Vancouver Trendz [THURSDAY]

It Takes Balls

Thursday, January 18, 2007

An independent Vancouver game developer has struck gold with its latest piece of digital wonder: FizzBall. And now the free-to-try game has been honoured as a finalist in the Independent Games Festival.

Longtime gamers will recognize FizzBall by Grubby Games as a combination of Arkanoid and Katamari Damacy. Casual gamers can think of it like pinball with animals. And anybody who plays it will quickly see it as a distillation of everything that's fun about gaming. Perfect for relaxing at home or a quick bout of relief from cubicle slavery.

It's simple - save animals by trapping them in your FizzBall, which you bounce around the screen with your FizzBall-bouncing machine. It's addictive - some animals are too big for your FizzBall at first, so you have to collect them in the right order so your FizzBall can grow. It's hilarious - the cartoon graphics and cheeky animations of skunks spraying or surprised chickens laying eggs are endearing for players of any age.

Go ahead and download a demo version for free from grubbygames.com/fizzball/. You'll be hooked in no time. And the full game costs only $19.95.

Tomorrow in Hot Picks we've got cheap eats from Vancouver's most mouth-watering restaurants and this week's contest is for tickets to see legendary Mississippi bluesman Pinetop Perkins at the Yale.