphics:[/b] The graphics are simplistic, with the maps being a bunch of textured blocks that have a range of different colors & environments, & the spherical Babos that roll around with their weapons on them like a headset, but this is ideal for such a simple game. There are many resolution settings, so it's not bad at all.
Particle effects of bullets, rockets, flames, & explosions really rock, & seeing your Babo explode in a spray of blood can make you cringe. The white-hot flash of a Kamikaze Nuke going off is stunning & fun. Grenades leave a colored trail to show where they're coming from, & the color represents whether it is a friendly nade or an enemy nade. "Blood Vision" happens when you get hit.
[b]Sound:[/b] The music, well, it's a very suitable Heavy Metal score, I just don't have much to say about it because it fits just fine & I don't think there's more than one track.
The sound effects on the other hand are top-notch. You can usually easily tell what kind of gun is shooting offscreen at the moment. They are very distinctive & help alot when it comes to deciding how to fight the Babo that's probably coming your way right now. The explosions are very loud. In a big fight, explosions are almost constant, & your speakers will be asking for mercy what with blaring the absolute mayhem that's going on on-screen, then ask for more.
Most importantly, the [i]SPLOTCH[/i] sound of a Babo can be extremely satisfying or extremely cringe-worthy, depending on who just [i]SPLOTCH[/i]ed.
[b]Pro's:[/b] Simple game, simple-to-great graphics
Fun mayhem
Fast-paced action
actually strategic & based on skill
[b]Con's:[/b] Some cases of H4X
Some bugs that keep the game from running
[b]Conclusion:[/b] Babo Violent was originally an application developed to benchmark the network systems of a library, & it rose like a fiery phoenix of destruction & explosions to give us thisgame that is, like I said, pure fun. There really isn't much to complain about the game. You get into it expecting simple graphics & a simple game, but if you push hard enough, & keep your eyes open, you'll realize just how fun & challenging this fragfest is.
