Magical Drop V Review: Ball Buster

Magical Drop V Review: Ball Buster

Japan is the creator and cultivator of some of the most challenging video games on the planet. From rhythm games to bullet hell shoot ‘em ups, if there’s some kind of mind melting difficulty to be had from a video game you can probably find it in a Japanese arcade.

Puzzle games are a specific genre that achieves levels of difficulty in Japan that never quite seem to catch on in the rest of the world. Tetris, arguably the most iconic puzzle game, gets relatively difficult the better you do, and still doesn’t come close to the challenge of some of the more obscure puzzle games available.

The Magical Drop series is a solid member of this category. Belonging to a sub-category of similar puzzle games like Money Idol Exchanger and Puzzle Bobble, in Magical Drop you have to create vertical lines of colored balls to remove them from the board while more horizontal lines of randomly colored balls continue to descend from the top of the board. Creating a line will remove those balls and all balls of the same color connected to the line, and the idea is to strategically set up situations which can cause a chain reaction.

Each match of the story has you competing against another player, and victory can be achieved through either removing a quota of balls from your board first, or by your opponent letting their stack of balls reach the bottom of the screen. While things start out difficult, the game gets exponentially harder as you progress to a point where even a split second of hesitation can culminate in defeat.

But hesitation isn’t the biggest obstacle to overcome. Due to the multiple ways a game can end, you can play at your absolute best for most of a game and still lose. This forces you to either retry the stage again and again, or throw your hands up in the air in frustration. There are also the keyboard controls to contend with – oddly laid out and locked, you either need to get used to them or connect a controller the game recognizes.

Once those obstacles are overcome, however, there are an adrenaline pumping dozen stages to play that will take about twenty minutes to beat if done so expertly. And beating the game with each character can unlock additional items and characters in the gallery.

The biggest feature of Magical Drop V, though, isn’t specifically related to the Magical Drop series at all. The title incorporates the gameplay and characters from another Japanese arcade title that was never released, Ghostlop, into the game, allowing players to play as and compete against Agent Bruce and company while simultaneously competing against the characters and mechanics of Magical Drop.

Online seems to be where the real draw is, though. With Co-Op, Team Battle, and King of the Hill modes you can play with friends or compete against three other players in a frenetic battle royale. Losing early in King of the Hill, for example, doesn’t stop the game: you can continue to harass the other players until the round has been completed.

Overall, Magical Drop V provides a fun and challenging experience which is brief enough to not get stale, but addictive enough to keep you coming back. Just make sure to come with a controller, or get ready for some serious hand cramps. Or pick it up on your console of choice, where keyboard issues won’t be any kind of a problem.

This review is based on a code for the game sent to SideQuesting by the publisher for Steam