Super Ball Escape: Accelerometer-based Game Literally Takes Gameplay to a New Level

I’ve never liked accelerometer-based mobile games. But I decided to give Super Ball Escape a try when I learned that it was available for free yesterday. [1]

In short, this made-in-Shanghai app is pretty fun to play. In the game, you’re a white ball that has to roll through narrow paths, robot guards, and security cameras to reach check points by tilting your phone at the correct speed and angle. If you like Pacman, you’ll probably like Super Ball Escape too.

I believe a lot of people haven’t had great experiences with accelerometer controls. But unlike most motion-controlled games, Super Ball Escape allows gamers to calibrate their desired playing positions.

Most mobile games simply assume that the default equilibrium position is when the phone is parallel to the ground. But that position is often uncomfortable, impossible, and unintuitive to have a pleasant gaming experience — especially if you’re playing in bed! We’re so accustomed to the old Gameboy days that we need to hold the game device approximately 45 degrees to the ground when sitting upright.

What impresses me was how Playlithium, the game studio behind Super Ball Escape, made it so easy to calibrate the game to a gamer’s desired playing position. You can change it at any point of the game and to me – and that’s the key to making accelerometer-based game fun.

It is the first time that I have played an accelerometer-based game without complaining about poor control or wishing for a virtual joystick to make my life easier. It’s sad to see a brilliant game put onto accelerometer-based controls and become impossible to control. I have bitched about this for a long time.

Now given that we can actually customize the equilibrium position pretty conveniently, I wonder what other exciting games can be built on the iPhone and iPad to finally create the best gaming experience through accelerometer-based controls. I played Super Ball Escape on a 3GS; but any accelerometer-based games that embrace the gyroscope sensor on an iPhone 4 or 4S should be even more smooth and impressive.

Please also have a look at Super Ball Escape in the video below: