Released in late March to the Playstation Network, HamsterBall, developed by Tik Games, completely epitomizes why we, as humans, have created the oft-coveted HamsterBall… so we can watch our furry friends do crazy, batshit, insane stuff without having to worry about them getting hurt. HamsterBall kicks this up a few notches and allows for what I always dreamed about in my youthful years staring at my boring regular hamster run in circles in his own personal little plastic bubble.

For those that didn’t do any prior research, HamsterBall is a track following, race-the-time game featuring 50 crazy courses and your hamster… in a ball. There’s no real story, it’s just one course after the next. In order to beat each level you have to get to the goal before the time runs out. Of course, there are other modes too, but we’ll get to those in the actual review. For now this simple synopsis is really all you need to know to understand the game.

Hamster ball, timer, goal… check!

Gameplay

HamsterBall has fairly simplistic gameplay, but that’s partly why I enjoy it so much. As stated above, you must get your hamster from the start of the course to the the goal in a set amount of time. It’s straight, to the point, and easy to sit down, player for a few minutes, and leave without feeling like you left something behind.

Of course, what would any hamster ball-type game be without some awesome courses to traverse? For those worried about the variation in courses, you can relax right now. While the game comes with 50 standard courses, you can rest easy knowing that a good deal of them are very unique and very fun. The only thing I noticed as being odd, was that the developers continually used large assets to create new levels. This means that, while one specific level felt similar, or even the same as another, it was largely just due to the fact that large pieces of the level were actually used in other levels.

To get through these courses you have three options for hamster balls: the speed ball, the bouncy ball, and the spike ball. Each one is exactly what they sound like. The speed ball enables you to use a super speed, which, might I add, often lead to my own doom. The bouncy ball allows your hamster to jump over obstacles and gaps. And the spike ball allows your hamster to solidify and slow down when you need to. All in all, these variations are nice additions to a game that didn’t really need them.

My primary complaint with the game is that it just wasn’t difficult enough in terms of the timer. Some of you may rejoice, but I felt like the set limit on each course served no real purpose. I could do what I wanted and still get to the goal with a  lot of time left over. I almost question why they even included it in the first place.

The game ships with two other modes of gameplay: Adventure and Sumo Arena. Both are fun and put a unique twist onto the game.

For fans of the original NES Marble Madness game you’ll absolutely love the Adventure mode. This is a top-down, isometric view where you must safely navigate your way through a course to get to the goal. Unlike with the traditional course, this mode is about getting through the course in one piece and navigating carefully placed obstacles. It can be a lot of fun and very challenging at the same time.

Multiplayer fans should keep an eye on the Sumo Arena mode, wherein, 4-8 hamsters (4 human, 4 computer) go into a set course and each player must ram the others off in order to score points. Courses vary from bland to pretty crazy with giant mousetraps and the like. The only thing missing was online play. This is split screen only.

Style

HamsterBall is a beautiful game. This is one of those games that really pushes the color intake on your television sets. And in HD everything just pops out at you. In a world full of dreary-colored RPGs and FPS’s, HamsterBall really stands out as being one of the most colorful titles out there.

My only complaint with the style is that the developers decided to use a real-ish looking hamster inside the hamster ball. All around the menu system there are these adorable, cartoon hamsters that fit with the style of the game. But in the actual hamster ball in the game, the hamster looks like a real hamster would, and that makes it look awkward. This is a cartoon game, with a real hamster model? No bueno.

Music is awesome, funky, fresh, and oh so catchy. No complaints here.

Story

Nada.

Everything Else

The game features some split screen co-op for the main courses. It can get really fun, and awfully frustrating at the same time. While sharing an experience like this is always fun, the game wasn’t really created with the mind of 2 players on the same track at one time. As such it’s now even easier to fall off the track than ever before. So like I said, fun… but frustrating.

In the end, HamsterBall is a great game for the price ($9.99). Is it a near-direct copy of games like Monkey Ball? Absolutely. But that’s not a bad thing. Monkey Ball was a fun game, but it hasn’t seen an iteration since the latest Wii release a few years ago. HamsterBall is filling  a valuable gaming segment and is doing it for practically nothing, considering what’s all included.