AlphaBounceDSiWare

Bounce me interested.

Sounds interesting, but also maybe random-generated boringness. Review?

Here is a quick one line review:

This game = A win!

In more detail:

I spent half the weekend playing this and I feel like I'm only getting started. I find myself keep being drawn back inexorably to play this game. Ok I'll get the negative out of the way first, it's really rough around the edges. The translation looks like it was done by someone who failed English (lots of spelling and grammar errors ) and the game doesn't guide you as much as it should in some areas, leaving you wondering what some features do and how you're supposed to achieve some goals. Also the load times seem a little bit unneccesary.

That being said this game has a lot of depth and a good mixture of humour with sci-fi in the story niblets. You get to read a little bit of story while waiting for the game to load and this could be a hint about a certain feature of the game (eg what does such and such an upgrade do), or it could be adding to the mythos of the game. Bad english aside they are usually quite interesting and make the poor load times at least bareable.

The gameplay is your standard arkanoid style fare, which is to say, quite fun on its own. There are some inventive power ups some that make you feel super powerful, while in other levels the challenge will be more grueling. The strength is in the customisable balls and weapons. As you get further through you will find yourself kitting out your "spaceship" to overcome specific challenges.

Anyway if I write too much in a comment I wouldn't want to take away from the person who ends up reviewing this game. Totally worth the 500 points.

Yes, this game is really addicting. Like @IanUniacke, I spent most of the weekend playing this game, and I'm still discovering new planets and equipment. At the start the game seemed a little too easy, but once you get to a few different planets you'll find that you really need any advantage you can find.

Randomly generated maps? Maybe for the space maps, but the planet maps are definitely designed.

Is the translation that bad? I can tell that it was done by someone whose native language is French, but it doesn't seem really awful.

The forced wait during the trivia screens is quite annoying, but you get used to it.

This is definitely one of the best games on DSiWare.

Haha I got this game today, and I am VERY impressed. I normally HATE these kinds of games (which is why I'm confused why I got it) but i love this one! I like to go around and try to create a path to each power up, which is pretty fun. Oh yeah, the actual games are sometimes quite insane, while other times very long and boring. One level had like 3 power ups, while most others have like 9999999! Once there was so much going on, it lagged XD! Well worth $5!

Level (-30, -1) (It's the northern tip of the pearl planet) has no required blocks to break, so you win as soon as you start the level!

The game does have its share of bugs/glitches (One time the ball got going so fast, it froze in mid-air! Also, a handful of times, the lag has become so great that I have purposely died to quit the level (there is no quit level option)), but then again, once you've played 1000+ levels, what's there to hide?

The touch controls are spot-on and really allow the content to shine!
My gripes are: the game takes awhile to load each level, there is no quit level option, and you have to start a new save file to change difficulty (there only is one save file).
Overall this is an excellent game, well worth the 500 points. Tight controls and the sheer amount of content round out the game's rough edges.

9.8/10

Personally, I'm striving to capture all 27 planets (currently 41%) and finish the Earth map (1 fragment shy).

I have to say my favourite feature of AlphaBounce is the main menu music. Possibly the most epic music I've ever heard, and from a game as well, it should have been in a blockbuster film soundtrack!