{"id":837,"date":"2020-06-15T18:05:12","date_gmt":"2020-06-15T22:05:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gaminginsurrection.com\/reviews\/?p=837"},"modified":"2022-07-17T17:08:35","modified_gmt":"2022-07-17T21:08:35","slug":"balloon-fight-1q2017-issue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gaminginsurrection.com\/reviews\/index.php\/2020\/06\/15\/balloon-fight-1q2017-issue\/","title":{"rendered":"Balloon Fight \u2014 1Q2017<\/span> issue"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Fruit\u00adless bal\u00adloon showdowns<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The best thing I can pos\u00adsi\u00adbly say about Bal\u00adloon Fight is that it\u2019s inno\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtive for its con\u00adcepts at the time. Oth\u00ader than that, this isn\u2019t a game I\u2019d rec\u00adom\u00admend to any\u00adone beyond the age of 10 and even that\u2019s push\u00ading it.<\/span><\/p>\n

The premise is sim\u00adple: You play as the \u201cBal\u00adloon Fight\u00ader,\u201d who is tasked with stay\u00ading alive and defeat\u00ading ene\u00admies in increas\u00ading\u00adly dif\u00adfi\u00adcult stages. Two bal\u00adloons are attached to the Fight\u00ader and to the ene\u00admies, and the Fight\u00ader must pop their bal\u00adloons while avoid\u00ading his own being popped and oth\u00ader obsta\u00adcles such as a large piran\u00adha, water and light\u00adning strikes. The Bal\u00adloon Fight\u00ader is fair\u00adly stout and stur\u00addy, see\u00ading as though he can take a lot of bump\u00ading and push\u00ading, but if he los\u00ades his bal\u00adloons, it\u2019s a lost life. There are bonus games and a dif\u00adfer\u00adent mode, Bal\u00adloon Trip, that takes the Fight\u00ader through an obsta\u00adcle course to improve your rank and score. <\/span><\/p>\n

This is all fine and well, but the con\u00adtrols turn what should be a fun and sim\u00adple game into a night\u00admare and a chore to actu\u00adal\u00adly con\u00adtrol. The Fight\u00ader flaps his arms to stay afloat and even with both bal\u00adloons still present, this is extra hard to do and main\u00adtain. More often than not, I don\u2019t lose bal\u00adloons because an ene\u00admy popped them; it\u2019s because I land\u00aded in the water, was eat\u00aden by the large fish or steered myself unwit\u00adting\u00adly into the light\u00adning I was des\u00adper\u00adate\u00adly try\u00ading to avoid. Pre\u00adci\u00adsion fly\u00ading this is not. To get a sense of what it\u2019s like to con\u00adtrol the Fight\u00ader, imag\u00adine if the hor\u00adri\u00adble Ice Climbers were fly\u00ading instead of jump\u00ading ter\u00adri\u00adbly up a mountain. <\/span><\/p>\n

And while the game is bare\u00adly playable, the sound\u00adtrack also man\u00adages to squeak by in pre\u00adsen\u00adta\u00adtion. It is a sad day when I declare that a sound\u00adtrack from Metroid sound direc\u00adtor Hip Tana\u00adka is irre\u00addeemable. There is noth\u00ading that makes me want to lis\u00adten to this, and near\u00adly every\u00adthing that Tana\u00adka has cre\u00adat\u00aded gets high marks from me. The songs aren\u2019t mem\u00ado\u00adrable, there are few songs there any\u00adway, and the lack of var\u00adied sound effects is dis\u00adcon\u00adcert\u00ading. Add the sound\u00adtrack woes to an under\u00adwhelm\u00ading graph\u00adi\u00adcal palette and the game over\u00adall is a mess.<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite the pedi\u00adgree of folks who worked on the game (i.e. Shigeru Miyamo\u00adto as pro\u00adduc\u00ader, Metroid designer\/director Yoshio Sakamo\u00adto and Tana\u00adka), Bal\u00adloon Fight couldn\u2019t be fur\u00adther away from the qual\u00adi\u00adty of Nin\u00adten\u00addo clas\u00adsics I want to play. Bal\u00adloon Fight is rep\u00adre\u00adsen\u00adta\u00adtive of an old\u00ader era of games that required a Her\u00adculean amount of patience, which I am not pre\u00adpared to give in this day and age where bet\u00adter games are available.<\/span><\/p>\n