To be fair, the game will happily throw you a bone and bring you to the next level if a single block is left untouched for too long. Even that is pretty unreliable, and that’s assuming you can even pull the trick off in the first place. The only way to change the ball’s bounce, speed or direction without the use of a power-up is with proper timing and control of the paddle. It’s just that since you have so little direct control over where the ball bounces, nailing the last few blocks in a level can be an incredibly tedious experience. Make no mistake DX-Ball is not necessarily hard without the power-ups. Other times, the well will dry up and you’ll be left with a plain old paddle and ball. Sometimes the power-ups will rain on you like it’s the first day of spring. Progress in DX-Ball often comes down to how lucky you are. Unfortunately, as much as luck can be your best friend, it’s just as likely going to be your worst enemy. You might tell yourself: “Just one more game and I'll be done for the day,” but you’ll be back for another round in short order. It can be a very difficult game to put down. DX-Ball would be fun for a few minutes on its own, but the assorted abilities you can receive at any time seal the deal and increase the replay value. Other times, it could take a good while before anything decent comes your way.Įither way, you could easily call this game the Super Mario Bros. Sometimes a level will be over in a flash because you got a good combination of abilities. You have no idea just what’s going to pop up on every screen. The power-ups and power-downs of DX-Ball make it far more dynamic and unpredictable than your usual Breakout clone. They can have all sorts of negative effects one can shrink your paddle, one will cause the blocks to sink lower every time the ball bounces, one will increase the movement speed of the ball, and one will even outright kill you! Just to mess around with you, DX-Ball incorporates a variety of power-downs that can make things harder if you make the mistake of grabbing them. However, not all power-ups are so benign. Powers stack as well, so if you’re able to nab each one that comes your way, keeping that ball up in the air can be a piece of cake. You can increase the size of your paddle, add more balls to bounce around, get the ability to catch and strategically re-launch the ball at your whim, or equip your paddle with a pair of blasters to shoot and destroy blocks in an instant. Some blocks will release a power-up when they are destroyed if you catch it with your paddle, you can benefit from any number of boons. It may not sound exciting at first, by DX-Ball manages to mix things up with its variety of power-ups.

Some blocks are indestructible, some blow up at the slightest touch, and so on. Some are invisible and will only appear once the ball collides with them once.

In the meantime, you have to use the ball to destroy an array of blocks above you.

Failure to do so results in you losing a life. You control a paddle with your mouse and use it to keep a little white ball aloft in the air. Like all the various clones of Breakout that came before and after it, DX-Ball plays like a combination of pinball and Pong.

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