There’s a weird satisfaction in rolling cute creatures around an arena. Couldn’t tell you why, really. From Super Monkey Ball to Kororinpa to much of Sonic the Hedgehog, we seem to get a kick out of bundling god’s creatures up into a ball and chucking them off ramps.
Carrying on this celebrated tradition is Orbals, a 3D platformer which seems to meet Super Monkey Ball and Skylanders somewhere in the middle. You play as four animals that we’d hazard to say are cute (maybe it’s just us, but there’s a Five Nights at Freddy’s look to some of these creatures), as you roll around arenas, searching for an exit by clearing the level of boxes. The boxes are primary coloured, so you’re switching between your differently hued friends.
The emphasis is on family-friendly fun, so this is well-suited to younger players. You’d be surprised how few accessible games like this come around, so Orbals gets some thumbs up from our perspective (plus we get to distract our kids for a few minutes over the summer holidays).
Your ultimate aim is to defeat the Dragon King at the end of Orbals, and to do so you’ll need the full team, all completely upgraded. There’s an RGP-lite feel to Orbals as you unlock customisations and improvements for your stable of spherical mammals.
As well as a full campaign, there is a speed run mode, so you can set difficult times for your children to beat. Not that you need an incentive to play again, as Orbals already has a chunk of content for you to play. There’s 100 levels here, which is a surprisingly large number for a 3D platformer.
We doubt that Orbals will challenge the mightiest of 3D platformers on the Xbox, with Crash Bandicoot and Spyro still tearing it up. But if it can offer some throwaway and fun puzzling for younger players on the way to the end of its 100 levels, then it will have done its job.
Key features include:
- Easy and fun to play!
- Challenging puzzle platformer for the whole family.
- Crash and Splash your way through colorful worlds full of adventure.
- Unlock and upgrade your characters for more power and higher flights.
- Team the Orbals in different ways to defeat the Dragon King.
- Dynamic cheerful music changes during gameplay.
- Speed-run each level to see where you rank on leaderboards.
- Dash, Smash and Fly your way to record scores and victory!
Orbals is out now on Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S and starts at £24.99 from the Xbox Store. It’s also out on PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch and PC through Steam.
Game Description:
In the magical and colorful kingdom of Orbalia, finding more Mojo can mean the difference between life and death! Four brave little Orbals have taken on the mission of defeating the tyrant Dragon King. They must roll and smash their way to escape from 100 tricky levels unlocking their greatest abilities along the way. Only by working together will they be able to solve all the puzzles and save Orbalia!
