[Daniel] Video Game Review: Atlantis

Atlantis is an independent game developed by FunPause. Like beloved games of yore, Atlantis is based around a simple premise. On the screen, there is a channel through which multi-color balls flow from a start point to an end point. A small "pusher" moves at the back of the stream, pushing the balls toward the end point. Your ship hovers at the bottom of the screen, moving back and forth via the mouse. The objective is to fire balls upward into the channels and eliminate chains of three or more before they reach the end point.



While it's a simple mechanic, the game proves to be quite interesting and rewarding. Balls are eliminated when you match three or more of them in a row. When they disappear, sometimes the balls will flow backward, possibly eliminating more chains. Another excellent addition is a wide variety of powerups you can receive. Mostly appearing during certain events (such as eliminating a "pusher"), the powerups range from a targeting sight to show where your ball is headed to a reverse flow powerup that causes all the balls to start rolling back to the start.



The controls (mostly just mouse movement back and forth and click to shoot/switch colors) feel really quite nice, very snappy and precise. Similarly, the graphics are equally good, with smooth animation, interesting effects and very nice particles. This game bleeds polish at every level. And with over 81 levels, there's more than enough to play.



There were few flaws I could find with the game. The biggest problem I had was nothing technical but simply not understanding what causes chains to sometimes snap backward and other times not. It seems to be pretty random and it is not explained in the small tutorial or anywhere on the website. Also, the powerups seem to be equally random. If this were the case, it would not be an issue for me and I would be content. But I continually try different things while playing in an attempt to influence those events, which is a tad frustrating.



Overall, Atlantis is a fantastic game, with simple controls and gameplay anyone young or old could appreciate. It's truly an addicting game. A demo for both Windows and Mac OS X can be downloaded from the FunPause website and provides an hour of play before registration. I highly recommend this game to anyone who enjoys puzzles and classic-style gameplay.