Spectraball

About

"Spectraball is a single-player platformer game with excellent mechanics, awesome visuals, and stellar music, but can have bugs. It offers addictive gameplay with diverse environments, online leaderboards, achievements, and unlockable content. The game also includes a map editor, controller support, and free content updates, providing hours of entertainment."

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

77%

Audience ScoreBased on 497 reviews

graphics42 positive mentions

stability18 negative mentions

Spectraball offers a fun and challenging gameplay experience, reminiscent of classic marble games like Marble Madness.
The game features beautiful environments and a variety of themed stages, making it visually appealing.
It's a decent time-waster with a level editor and user-generated content that adds replayability.

The controls are often unresponsive and frustrating, leading to a poor gameplay experience.
Level design can be confusing and linear, with poorly placed checkpoints that exacerbate the difficulty.
The game suffers from bugs and glitches, including camera issues that can obstruct the player's view.

graphics
82 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
51%
41%
7%
The graphics in Spectraball receive mixed reviews, with some players praising the appealing art style and decent visuals, while others criticize the overall quality as mediocre or reminiscent of older gaming eras. Many note that adjusting the settings can enhance the visual experience, but issues like camera clipping and low-resolution textures detract from the overall presentation. Despite these shortcomings, the game's graphics are often described as nice or good, contributing to an enjoyable atmosphere.
- “Spectraball is an indie game that combines elements of platforming, puzzle solving, addictive gameplay, and stunning visuals to deliver an experience that sets a new standard for the genre.”
- “The visuals are amazing, the gameplay is smooth and fast-paced (when you're not falling off of stuff), the controls work well, and the music is good.”
- “Graphics are awesome, music is very breathtaking.”
- “The camera clips through walls; there aren't even any screen transitions when you change rooms. Most of the graphics are so rudimentary they could easily be a student project that got a D-.”
- “The graphics are rather crude - while the actual ball itself looks nice enough, everything else in the levels looks like something from the PS2 era, with crude models and low-res textures being the rule rather than the exception.”
- “Graphics from around the millennium.”
gameplay
74 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
32%
59%
8%
Gameplay reviews are mixed, with many players criticizing the controls, particularly with keyboard and mouse, and noting issues like unresponsive keypresses and bugs. While some appreciate the beautiful environments and the potential for engaging puzzle mechanics, others find the gameplay repetitive, lacking diversity, and often frustrating due to trial-and-error elements. Overall, the game may appeal to those who enjoy patience-testing challenges, but many feel it falls short in execution and depth.
- “Immersed in this world, you find yourself lost in hours of gameplay as you, a significant sphere, make your way through the diverse worlds of obstacles ahead.”
- “The visuals are amazing, the gameplay is smooth and fast-paced (when you're not falling off of stuff), the controls work well, and the music is good.”
- “In terms of gameplay, you basically roll a ball through beautiful and varied levels in order to reach an end goal and move on to the next.”
- “Horrible gameplay and maneuverability with keyboard and mouse, often doesn't respond to keypress.”
- “This game failed in all gameplay aspects.”
- “No gameplay diversity, no puzzles, no skills required, and in the end the game quickly starts becoming boring.”
music
60 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
47%
43%
10%
The music in the game receives mixed reviews, with some players appreciating its atmospheric qualities and thematic diversity across levels, while others find it generic, uninspired, or frustrating over time. Notably, certain tracks are highlighted as excellent and fitting for the gameplay, but there are calls for a more memorable and engaging soundtrack overall. Overall, while the music contributes positively to the experience for some, it fails to impress others, leading to a polarized reception.
- “Has a nice soundtrack and a nice diversity of themed stages.”
- “The game is definitely fun on its own, but even if you don't even like these games, buy it for the music in the later levels.”
- “It presents a relaxing, ethereal soundtrack and pleasing scenery which create a relaxed, calming atmosphere.”
- “The music feels, to my ear, equally uninspired, as well as the visual style, which features cliche environments and sterile level backgrounds.”
- “So annoying that the music started to frustrate me after a while.”
- “Music that sounds like it was made in one day.”
stability
18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's stability is frequently criticized, with users reporting numerous bugs, particularly with the red boosters and graphical glitches that disrupt gameplay. While some players note improvements in the extended edition, many still find the game to be poorly designed and frustratingly tricky due to unpredictable physics and persistent glitches. Overall, the stability issues detract significantly from the experience, though a few players still find enjoyment despite these flaws.
