"Oops! BlackOut happened! Panic in the city!" What a way to
start a game. It gives you that sense of really trying to accomplish something
rather than fast-paced jewel swapping (no offense intended, I’m a BIG
fan of Bejeweled,
and still consider it one of the most addicting puzzle games since Tetris).
Blackout is an intriguing puzzle game from Ballshooter
that caught my eye. Originally I thought it might be a pipes-style game,
but the gameplay is much more unique. Read on for the full review.

WHAT’S
HOT

  
Ballshooter
has made a graphically excellent game. Sharp and bright, the menus and
game tiles really give the game a high quality feel. See below for example
screenshots.

SETUP

  
The install routine is normal. This review was done on my iPaq 2215
running XCPUScalar, using my 512Mb CF card.

PROGRAM
FEATURES

   
First, let’s review the tagline (copied verbatim – more or less) that
Ballshooter
has on their website:

  
When you start Blackout, it rotates the screen (into a landscape mode)
and then shows the introduction. After tapping, you are greeted with
the main menu.

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   If
you tap the PDA icon in the lower left corner or the About menu,
you are taken to the About page.

   
Tapping the musical notes or the speaker icon (in the lower right
hand corner) will mute/unmute the music and/or in-game sounds. Sadly,
there isn’t any way to adjust the volume in-game.

   
We’ll skip the New Game menu until the Let’s Play section. So on
to the Top Scores – which shows the current list of high scores,
the user name, and level. Tapping Clear will reset the Top Scores
table (and will do so without any sort of verification).

   
Next is the Help menu. Which takes you through several pages of
what could be considered a tutorial on the game.

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Finally
is the Exit selection, which will return you back to your PocketPC.

LET’S
PLAY!

   
On to this "brain-macho, super geek, rocket scientist and Albert
Einstein" style gaming that Ballshooter is talking about. After
you click New Game, the lights go out and you are informed that
it is your job to bring the power back up.

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After
tapping the screen, you see the actual game screen. The gameplay
area is to the left within the grid, and on the right side you are
shown various information about the level you are playing. Starting
from the top, it shows the Level (in this case 1), your current
score, the record high score, the power meter, and the menu button.

Tapping
on the Menu button takes you to a screen similar to the main menu
except now you have Resume as an option. If you exit from a game
while still playing and return, then you are greeted with this same
screen.

If
you choose New Game (while a current game is still resumable), then
you are asked whether you really want to restart.

To
play, you try to create complete circuits by tapping to rotate the
individual circuit pieces. As you link them together, the circuit
will light up.

As
you are trying to complete these circuits, new circuits appear in
a counter-clockwise order around the outside edge. Completing a
circuit will cause it to flash and disappear, collapsing the circuits
around it into the space it created. If this collapse causes an
outside edge to fall in, then the new circuit pieces will restart
from that location and continue around the board again.

Bigger
circuits with lights will give you additional points and more power.

Completing
circuits gives you power, which is represented in the power meter.
Once you reach 100%, then you move on to the next level.

Every
time you complete a level, more lights turn on in the city and you
are shown your current score. Although it doesn’t tell you this,
you have to tap on the screen to continue to the next level.

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As
I mentioned above, the game will continue to add in new pieces.
And if you run out of available slots for a new piece, then the
game is over.

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After
clicking OK, you are able to enter in your name into the Top Scores
table (assuming that you gained enough points to rank). You use
the in-game keyboard to fill in your entry. Tapping on the CAPS
or SYM will put the keyboard in Caps Lock or Symbol mode respectively.
Note that if you don’t backspace over the existing name (in this
case Player), when you start typing it will appear at the end of
the current name. So make sure to backspace over that name first.

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HELP
SUPPORT

   
Ballshooter
has a support email address on their website
(under the Contact section) along with the in-game help file.

SYSTEM
REQUIREMENTS

   
According to Handango,
the game requires Pocket PC 2000 (ARM-, MIPS- and SH3-based),
Pocket PC 2002, or Pocket PC 2003 and Windows Mobile.

BUGS
AND WISHES

   
I found no fatal errors, and my wish list is short:

• Add
  a verification to the Clear option on the Top Scores table
• Fix
  the name entry issue with the Top Score table (see above)
• Add
  in-game volume controls
• Add
  "Tap to continue" messages to level up screens.
• Fix
  some of the typos (ie BlackOut vs Blackout) and grammar (ie
  BlackOut has happened)

PURCHASING

   
You can buy
this software directly from Ballshooter
or from Handango.
The price shown is $14.95. Although if you purchase from Handango,
you can get a 20% discount by using the following code: 5A4E78
(no expiration listed), bringing your total to $11.96.

PROS

• 
  

  Great
  graphics and music, and sound effects.

• 
  

  High
  replay value

• 
  

  Price

• Fast
  paced gameplay

CONS

• No
  in-game volume controls
• Full
  screen mode keeps user from accessing functionality in the rest
  of their unit
• Missing
  some instructions (ie tapping to continue to the next level)

OVERALL
IMPRESSION

  
Overall, Blackout is quite intense. They aren’t kidding when they
say it takes more than just a couple of brain cells to play this
game. Of course, the first few levels are easy, but as the game
progresses, those new pieces appear faster and faster and faster…
It’s fast paced and priced right (with the Handango
discount anyway). Even with the oddly missing "Tap to continue"
on the level up pages, if you are a puzzle gamer, I would have
to highly recommend this if for nothing else but it’s ability
to really strain your brain while playing.

Have
you played Blackout? See something that isn’t quite right? Tell
us what you think! Click on the Discussion Link below.