Madballs in Babo: Invasion – Interview

On my second day at E3 I had the pleasure of sitting down with Scott and Paul, two of the brains behind Playbrains’ upcoming game, “Madballs in Babo: Invasion” (MiBI, for short from here on out). It’s true, the Madballs are coming back, and the folks at Playbrains were kind enough to give me my very own Oculous Orbus to take home.

MiBI is actually a remake of sorts, based on the popular cult game “Babo Violent 2.” The original game had a simple idea. Round balls roll around with heavy weaponry and shoot each other. Playbrains took this concept, threw in the Madballs, and have created what might well end up being an incredibly addictive game for Xbox Live and the PC.

Playbrains labeled this game as “casually hardcore.” They say it has enough elements to please the hardcore gamer, while still being accessible to beginners. The game will feature a single player, 10-level campaign, but where it really looks to shine is in its multiplayer function.

MiBI will support 16 players via online play at one time – or, more precisely, two teams of eight. There will be 21 playing field maps shipped with the game to begin with. The view is a top down view, not unlike the original Warcraft and Starcraft games, but the game play is more in tune with a Halo-like shooter (and though they didn’t have it on display, there will also be a third person view in addition to the top down). There will be plenty of Madball characters that come shipped with the game. In all there are 10 classes, each with 2 special abilities, and 50 items/characters/maps and 50 secrets to unlock during game play. Additionally, on the Xbox Live version, you’ll be able to convert your own Avatar into a Madball of sorts, which basically looks like a giant round version of your Avatar’s head. Over time, they’ll be releasing more downloadable content in an effort to further balance the game.

While all this is interesting enough, it was the multiplayer mode called “Invasion” that really hooked me. The general concept isn’t anything special. Your team of eight will attempt to invade the camp of the opposing team and vice versa. However, and this is where it really gets interesting, before the battle each team will have about two minutes to create their side of the game map.

The teams will receive tiles ranging in size and shape. The smallest tiles, which are just 1×1, convert to 6×6 units of screen space. Using a randomly assigned set of tiles, teams will build their map in a Tetris-like fashion. What this insures is that no two game boards are ever alike, which will keep those hardcore players from ever “mastering” a level. Teams will have the ability to make sniper alleys and dead end traps. Heck, simply making the board seems fun in itself, and then you get to play on it.

My biggest question, of course, was “why Madballs?” As it turns out, Madballs were more of an afterthought than anything else. Playbrains originally set out to make a more accessible version of “Babo Violent 2,” when along the line someone said it would be great if the balls were those Madballs from the eighties – and that was that. It’s funny how things come about.

Playbrains didn’t have anything playable to show me, but they did have a slew of videos, some of which we’ve posted here. Without playing it’s hard to say how the game will be, but after watching their videos I’m impressed. Graphically, the game feels right. It’s not overly complex for the top down view it uses, nor is it so simplistic as to look boring. The play seemed fast and exciting and over all I’m looking forward to it.

Best of all, the makers of MiBI are so confident in the re-playability of their game that they are offering a significant free trial package. You’ll be able to play the full ten minute tutorial level, the twenty minute first level of the single player game, and 30 total minutes of multiplayer or 3 multiplayer games – whichever comes last. Each multiplayer game is about 30 minutes, so assuming you stay alive through the whole battle, you can have upwards of an hour and a half of multiplayer play. That’s not a bad deal for a free game. They have yet to announce how much the full game will cost but it will likely either be 800 or 1200 points on Xbox Live.

“Madballs in Babo: Invasion” is due out this summer for Xbox Live with the PC release following about a month after. Due to the nostalgic Madballs, the simple but full of depth game play, and the ability to have 16 people playing at once, it looks like the designers at Playbrains might just have a hit on their hands.