Switchball (Xbox 360)

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Description

Switchball is a 3D strategy game where the player controls a marble through hazardous courses with different kinds of puzzles, with gameplay similar to Marble Madness or the more contemporary Ballance and Marble Blast. There are 5 worlds; Sky, Ice, Cave, Lava and Cloud, unlocked gradually and with different levels. Each narrow, winding course is played in mid-air and to complete a level the player has to guide the marble to the end where it boards a gyrocopter that transports it to the next course.

To solve the puzzles, the marble often needs to be rolled into Morphs that can switch the shape to four different balls: Marble, Metal, Air and Power, each with different abilities and characteristics. For instance, the Powerball can be charged in a generator, providing the ability to jump, dash, or magnetism. The Airball can be inflated with helium to reach higher areas. Supporting the AGEIA PhysX engine both through software and hardware, blocks can be pushed or topple down, cloth tears when the ball is too heavy and all kinds of items can be moved around. The nature of the puzzles changes with each game world, with fans, switches, and tubes.

The game is controlled through the mouse to move the ball, rotate and zoom. By holding down the left mouse button, the current speed is held to climb slopes or to move around without needing to move the mouse. Each level has gates that save the progress. When the ball drops down, the game is resumed for the last saved position. By completing courses quickly, players earn badges.

Screenshots

There are no Xbox 360 screenshots for this game.

There are 14 other screenshots on file for other versions of this game.

Alternate Titles

• "CrazyBall" -- Original title

Part of the Following Groups

• Genre: Rolling ball
• Physics Engine: PhysX
• Theme: Steampunk

User Reviews

There are no reviews for this game.

The Press Says

Xboxdynasty (XD)	Dec 14, 2007	8.5 out of 10	85
IGN	Nov 08, 2007	8.4 out of 10	84
Defunct Games	Feb 15, 2008	80 out of 100	80
Gamer.nl	Nov 15, 2007	8 out of 10	80
Jeuxvideo.com	Oct 25, 2011	15 out of 20	75
The A.V. Club	Dec 10, 2007	B	75
Video Game Talk	Dec 02, 2007		70
TalkXbox	Nov 29, 2007	70 out of 100	70
Game Positive	Nov 14, 2007	6.1 out of 10	61

Forums

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Trivia

Development on the game was started in 2004 with the name CrazyBall. The game won the Swedish Game Awards 2005 and was nominated for IGF 2006 in the technical excellence class.

Related Web Sites

• Switchball (Product page on the developer's website)
• X360A achievement guide (X360A's achievement guide for Switchball.)