- “The red boosters often used are very buggy, leading to not getting the speed and failing a jump.”
- “Gameplay is decent enough for a cheap puzzle game; however, glitches on the Mac version prevent achievements from being unlocked, ever.”
- “Even if you manage to orient yourself in this mess, the game will throw graphical glitches, game-changing bugs, and unpredictable physics at you, requiring you to have godlike reactions.”
story
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
17%
58%
25%
The game's story is largely criticized for its lack of depth and narrative, with many reviewers noting that it offers no backstory and feels unpolished. While some enjoy the fun of the story mode and custom maps, the overall consensus is that the gameplay issues overshadow any potential enjoyment from the story. The moral themes present in some reviews suggest resilience in the face of challenges, but they are not effectively integrated into the game's narrative.
- “Moral of the story: you never know what life has in store for you, and if I had given up when all odds were against me, I wouldn't be where I am today.”
- “The minigames that come packed in are a short little time waster, but the story mode is a lot of fun with quite a few levels, and the custom maps that people have made are insane!”
- “By today's standards, it can feel unpolished, and there isn't any narrative or story with it.”
- “Nice soundtrack, nice graphics, no storyline, and a bit too much precision required.”
- “Spectraball offers no backstory and will only take two or three hours per playthrough.”
atmosphere
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60%
20%
20%
The game's atmosphere is initially engaging, featuring a relaxing soundtrack and pleasing visuals that create a calming environment. However, as players progress, the later levels tend to become repetitive and less interesting, detracting from the overall experience. While the cheerful tone and nostalgic elements are appreciated, the graphics are often criticized as subpar.
- “The music is nice and atmospheric, and the graphics... do I even need to say it?”
- “It presents a relaxing, ethereal soundtrack and pleasing scenery which create a relaxed, calming atmosphere.”
- “Cheery atmosphere and funny, old-school ball tracks outweigh terrible mini games and overall shortness.”
- “The atmosphere is friendly but really poor graphics.”
replayability
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
25%
The game offers significant replayability despite its short length, thanks to user-made levels and a level editor that enhance the experience. Players find it enjoyable and worth the low price, leading to hours of fun and the potential for extensive replay value.
- “Though short, it is really fun and has tons of replay value.”
- “Also, user-made levels and the level editor add more replayability to the game.”
- “In short, this game was hours of fun for a very low price and it has the potential for tons of replayability.”
humor
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Spectraball is noted for its humor, primarily stemming from its linear design and plasticky visuals, which contribute to a cheery atmosphere. While the game features some poorly received mini-games and is relatively short, the amusing old-school ball tracks help to elevate the overall experience.
- “Spectraball is a funny game.”
- “It's funny because the game is very linear, plasticky looking, and movement isn't all that great.”
- “Cheery atmosphere and funny, old-school ball tracks outweigh terrible mini games and overall shortness.”
grinding
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of "Spectraball" to be excessively tedious, particularly due to the long intervals between checkpoints that force them to repeatedly navigate the same sections after failures. Many reviewers suggest that the game would benefit from more frequent checkpoints to alleviate the frustration of having to redo challenging areas multiple times. Overall, while some players have adjusted their reviews positively, the grinding experience remains a significant drawback.
- “What I do mind is that the nearest checkpoint in time is some thirty seconds back, requiring me to do a tedious bit that I had no problem with over and over and over just to get back to the part where I failed so I can give it another go.”
- “Somehow, the makers of Spectraball seemingly wanted to make a game that was just slightly more tedious and painful than getting teeth pulled, and they succeeded; every time you think you might've gotten somewhere, you're met with a rotating wall that wants you to stand around and hop 26,000 times in order to progress.”
- “I have changed my review from not recommended to recommended, but I would urge the developers to consider adding about twice as many checkpoints; re-doing the same area fifty times over until you can get all the way through it perfectly becomes tedious very quickly.”
optimization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game is reported to be well optimized for Linux, ensuring a smooth performance on that platform.
- “Well optimized for Linux.”