Genre: Arcade

Format: CD

Developer: Strange Flavour

Publisher: Freeverse Software

Minimum System Requirements: Mac OS X v10.1.5, 500MHz G3, 256MB RAM, 200MB free hard disk space

Review Computer: 867MHz G4, 640MB RAM, ATI RADEON 8500, Mac OS X v10.3.5

Network Feature: LAN, online via GameSmith (built into game)

Price: $29.95

ESRB Rating: N/A

Availability: Now

Official Website: [url=http://www.airburstextreme.com]http://www.airburstextreme.com[/url] (the source of these screen captures)

Trailer: [url=http://www.apple.com/games/trailers/airburstextreme/]http://www.apple.com/games/trailers/airburstextreme/[/url]

Oh, how I've grown to loathe the word "extreme." The only thing that frightens me more than "extreme" is the same word spelled "Xtreme." Clever, huh. What is it about the letter X that makes people work so hard to draw attention to it? Xtreme, Xmas, X-Files. I don't think X was all that popular before it came to represent pornographic movies, so I'll attribute it to that. After all, that's the only way those X-Games would be remotely interesting to watch.

And so, when I saw that Strange Flavour's follow-up to Airburst was called Airburst Extreme, I immediately lost interest in the project. I mean, surely a British company could come up with a more clever name than that, and what could be extreme about a floating paddle ball game based on the Atari 2600 game Warlords, anyway?

I've got to start trusting British game developers, and to trust that Freeverse Software wouldn't bother publishing something if they didn't feel it was worthwhile (although, they still have to explain Payback). Airburst Extreme may not be extreme in the way those Mountain Dew commercial kids consider the term, but it certainly is extreme in the way of options and fun.

In the original Airburst, you could play as one of four characters who sat atop a floating bubble surrounded by layers of smaller bubbles. You then used your paddle to deflect the "burster" (or multitude of bursters and other objects, as the game progressed) to pop your opponents' balloons. Once their center balloon was popped, that player was eliminated from competition.

The same goes for Airburst Extreme...kind of. I mean, you're still sitting atop balloons, and you still need to pop your opponents' balloons while protecting your own, but there are 32 different game types. There's a version in which you're caught up in a tornado while playing, there's one you play in the middle of an asteroid field, and fans of the type of football you play without a helmet are going to have a good time playing, well, Football, even though it's maddeningly impossible as the game speeds up.

In fact, why don't I file my biggest complaint right now? A lot of the games are fun, I won't deny that, but many of them seem to require nothing but luck. When you're controlling three different players at once and there are five balls and what-have-you bouncing around, no amount of skill or eye/hand coordination is going to help you out. It's all just the luck of the bounce. This bothered me, somewhat. I could spend a good deal of time mastering the nuances of paddle control and bonus retrieval, only to find it did me no good in the next game. Basic and extreme power-ups (specific to each character) help to even the playing field, but learning to retrieve them and use them at the right time takes some practice. The first time I played Castles 1, in which the winner is the first to pop the balloon in the center of the screen, I lucked out with a good bounce and a "sticky bat" and pounded away at the castle to win the game in no time flat. After that, I had to play over a dozen times to win again.

This wasn't just me, either. My wife, who excels at games such as this (and who enjoyed the original Airburst much more than I did), used words to describe this game that would've made Social Services come take our baby away, had they heard her. And yet, she wouldn't quit playing. That's the thing about Airburst Extreme; because you think you should be able to beat it, you want to keep playing it until you do. This isn't uncommon with arcade games of this type; they rely on their addictiveness. But, with most, the monotony of the game quickly sets in and the addictiveness is killed by repetition. Not so, here. As I mentioned, there are over thirty levels, and although you have to complete story mode to unlock them all, that pretty much allays the fear of repetition.

And what's this, you ask? Story mode? Well, sort of. There's a story, but it comes into play about as much as the story that links the levels of Unreal Tournament du jour. You hop from planet to planet, learning a bit more about what's going on with the Mars Media Mega Corp., but it's all incidental. The action's in the game, and you may find yourself skipping through the dialogues to see what type of game lies ahead (you have to watch the dialogues each time you play the level until it's completed). Although, I do recommend reading the story for the comedy, if nothing else. Some of the jokes are quite sharp.

In Airburst Extreme, you've also got a multiplayer component, which is almost a necessity with a game such as this. There are three ways to play it. First, you can sit with another person at the same keyboard. This is fun, but cramped if your workspace doesn't have much room. Second, you can play it over a LAN. And finally Airburst Extreme is compatible with GameSmith, so you can go online to battle people you'll never meet. I'm not normally big into online multiplayer gaming, mainly because there are always those who have nothing else to do but play online multiplayer games, and so they dominate the competition. There are certainly those who excel at Airburst Extreme, but it's not nearly as difficult to sometimes show these people up if the ball bounces your way a couple times.

Oh, and there's an e-mail mode. Seriously. I wouldn't make such a thing up.

What makes Airburst Extreme most enjoyable, I would say, are the graphics. Every level—every screen—is great to look at. Your bright, colorful characters float over animated backdrops that provide a constant feeling of motion and action. And yet, the backdrops don't get in the way of game play. Every arena has something else to see, providing a variety of visuals that equals the variety of the game play and well surpasses the variety of the music, which gets annoyingly repetitive sometimes. Don't get me wrong, the songs are generally pretty good and work well within the framework of the game, but I did find myself sighing, "Not this one again," a few times as certain songs started up again.

I also found the manual to be quite odd. It was humorous (who doesn't love a good Andrew Lloyd-Webber joke?), but it seemed to be out of order. Sections are intermingled as if the pages were stapled in the wrong order, causing confusion when you're trying to figure out certain elements. Also, game aspects such as the extreme weapons aren't even covered.

My complaints aside, this is the best arcade style game we've seen since Pom Pom Software's Mutant Storm (coincidentally, another British company, but what have those guys been up to lately?). Airburst Extreme is manic fun; an adrenaline rush that is simultaneously maddening and joyous. I often refer to games of this type as "airport games," as I mainly only play them while killing time waiting for a flight or an oil change or for whatever stupid reality show my wife's watching to end. Airburst Extreme, however, is better than that. It's the kind of game I'll make time to play.

I have to wonder, though, what the next Airburst will be called. Airburst Extra Extreme? Airburst Forever? Airburst and Robin? Regardless, I'm sure it'll live up to its name.

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