SpiritSphere is an indie game developed and published by a small studio calledEendhoorn Games.
Under its Legend of Zelda guise, SpiritSphere is actually a sports game that resembles Air Hockey, a game that is played on a table (similar to a pool table) where each player must try to put a disc in the goal. enemy for help.
The game
The game itself, currently in early access, already offers the possibility of several frenzied games. First, the game offers several game modes, namely:
- Training : As its name suggests, lets ... train!
- A player : Game mode that allows you to play against the computer by linking different levels, opponents and types of spheres.
- Multiplayer : Allows you to play against other players.
The game modes are not out of the ordinary, but are more than sufficient. Unfortunately, the multiplayer mode does not currently allow you to play only locally and does not allow you to compete against players or your friends online.
Once a mode is selected, it is necessary to go to the selection of characters, the stage and the sphere. Three in number at the base (other heroes can be obtained from the Sphere Fountain) each has special abilities.
- Lin : Character who uses a sword. Lets attack in front of and around it.
- Ozo: Magician who uses spells as attacks. The latter have a great reach both in front of him and on the sides.
- Buster : A sort of mouse that only has short range attacks from the front, but including one that allows you to grab the sphere and move with it before sending it back.
Once the hero has been selected, it is possible, depending on the game mode, to select the sphere and the level. As for the levels, they each have their own particularity and difficulty. New stages and Spheres can be unlocked, like the heroes, thanks to the Sphere Fountain.
- Forêt : The "goals" are protected by bushes which must be destroyed in order to be able to mark.
- Donjon : The level has slabs that allow you to lower the opposing walls when a character is standing on them, but also lower yours. In addition, each time a player scores a goal, a skeleton comes into the opposing camp to support the player who took the goal. (blocks the sphere, shoots an arch at the enemy player, etc.).
- Volcano : This level promises some gripes because of the randomness. Indeed, the "goals" are protected by pillars of lava which appear randomly.
- Spring : This level is classic, no protection or defense for the goals. However, the latter is in the shape of a hexagon.
Spring
Forêt
Donjon
Volcano
In addition to all the "protections" found in the levels, the spheres are also talked about with several types:
- Normal sphere : A sphere ... normal. Who has no faculty, bonus, penalty, special ability.
- Double sphere : This sphere splits in a random way as soon as one of the characters taps on it. Whatever sphere passes the goals, it gives the point!
- Slow sphere : similar to the normal sphere, except that it moves slowly, which can lead to very long games.
- Dark sphere : This sphere has the ability to create multiple spheres, similar to the double sphere, except that the latter are false.
- Giant sphere : similar to the normal sphere (no penalty / bonus), but is larger than normal spheres.
- Invisible sphere : This last sphere disappears regularly and randomly, but can still be typed ... provided you find it!
Once all this has been selected, let's move on to the music! The levels require you to score 3 goals in order to win the game. During "combat", some levels also offer bonuses throughout the game, for example a shield, which lands on the ground and blocks the sphere, a pair of boots to move faster, a bow to attack the sphere. enemy and stun him or even gold coins, which are used for the Sphere fountain. (I will come back to this later). Some levels will sometimes even see one or more NPCs land on one side or the other of the field to help / support / attack one of the players.
Sphere fountain
Each game won allows the player to get gold coins. These can then be exchanged at the Sphere Fountain allowing to obtain many rewards such as new levels, new spheres or even new characters. For 100 gold coins, a type of sphere, a new stage or hero will be obtained by the player and thus be used in all game modes.
The gameplay
The game can be played on the keyboard as well as on the joystick. However, it is not easy to play with 2 players on the same keyboard, because it is not possible to modify the keys and they are not really well placed (directional arrows, ZXC and the space bar for player 1 and WSAD etHJKL for player 2) however, the studio has announced that it will be possible to change the keys in a very upcoming update shortly. (the update is currently in Beta phase on Steam).
On the controller side, it is unfortunate to see that the game is not playable with not Xbox One controllers, the problem seems to come from Unity itself which does not manage the mapping of this controller.
Conclusion
For my part, the game is really very nice and I have fun with it. In multiplayer, SpiritSphere offers good fun and really dynamic games, much more than I first thought. But after playing it with a friend, I admit that the game really made us laugh!
However for the multiplayer side, the fact of not being able to reconfigure the keys is damaging. Fortunately, this will be fixed very soon.
The game is still in Early Access and should be released by the end of the year. If you like to play in co-op (but only locally, alas), jump on the game with your eyes closed! On the other hand, if you play alone, the game can amuse you for a little while, but nothing more.
