A Blazing Arcade Survival Experience
Fireball 2 is an arcade survival game in which you play as a fireball that needs to dodge enemies, all as you look to last as long as possible. Orbs, called Novas, will spawn periodically and interacting with them will cause them to explode and destroy enemies.
Mechanically, Fireball 2 is an incredibly simple game. One thumbstick moves your fireball and holding any button down will cause it to dash around at full speed. That is the full extent of the game’s controls.
Explosive Chain Reactions
Beyond that the main mechanics revolve around the novas that periodically spawn. As mentioned, these will explode when the fireball comes into contact with them. However, there are two different ways to set them off. First is by moving straight through them, causing them to explode immediately, making it a great way to shake off a swarm of enemies that has you surrounded.
The second way is to glance them with your fireball. This starts a delayed explosion, which is ideal for leading a trailing swarm into the explosion for maximum points.
After gaining enough points, these novas can become a supernova. They will explode but then a hyperactive nova will remain in its place. Hitting it again will cause it to release a spiral of explosions that covers an even wider area, making it even better at gathering points.
The ultimate move in Fireball 2 though is to create two supernovas in close proximity to each other. When they collide they create a black hole which will destroy all enemies on screen for a limited time. With these you can get millions of points at once and trigger multiple chain reactions, making more supernovas and black holes in a quick succession of each other.
Survival and Strength
The added benefit of this is that the more novas and supernovas you create, the brighter, faster, and stronger your fireball becomes. Each round starts with the fireball able to take a handful of hits. Take too many and the round ends. Survival is the name of the game, and initially hitting enemies will cause the fireball to slow down considerably and can cause one hit to turn into many.
By increasing the strength of the fireball, a wave of enemies will still do damage, but pushing through the swarm when in a tight spot to continue the run is a much more feasible option.
For players that find this too easy, there is a hardcore mode in Fireball 2, where each hit does significantly more damage. During these runs, one mistake can easily mean death.
Simple, Addictive, and Visually Captivating
Again, Fireball 2 is a mechanically simple game; yet it is easy to understand and it doesn’t take long to get into the groove of things. But it’s also highly addicting and will take a long time to master.
The graphics are captivating and fluid, and the game performs incredibly well, even with the sheer number of effects that are constantly occurring on screen. And if it gets to be too much for your eyes, there are also several graphic control options to reduce the level of distortion, increase contrast, and even modify the appearance of the stage slightly.
Geometry Wars Comparison
All good so far, but I do wish there was a bit more variety in the content. Even having other options for the stages, or some type of progression system to unlock different colors or enemies, would be a fantastic addition to the replayability of the game.
No matter though, you won’t be able to help but compare Fireball 2 to Geometry Wars. For those who aren’t aware, Geometry Wars is an arcade game that was originally a minigame that made its first appearance in 2003. Over 20 years later, which isn’t a number I want to think about too much, and Fireball 2 feels like a very similar game. There are actually three mainline Geometry Wars games, all of which are over a decade old now, culminating in Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions. And those games took this concept and provided several game modes, including a pacifist mode which is nearly identical in concept to Fireball 2.
Now, Fireball 2’s nova system does set it apart and Geometry Wars is essentially a dead game series which peaked with the second one. So graphically and thematically, Fireball 2 is a welcome game to have, and it’s just nice to see someone still developing these fun arcade style survival games. Plus, Fireball 2 was made by a solo developer, whereas the Geometry Wars games were made by different teams, owned by Microsoft and Activision, so even the fact they are comparable is pretty amazing.
A Fun but Content-Light Arcade Experience
At the end of the day, Fireball 2 doesn’t really have any specific flaws that stick out. But the main issue is that it just doesn’t have a ton of content, and a few more customisation options or even just an online leaderboard system could really add to the experience.
Overall though, Fireball 2 is a fun game that has an affordable price tag and can easily take up several hours of your day if you let it. It’s definitely worth checking out if you’re looking to scratch that arcade survival itch.
Important Links
Unleash the Heat as Dazzling Arcade-Survival Fireball 2 Ignites on Xbox Series X|S – https://www.thexboxhub.com/unleash-the-heat-as-dazzling-arcade-survival-fireball-2-ignites-on-xbox-series-xs/
Buy Fireball 2 on Xbox – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/fireball-2/9PFMVT801G6Q/0010
