Spectraball
Skip · Short indie · 2008
The verdict
SKIP IT.
The value isn't there at $4.99.
- Length
- 2.1h
- Value
- $2.38/hr
- Reviews
- 77% positive
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Minimum on the Steam store: 2 GB of memory, nVidia Geforce 5600 or equivalent (must support Pixel Shader 2.0), 1 GB of storage. Runs on Windows, macOS, Linux.
Spectraball combines elements of platforming, puzzle solving, addictive gameplay, and stunning visuals to deliver an experience that sets a new standard for the genre. In addition, Spectraball utilizes Steamworks, offering full support for achievements and stat tracking.
What drives the score
How to read this
Every input gets a grade, S to D, read from the buyer's side. The score is multiplicative, so an input only counts as raising when it sits near the top of its own scale. Anything with real room left is holding the score back, because that room is the gap to 100. ▲ marks a lift, ▼ a drag or a dock, ? an input we do not have, • a fact this genre's score does not use. The exact weights stay secret.
The value story
November 2016 is where it bottomed out, at $0.49. Its cuts run 85 percent off as a rule. There have been 104 in the 14 years tracked, about 5 weeks apart. Today it is at full price. The last sale was about 13 weeks ago, and on this game's rhythm the next one tends to arrive within 5 weeks.
Value puts it in the top 25 percent of the games it competes with. It is pricier than 67 percent of its genre, and better reviewed than 67 percent. The games it most resembles do better on the same math. Papo & Yo ($14.99, scores 56) and AtmaSphere ($3.99, scores 57) both outscore it.
Inside the two-hour refund window, 71 percent of the 178 reviews written there were positive, against 77 percent overall, and those are 41 percent of everything written about it.
2.1 hours to finish it, 7 to exhaust it. The completionist tail is 3.2 times the campaign.
The drop-off
40% start to 2% rarestNo achievement in this game marks the ending, so there is no finish rate. The curve runs from the most-unlocked achievement to the rarest, and its shape is where players stop. Steam global achievements
What players say
Extremely short indie-style game from back in the day, that has you traversing different cool-looking environments. The game is not difficult and there isn't much puzzle-solving but there's something charming and relaxing about it. That's where the game really shines, so I would recommend the game, if you're looking to just chill and take in the visually appealing environments, and also just the novelty of rolling...
A cute little ball game. One of the crappier ones with strange physics, more akin to Slickball than Ballance, but still pretty fun. Unless you're going for The Impossible achievement. Then it's not so fun anymore.
The game lacks variety, with repetitive levels and uninspired gameplay. Controls are clunky, making it frustrating to progress. Overall, it feels dull and poorly designed, lacking the polish needed for an enjoyable experience.
Player reviews from Steam: the most helpful all-time, plus the newest that clear the same quality bar, with the hours each player had put in when they wrote it. The mix of Recommended and Not recommended follows the game's Steam ratio. Rotates daily. Opinions are theirs.
No data upstream: critic score (Metacritic).
Cite this score
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Spectraball scores 43/100 on the BANG Score (a skip). The BANG Score rates what a game is worth for the money. Via Steam BANGERS. https://steambangers.com/game/18300/spectraballThe BANG Score is one number for value, 0 to 100: price against how it reviews and how long it was built to be. It answers the money question and stops there; whether the game is for you is still your call.
Reviews set the ceiling and price moves you inside it, so a cheap game that reviews badly cannot climb. Ratings from few reviewers are shrunk toward the middle, so 100 percent from nine people does not outrank 96 percent from ninety thousand. Length comes from HowLongToBeat where it can be matched, measured against a per-genre floor so a five-hour narrative game is judged against other narrative games rather than against a sixty-hour RPG. Where no verified length exists the score says so and carries a dock, because the biggest input is then a guess. The full method, including where it is weak → Steam reviews as of Sep 3, price as of Sep 24.
A number here look wrong? Tell me what it got wrong and I will look at the inputs behind it.