Ballblazer, Atari 7800

Year: 1987
Developer: Lucasfilm Games
0-2 Players

Ballblazer, Ballblazer, where to begin...
Despite what impression the title may give you, Ballblazer is a futuristic sports game, somewhat similar to Soccer. One ball (the 'Plasmorb'), two players piloting 'Rotofoil' crafts, and two goals which shift back and forth. Get control of the ball and fire it into the appropriate goal, or wrest the ball from the opponent and prevent them from scoring.

The scoring system is a little unusual. Both players start with 0 points, and the first player to 10 (or highest score at time-over) wins. Fairly standard stuff, except that the total of both players' scores can never exceed 10. For example, if the game's tied 5 to 5, the next point scored by one player would also decrease the other's score, making it 6 to 4.
Similar to basketball, the score you get from a goal varies based on where you made the shot. If you were right up next to the goal, 1 point. A fair distance away, 2 points. If you somehow manage to make a goal while the goalposts are past the edge of the horizon, you score three points. A shot like that is difficult, but can really turn the tide when time's running out.

Ballblazer was developed by Lucasfilm Games (nowdays known as Lucas Arts) around the same time as Rescue On Fractalus. Despite the limited hardware of the time, both games managed to achieve something we take for granted these days: a real-time 3D, first-person perspective.
Ballblazer in particular actually provided two such viewports, one for each player, with the first player's view occupying the top of the screen and the second player's down below, with the clock and scoreboard occupying the narrow strip in-between.
However, to achieve such feats on the hardware of the time, there were some limitations. The graphics, while striking, are rather low on detail. And the sense of depth is provided through foreshortening, parallax, and a grid-like playfield with horizontal lines stretching straight across the screen, and diagonal converging in a one-point linear perspective. The game requires, then, that the player is always facing one of the four cardinal directions. Even so, at the time it was pretty amazing.

Your joystick slides you forward and back, and strafes you from side to side; a surprisingly contemporary setup. But unlike modern games, there's no second control to look and turn. Instead, your 'rotofoil' makes instant 90-degree turns to face towards your current objective - the ball if you don't have it, or the goal if you do. While this may be disorienting at first - especially for the modern FPS-player - in some ways it greatly simplifies one's navigation: If you don't know where to go, just go forward, and eventually you'll see your objective again.

Sound design in this game is excellent. The 7800 version is one of a small number of games which included an extra chip (the 'Pokey' chip, from the 8-bit Atari computers) in the cartridge to help with the sound. The title-screen leverages the Pokey to produce a jazzy, algorithmically-generated tune over a simple bassline. The in-game music is subtle yet fast and percussive, quietly adding to the game's feeling of speed and tension, while not getting in the way of the buzz of a nearby opponent or the swish of the Rotofoil's turns. The sound does a good job of supplementing the mood while still informing of in-game action. Even the goal-scoring fanfare differs between the two players, so anyone within ear-shot can tell how the game's going.
Unfortunately, due to how Ballblazer uses that extra chip, most 7800 emulators can't quite handle the title music properly. Some do okay, but for the full Ballblazer experience you're better off playing it on the real hardware.

The game is marginally configurable - you can set how much time is on the clock, from 1 to 9 minutes, and you can replace either or both of the human-players with computer-controlled 'drones' with 9 levels of difficulty speed.

Maybe it's just me - I've been playing this game since I was a little kid - but I find the drones to be utterly lacking in challenge by now. Sure, drone 9 can hardly be stopped once he has the ball, but it's possible snatch the ball first and stand between the two, leisurely coasting towards the goal to kill time and make a 2-point shot. The drones may be alright for practice, but this is best considered a two-player game, where your opponent can react intelligently to your maneuvers.

Overall, I feel that Ballblazer is an excellent game; it's fast, unique, and ahead of its time. Definitely worth a look if you want a bit of quick, competitive 2-player.


- WNivek


P.S.
I often find myself wishing for a good remake of this game. Masterblazer (1990, for Atari ST, Amiga and DOS PC) tried to update it a little, but somehow the graphics and sound just don't do it for me - they made the sprites more detailed but ruined the smooth scaling, and the new rendition of the main theme is severely lacking. They also produced Ballblazer Champions in 1997 for the original PlayStation, but it changed too many things; it plays too different to properly succeed Ballblazer. If you happen to know of a good modern remake, I'd be happy to hear about it.