Review: Pang Adventures (PS4).
Balls fly across the screen, and our heroes shoot up with their sharpened lines, trying to smash them. The simple rules of the classic Buster Bros. (also known as Pang) was recreated in the new game and if you played Bubble Trouble – you have to play Pang Adventures (PS4).
When I saw what I would have to play, I assumed right away that I would write a short and rather negative review. We already had cases of small games that should not appear on PlayStation 4 at all, and in the Pang Adventures (PS4) trailer, I noticed gameplay from a simple flash game from over a decade ago – Bubble Trouble. This one was a clone of an even older Buster Bros. from the 90s, also Pang Adventures (PS4) promised to be an unnecessary refreshment of a long-forgotten hit. Fortunately, fans of the original with their heads full of interesting ideas came to create this game.
The rules are simple – colored balls bounce on the board, which, when broken, split into two smaller ones. Our hero (or two in cooperation) shoots the balls from the bottom of the screen, destroying and multiplying them at the same time. What’s more, one touch of such a ball ends the fun, and they quickly fill the entire screen. After destroying all the smallest “splinters” of large balls, they disappear forever and we go to the next stage.
The core of the game has been working for years and there is no need to change it. The variety of boards becomes a problem, because throwing more balls to the start is not a good solution. This is where Pang Adventures (PS4) shines the brightest – ninety levels available constantly offer something new and no two levels are the same, and our heroes use a variety of weapons such as a minigun, laser cannon and flamethrower. What, it doesn’t fit the gameplay assumptions? At the beginning, I also did not understand why the creators throw these powerful weapons so often, but thanks to them it was possible to increase the pace of the game, not to mention a great variety of fun.
What Pang Adventures (PS4) won my heart with are the ingenious levels. Forget the pattern “here’s a new weapon and a distraction, now you will see them for the next ten boards”. Here we constantly get a new challenge, and often these levels seem to be a logical puzzle rather than an arcade challenge. A little dexterity and a little thought. Well, unless you don’t intend to come up with an action plan every time. Then there is the Panic mode, where we just destroy the balls until we lose all lives. And then there are even boss fights!
All of this makes Pang Adventures (PS4) the best use of the gameplay idea from Buster Bros. since … the premiere of the original. It takes a few hours to complete all the missions, which is fun for an evening of co-op. Hardcore players can make high scores to show off in the rankings, and try to complete all levels without missing a single trophy. Do not be fooled by the appearances of a regular flash drive sold for way too much money. The title is worth PLN 42, giving us one of the most pleasant arcade experiences on PS4.
