I could describe pretty much any mod we’ve covered this month as polished: compared to the average, bog-standard, stick-3-skins-and-2-models-in-a-crap-release mods out there, they all stand out as clean, pretty, and clever.
The Ball is unmissable because even from them, even from the cream of the modding crop – hell, even from most top-tier standalone commercial games – it stands out as beautiful, intelligent, and dastardly well executed. From one, genius idea – a gigantic, deadly ball of aztec-inspired death – Toltec studios have built an incredible odyssey of epic proportions.
You have a friend on this epic journey – a trustworthy, polyvalent, slightly metallic and quite vast friend, in the form of the Ball, which you’ll discover in the depths of an terrifyingly creepy cave after having been separated from the rest of your archaeological expedition. Thanks to the ominous, skull endowed “ball gun”, you’ll then use the voluminous orb to crush, push, shove, drag, and generally puzzle your way through mile after mile of archaic underground temples and conveniently placed chambers, uncovering ancient secrets and defeating giant gorillas.
What’ll truly come to surprise you about your spherical friend is just how useful the Ball can really be – you’ll start with simple button pushing, but before long you’ll be using it as a platform, as a counter-weight, and by the time you’ll have reached the climax – over 6 hours in my case – you’ll have come to treasure it. It’s hardly shocking that people have started making the obvious comparisons to Valve’s majestic puzzle-tastic Portal.
As a puzzler, The Ball stands out for being clever, unique, and surprisingly different. As a mod, it stands out for being beautiful, polished, and totally different to it’s progenitor. As a game, it stands out for being exquisitely good fun. Unmissable? I should say so.
Why is it on our list?
One of the best received mods to have emerged from the Make Something Unreal competition, The Ball has been a first place winner five times – and I’ve rarely seen a more deserving winner.
Easy to install?
If you’ve got a copy of UT3, simply run the installer – that works on both the retail and Steam versions. It’s worth noting that it’s possible to register a retail version of UT3 on Steam, and it’s available for absolute peanuts at this point. If you don’t have UT3: Shame on you, for one, but fear not. A standalone version of The Ball, developed on the UDK, is quickly approaching release, and a demo is already available.
Where can I get it?
“One of the best received mods to have emerged from the Make Something Unreal competition, The Ball has been a first place winner for 5 years – and I’ve rarely seen a more deserving winner.”
Er, I don’t think Epic’s UT3 MSUC lasted for five years. Also, The Ball won second place in the finals, losing out to The Haunted. I’ve yet to play The Haunted, but videos of it made the animations look horrendous.
Bugger, I should have realised that was something of a ludicrous assumption to make – 5 different categories :( Although, the Haunted is damn good fun!
Assumptions? In MY UserCreated?!?
I kid, I kid :) It’s great to see someone actually playing UT3 mods, especially given how the old UT community took to (or didn’t, rather) UT3. Even I haven’t really played UT3 mods beyond The Ball, and I’ve been with the series and its mods since ’99.
Most of the MSU winners are really worth trying out – Planetstorm is awesome, and Hazard: The Journey of Life is a great “art game”. There are quite a few more out there :)
Pingback: Unmissable Mods Month | UserCreated - PC game mods news, reviews and features
Pingback: The Complete Unmissable Mods Month | UserCreated - PC game mods news, reviews and features