[Correspondent Ken Ellis continues his IndieCade previews with Micahel Molianri's BasketBelle.]

There are a wide variety of games at IndieCade every year. Most are fun, some are strange, and a few are metaphors of human emotion. BasketBelle, by Michael Molinari, is all of these. The game is the story of a young boy, gifted with the skill of basketball, who is on a quest to find something (I don’t want to particularly say what yet) important to him. The opponents you face are not so much actual people, but obstacles he must overcome in his life. A rare sports based game that makes you reflect on life.

The game game plays well and looks fantastic. It has a cardboard/chalk/paint style artwork that works fluidly with the game mechanics. The controls are simple, just standard directions and two action buttons along with a couple trick/techniques. These play great on the basketball court, and on the few adventure style levels that are sprinkled throughout the game.

The game isn’t too terribly difficult–I was able to beat my opponent blob quite handily, but this was only the first enemy, so I’d assume it gets more difficult as the game continues. I should also mention the music in the game, specifically the bass being connected to the basketball. This is interesting in that whenever the ball hits the ground a deep hard bass sound occurs. It connects you to the game in a unique way, I found.

BasketBelle has no official release date yet, but from what I saw it looks like it will come out on a console of some sort. Sports game fans and artsy game fans should find a nice middle ground with this one. Check it out when it’s available, and for now check out some gameplay footage we captured last weekend: