Wizorb

A fantasy Arkanoid-style game for multiple platforms. As an eccentric wizard who transforms into a ball, you must lift the evil curse that has been placed on your kingdom!

Overview

Tarot has seen better days.
Tarot has seen better days.

Wizorb combines the block-breaking-with-power-ups of Arkanoid with an RPG overworld and story. You play as Cyrus, a powerful wizard who is the only person capable of saving the Kingdom of Gorudo, which has fallen under an evil curse. The people and animals of Gorudo have been turned into monsters, with the sole exception of the village of Tarot.

Tarot has had all of its buildings destroyed, and four of its children kidnapped, but the residents are otherwise unharmed. While in Tarot, Cyrus can walk around, speak to the townsfolk, spend his gold on town repair efforts, and later buy power ups. Whenever you leave the village, you're presented with a map screen which eventually contains 5 worlds, where the bulk of the gameplay takes place. Each world contains 12 stages, followed by a boss stage. Each world past the first contains a hidden side path with a special reward.

Gameplay

Wizorb's graphics and music are inspired by NES games.
Wizorb's graphics and music are inspired by NES games.

Once you select a world and enter it, Cyrus starts to work his magic. He transforms himself into an orb, and his staff becomes the paddle that you reflect the orb off of. The stages consist of a variety of blocks and occasionally contain enemies, both of which you must destroy to complete each stage. The longer the orb bounces off of your paddle and the blocks, the faster it gets. If you let the orb get past your paddle, you will lose a life.

The blocks can sometimes contain items that will fall to the bottom of the screen, which you must touch with the paddle to collect. These include gold coins, gems, mana potions, keys, and extra lives. The blocks can also contain curses that range from stealing your money to immediately destroying your paddle and costing you a life, should you fail to avoid them. Some stages have optional shops and bonus areas that can be accessed by hitting doors on the edge of the screen. These shops (and the shop in Tarot) are the only place you can obtain the game's power ups. You can also purchase a mana refill or extra lives.

Power Ups & Abilities

The game has five power ups. You lose all of your current power ups whenever you lose a life. The power ups are:

  • Long Wand, which extends the length of your paddle. The most common power up.
  • Slow Orb, which reduces the starting speed of the orb by half, making it take much longer for the orb's speed to get out of hand.
  • Magnet, which causes the orb to stick to your paddle each time it touches the paddle. The orb only leaves the paddle once you press the button to launch the orb.
  • Strong Orb, which causes the orb to deal twice as much damage as normal, allowing you to quickly dispatch enemies, and allowing you to quickly destroy blocks that take multiple hits.
  • Multi-Orb, which gives you three orbs instead of one. When this power up is active, you only lose a life (and your power-ups) if all three orbs get past your paddle, and any time you transition to a shop, bonus area, or the next stage, all three orbs are restored.

In addition to the passive power ups, there are also five spells you can cast, provided you have the mana.

The first primary spell is Fireball, which can be shot out of the paddle, and is equivalent to a single hit from the orb. If you try to cast a Fireball at the instant the orb is touching the paddle, you will instead cast Magma Orb, which briefly allows the orb to penetrate through blocks as it destroys them, instead of bouncing off them.

The other primary spell is Alter, which creates a gust of wind that alters the trajectory of the orb. If you try to cast Alter at the instant the orb is touching the paddle, you will instead cast Control, which briefly gives the orb wings and allows you to directly move it around using the analog stick/mouse; this also reduces the orb's speed once the spell wears off. If you try to cast Alter after just losing a life and the orb is still on the paddle, ready to be launched, you will instead cast Teleport, which allows you to place the starting point of the orb, even allowing you to move the orb to places that are still fully enclosed by blocks.

Pricing & System Requirements

The Xbox Live Indie Games version of Wizorb is a 156.64 MB download and the full unlocked game costs 240 MS points. The PC version is $2.99.

PC System Requirements

  • OS: Windows XP or later
  • Processor: Dual-core processor (Intel Dual Core 2.0 GHz or AMD Athlon X2 5200+ 2.6 GHz)
  • Memory: 1 GB RAM
  • DirectX®: 9.0c
  • Hard Drive: 250 MB HD space
  • Sound: DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card

Mac System Requirements

  • OS: Mac OS X v10.6 or later
  • Processor: Intel Core™ Duo or faster
  • Memory: 1 GB RAM
  • Hard Drive: 250 MB HD space
  • Graphics: 128 MB space